Putnam City officials are urging residents to vote for bond issue

BY JESSE OLIVAREZ Comments 0
Published: November 7, 2009

WARR ACRES — Putnam City School District officials said passing a proposed $80.6 million bond issue Tuesday will set the district on a new path of achievement.

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Bond fund projects

Putnam City School District’s $80.6 million bond issue will go before voters Tuesday. Here is a partial list of the projects that the bond funds would pay for. For a full list, go to www.putnam

cityschools.org.

Proposition 1:

$78 million

→$14.5 million — construction of a new Arbor Grove Elementary School

→$8.7 million — construction of a 15,000-square-foot athletic facility, replacing windows/doors and other improvements at Putnam City High School

→$5 million — purchase new computers and other related equipment

→$4.6 million — installation of new geothermal units and other improvements at Northridge Elementary School

→$4.3 million — construction of a new kitchen/cafeteria and other improvements at Coronado Heights Elementary School

→$1.5 million — purchase new textbooks

→$600,000 — purchase and install new handicap lifts at several schools

Proposition 2:

$2.6 million

→$2.6 million — purchase new buses, including six new activity buses

Source: Putnam City School District

Superintendent Paul Hurst spoke to about 40 patrons, students and teachers during a community meeting this week at Western Oaks Middle School.

During the presentation, Hurst outlined projects the bond funds would pay for and how it would benefit the district’s students and teachers.

"What we’re interested in is for our kids to have an appropriate environment for them to grow, learn and play,” he said.

"Whatever we do, we need to do it well.”

If approved, the bond proposal would not increase taxes and work on some projects would begin in January, officials said. School officials said the bond money will pay for 100 improvements at district schools.

The largest and most expensive project on the list is building a new Arbor Grove Elementary School. About $14.5 million would be set aside for the school, which would have 32 classrooms.

About $21.9 million would be split among the district’s three high schools for various projects.

Most of the district’s elementary schools would receive security improvements such as new entrances or cameras, as well as new roofing and other renovations.

Money also would go

toward buying geothermal heating and cooling units, handicapped-accessible playground equipment, computers and textbooks.

The facilities and items purchased with bond funds would help the district catch up with many of its most pressing needs, Hurst said. It will also reposition the district as the premier school district in central Oklahoma, he said.

Board member Tammy West agreed with that sentiment.

"I just want our schools to set the standard,” West said. "I want people to not even think about moving to Deer Creek or Edmond. I want them to realize that what we have here matches what anyone around us has to offer.”