School Board Approves Plan To Close, Reconfigure 15 OKC Schools

In a unanimous 8-0 vote, the Oklahoma City Public School Board voted to back the superintendent's plan to reinvent the district. 

“Excited about what we will be able to do for 45,000 kids in our school district,” said OKCPS Superintendent Dr. Sean McDaniel.

With Dr. McDaniel at the helm, the district agreed to overhaul its education system.

“As a rule, this is the best plan we’ve seen as a district. Most of us have been on here quite a while now, that really went across the board and looked at every single kid,” said OKCPS Chair Paula Lewis.

And while the “Pathway to Greatness” (P2G) plan calls for the closure of 15 school, each building will continue to play a role in each community.

Read Related Story: 'Pathway To Greatness' Plan Approved; Hundreds Of Teacher To Be Impacted 

“We’ve had no conversation as a board about selling any of those 15. We want to add value through repurpose, that’s our goal,” said Dr. McDaniel.

The plan also calls for changes to school boundaries, grade structures, and feeder patterns.

It's expected to cost the district around $11 million, money left over from previous bonds.

Dr. McDaniel says in exchange P2G will give schools more resources.

 “I am thrilled, I’m excited. For me, that means every elementary school will have a full-time counselor which we needed in our buildings, full time P.E., art and music,” said OKCPS Director of Student Support Services Teri Bell.

And while there are still some uncertainties, “The board has not given concrete answers as to what’s going to happen, where we are going to go, if we're going to be reassigned,” said OKCPS bilingual assistant, Maria Ramirez,

The board says they're confident they made the right decision.

“We can’t wait, we have been waiting for decades,” said Ramirez.