School districts seek annexation
Bixby, Leonard school districts seek annexation

Published: August 7, 2008

LEONARD -- The interim superintendent of a tiny northeastern Oklahoma school district says it is in the students' best interest to merge with a larger nearby school district.

The Bixby and Leonard school boards, located south of Tulsa, approved a request this week to call an annexation election on Nov. 4. If Leonard patrons approve, Bixby Public Schools will absorb the district on Nov. 10.

The Leonard district, which covers pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, had an enrollment of 23 last year and 17 this year. The district would have received only $1,768 in state funds this year — a 99 percent decrease. Last year the school received more than $186,000.

The Leonard School District's interim superintendent, Joe Gill, said it is never an easy decision to shut down a school district.

Enrollment has declined for years. Attendance always has fluctuated, peaking in the 1980s with about 140 students, former Superintendent and Principal Terry West has said previously.

"We're a small community. We lose kids," West said at the time. "There's nothing we can do about it."

But many in the district, which has operated for nearly 80 years, held out hope that ample room for housing would bring the district back.

"To me it's sad because the community — (the school) is what identified it," Gill said.

Bixby Assistant Superintendent Bill Coyle said superintendents in Leonard and Bixby and state Superintendent Sandy Garrett began discussing the annexation this summer.

Fourteen of Leonard's students have enrolled in Bixby schools. The other three are going to Muskogee and Haskell, Coyle said.

"Most of them came to Bixby after sixth grade anyway," he said.

Gill said it is strange having no students at the school, but work remains to be done. Officials need to inventory the schools contents, box items and get the district's finances in order.

The decision wasn't a surprise to Leonard residents, he said. Most knew it was going to come.

"It was inevitable," he said. "It's like the grieving process. The acceptance part."

Coyle said that even if voters reject annexation, the state Education Department can close the district.

If the annexation is approved, the Bixby district will inherit all of Leonard's assets and liabilities.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

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