The Bartlesville School Board held a noon-hour meeting Wednesday. Board members are in the process of gathering information for a bond issue that will likely go before voters in August. Superintendent Chuck McCauley explained that the board wants to get the bond out earlier so they can move forward with pending programs.

 

One of those programs includes their hopes to have an Agriculture Building on the BHS campus. They would have a 6,000 square building for the course. One instructor would be hired to teach an introductory course for Madsion and Central Middle Schools and would then move over to the high school during the day to teach agriculture. Evetually two instructors would be on hand, McCauley said.
 

 

The amount for this possible bond and its projects sits at $13.5 million dollars for now. The board mentioned that the price is a fluid amount and will increase over time. McCauley says there will be no millage increase with the possible 2019 bond meaning taxes would be flat. Currently, the board wants to allocate most of the bond to curriculum and technology. Technology would take the biggest chunk with the total amount of $3.8 million. The board Wednesday said iPads and Chromebooks will need to be refreshed soon. Security cameras and kiosks will also need to be updated. 

 

In Fiscal Year 2022, there would be additional elementary school Chromeook carts. Routine refreshment of some elementary and secondary Chromebooks would begin. That would include the refreshment of PreK through 8th grade faculty Chromebooks also. Those refreshments would take place in Fiscal Year 2023 too while an iPad Cart is added at each secondary school. It will cost up to $625,000 per year for everything to take place.  Lastly in FY22, BPS would look into providing WiFi hotspots for activity buses and home checkout. Granger Meador, the district's Executive Director of Technology and Commucations, said this would give equal opportunity to underprivileged BPS children.

 

Transportation was another issue looked at. If passed, the 2019 bond would look to replace 13 route buses that will be over 10 years old. A special needs bus and other school vehicles would then be invested in. As for schools activities, McCauley said $200,000 would go to BHS Fine Arts and another $200,00 would go towards Bruin athletics. That combined would go toward instruments, uniforms, stage platforms, risers, storage and more.

 

McCauley says there may be some effort to fix the pressbox at Custer Stadium. According to McCauley, it was installed in 1954 and it hasn't been upgraded since 1976. Lastly, turf may be installed at the Bruin softball field and at Doenges Memorial Stadium.

 

 

McCauley says the board hopes to issue bonds every two years at a lower cost in the future instead of waiting several years and having bond issues cost more. For the current 2019 bond issue the Bartlesville School Board is looking into, they hope to have a resolution pass in their May meeting. Several more public meetings will be held leading up to that May board gathering. The next noon board meeting will be held on March 27.