New MAPS for Kids schools open

[Patrick]

Both Star Spencer High School and Wheeler Elementary are now officially complete under the MAPS for Kids program.

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"City school reopens doors


By Michael Bratcher
The Oklahoman


It has been three years -- and about $3 million in renovations -- since students attended classes in the school.

The school has new paint and lockers and new floor and ceiling tiles. Updated plumbing and wiring hide behind the walls.

Oklahoma City School District officials renovated the school, one of the first projects finished under the MAPS for Kids plan passed in 2001.

Today, the building reopens for the district's first day of school.

"It's such an overwhelming feeling. I probably feel like a first-year administrator just starting out," said Cole, whose educational career spans more than 35 years. "I look down the hall, and I smile and say, 'This is nice.'"

Star Spencer students went to class at nearby Rogers Middle School while construction crews replaced windows and carpet and modernized classrooms by giving them wireless Internet access.

Cole said new white walls brighten a once "dingy, dark building," where brown hallways and beige floor tiles gave the appearance the school was much smaller.

Now the school colors of blue and white adorn the building, which opened in 1964.

"I've been in a lot of high schools, but this is the first opportunity I've had to go into something renovated and looking as nice as it does," Cole said. "What a great thrill, what a great gift I've been given to have the opportunity to be principal on this opening."

The construction company donated additional items at no cost to the district, including the installation of markerboards to replace chalkboards. Cole said the workers "bought into the ownership of the building as they worked on it."



Star Spencer Principal Dr. Sally Cole speaks to her teachers before the start of classes. Photo by Paul Hellstern

Friday morning, Cole addressed teachers in the renovated cafeteria. She reminded them they had just a few hours to set up their classrooms before crews waxed the floors.

Ron Parker has spent 12 years teaching history, government and geography classes. Before the renovations, he said, the school looked like it was "on its way downhill."

Senior Shawntay Alexander attended Star Spencer as a freshman but joined classmates at Rogers the past two years.

"I'm excited to be back in our school to graduate," Alexander, 17, said.

Cole said students will notice more changes. Shipments of new furniture are expected by early October.

Construction crews this summer also finished work at Wheeler Elementary, another school to reopen today under the MAPS for Kids plan.

Wheeler was damaged by a fire in 2001. Students attended classes at Rancho Village Baptist Church while the school was being renovated.

More improvements are planned at Wheeler next year, including an expansion that will house a media center, computer lab and gymnasium. "

[Patrick]

Here's another article on the new Star Spencer High School. It sounds impressive. I bet that once the new John Marshall, US Grant, and Douglass are built, we'll be blown away, jsut as we were when the Bricktown Ballpark opened! I'm looking forward to the continuation of MAPS for Kids!

"Officials tour Star Spencer school


By Michael Bratcher
The Oklahoman

SPENCER - "Welcome back home Bobcats."
The sign greeted students returning to Star Spencer High School on Monday morning. Three years have passed since classes were last held at the school.

The first day of classes for Oklahoma City Public Schools, students returned to the renovated school -- one of the first to be finished under the MAPS for Kids plan which voters passed in 2001.

"As it looks today, it is beautiful. I am so happy that we are in this rebuilt school," school board member Thelma Parks told students gathered for a morning assembly. "When I walked in the doors a couple of weeks ago ... I could not believe my eyes."

The brown hallways and termite-infested walls received a face-lift, replaced by white walls and tile floors accented with school colors. The $3 million project included a new roof, new electrical wiring, new plumbing and wireless Internet access in each classroom.

MAPS officials said "we've brought this school back into the 21st century." School board Chairman Cliff Hudson said the improved school, 3001 Spencer Road, is a result of a caring community.

"This is a wonderful thing for our community, just as it is a wonderful thing for you," Hudson told students and school staff.

Star Spencer senior Brandon Denton, 17, last attended classes in the building as a freshman. For two years, Denton and his classmates were educated at nearby Rogers Middle School.

"It feels new, and I feel optimistic," Denton said. "I think everything will be good from here on out. I'm proud of the work that's been done."

Board members, district officials and the media boarded a school bus Monday to tour Star Spencer and Wheeler Elementary, another school renovated under the MAPS for Kids plan.

At Wheeler, new tile ceilings rise above the light gray-colored walls in the hallway. Before, dark paneling and dim lighting filled hallways, said Lisa Ummel-Ingram, sixth-grade language arts teacher.

"After three years of being out of the building and a totally different regime, it's good to be back," Ummel-Ingram said.

In 2001, a fire damaged Wheeler, 501 SE 25, pushing it to the top of the MAPS for Kids renovation list. Classes were held at a local church while a construction crew repaired the building.

Eric Wenger, OCMAPS program manager, said phase two of Wheeler should be finished in late 2005 or early 2006 and includes a new cafeteria and library.

Wheeler Principal Cathy von Neumann said her staff started moving back into the school late last week.

The bus tour also visited Douglass High School, 900 N Martin Luther King Ave., where a new high school is under construction. "

[HoodRat]

Ya know... Wheeler is one of my neighborhoods schools. Its been interesting. When it burned the transient families left for other places where school was more accessible. A few years without Wheeler was actually good for my neighborhood. The tenant occupied housing was sold and has become owner occupied. Perfect timing for reopening.

P.S. It adjoins the property where the new addition I refer to in another post is to be built. Wheeler school then shidler park then the addition, all neighbors on one block. Pretty cool.

[Patrick]

Glad to hear the good neighborhood news! Anytime we can increase home ownership and decrease rental properties, neighborhoods will improve. My folks moved a few years back....the main reason was because the neighborhood was going down. Why? Because it was all becoming rental property.