| "The school bond proposal is going to impact every student in every grade." That is the view from school superintendent Dwayne Noble. He says the $9.640 million is needed to provide students with an education that will enable them to compete in today's job market. |
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| "We have a vision for the future and it includes science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM," he said. The money would be spent to build two new structures on the school campus. One would be a science and technology building that would include chemistry, biology and computer labs and classrooms. Another building would be a new fifth grade center that will enable the school to expand its current classroom offerings to three year old students as well. In addition to the new buildings, the school will be replacing computers that are using obsolete operating systems. "The kids are working on 12-year-old computers. They won't run a lot of the applications that are out now," he said. "The career fields in science and math are growing and many of the schools in the state are not preparing their kids. By the year 2018, there will be 281,000 jobs in science, math, engineering and technology open in Oklahoma alone." |
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| That need was brought home by a recent trip Noble made along with several other administrators, teachers and school board members. | See a news story about the STEM program at Star City, Ark., here. |
| The group went to Star City, Ark., a town about the same size as Henryetta. "We watched kids design an airplane on a computer and build it themselves." He went on to point out the test scores in the entire school district made a complete turnaround in a three-year period by students with that information available. The bond money will not just be used to construct some new buildings. |
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| Over $1 million is going to be used to repair the roofs at the high school and grade school buildings. Noble said both structures were built with flat roofs and have developed a number of leaks over the years. The high school was originally built in 1963 and 1964. The grade school was constructed in the early 1970s. Nearly $1 million more of the money is going to be used to covert existing science classrooms to general class use and install new technology equipment and textbooks. |
 Proposed buildings location shown in colored rectangles. |
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Some of that technology has already made its way into the hands of students earlier this month. Members of the junior class received Chrombook laptops to start doing their assignments on. Ultimately, the electronic devices would replace textbooks throughout the entire school system that would result in savings over the current cost of textbooks. |
| Noble pointed out part of the project will eliminate the need for the portable buildings the school has been using for a number of years. The new buildings would also be serving another purpose, that of safe rooms large enough to provide shelter for all of the students in the event of storms. Noble says the fifth grade center would be constructed behind the present grade school complex and would allow students to get to shelter without going outside in adverse weather conditions. The STEM building would be spacious enough for all of the high school and middle school students to get to safety within a few minutes. |
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| Both buildings would also be made available to the general public in the event of evening or weekend tornados. Voters will be deciding the fate of the bond issue in a special election March 3. See a video describing the entire bond proposal here. |
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| The bond issue is not without a cost to property owners in the school district. It is going to amount to a $2.26 increase per month for every $100 paid in property taxes. "That equates to 52 cents per week or a 7 cent per day increase," said the superintendent. |
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| 2014-2015 Tax Amount Paid Now |
2015-2016 Tax Increase |
Annual Increase |
Monthly Increase |
| $25 | $31.78 | $6.78 | $.57 |
| $50 | $63.57 | $13.57 | $1.13 |
| $75 | $95.35 | $20.35 | $1.70 |
| $100 | $127.14 | $27.14 | $2.26 |
| $200 | $254.38 | $54.28 | $4.52 |
| $300 | $381.42 | $81.42 | $6.78 |
| $400 | $508.56 | $108.56 | $9.05 |
| $500 | $635.70 | $135.70 | $11.31 |
| $600 | $762.84 | $162.84 | $13.57 |
| $700 | $889.98 | $189.98 | $15.83 |
| $800 | $1,017.12 | $217.12 | $18.09 |
| $900 | $1,144.26 | $244.26 | $20.35 |
| $1,000 | $1,271.40 | $271.40 | $22.62 |
