Southmoore Sabercats

[oneforone]

I haven't heard. The two high schools aren't closed campus now, are they?

I vaguely remember seeing many teenie-boppers crowding the local food establishments around lunch time, so I'm thinking that it's open campus now.

I can't imagine have a closed campus with that many kids.

Moore is open campus. They talked about going closed campus years ago and the businesses near the schools asked them to keep the campus open. Most of the restaurants from 119th and Western to 12th and Eastern Count on student business. Not to mention the Cafeterias at Moore and Westmoore were to small to handle 500 some odd students each lunch period. When I when I went to school there in 95 there where almost 2000 students and 125 faculty taking a 45 minunte lunch between 11 to 1:30.


Police from Moore and OKC can be seen all down that stretch during lunch hour. They do not play during lunch time in that area. If you get stopped by one of them you can almost guarantee your getting a ticket and god help you start trouble in a business.

[kybrwallace]

Yea I was one of the students to give suggestion about the name.I cant wait to go to that school next year!

[andimthomas]

So if anyone is wondering.....
Southmoore is a great facility. It is very state-of-the-art. There are thirteen computer labs, two gyms, eight cafeteria lines, a media center and an auditorium. It is very easy to get around and there's barely any congestion in the hallways. The building is very well thought out. A few problems here and there. The ceiling in the concourse leaks when there's a big rain. They forgot some air vents so in December they cut holes into the ceilings. We didn't have clocks until second semester. And the auditorium has been under construction for far too long. The only recognizable difference I see from September to right now in the auditorium is that they added a construction light in the entry.

[AAC2005]

So if anyone is wondering.....

Are those your brand new stadium lights that I can see from West of Western Avenue?

Crikey! It looks like it's sitting in the middle of Stonemeadows!

[andimthomas]

Haha. Yes. Those were put up around November and were completed this month. They're for the Softball and Baseball fields. I'm not sure if they go all the way back to the soccer and football field or not. I've never been that far back.
Lol. Southmoore seems like it just popped up out of nowhere.

[Jesseda]

just curious is southmoore bigger than moore high? out of three highschools what sizes to you rank them from 1-3

[andimthomas]

Moore is made up of multiple buildings. Some are two stories. So I don't know about Moore. But Westmoore and Southmoore are close to the same size. Southmoore is two stories. Westmoore is one, but it is really long. Really really long. Out of the three, Southmoore is the easiest to get around.

[SOONER8693]

Westmoore is the largest of the 3 schools, student population wise. Southmoore only has around 200 seniors this year, but should go to full status next year. With that, Westmoore will still be the largest in student count. Southmoore does look very nice at first glance, but "state of the art". Not hardly. The district had to cut many corners due to lack of funding. It is very cheaply designed and constructed in many cases. I "work" in the district and talk to teachers at Southmoore on a weekly basis and there is widespread dissatisfaction and dissapointment with the entire situation. Teachers equate Southmoore now to an inner city school. They got the castoffs from Moore and Westmoore. Don't get me wrong, there are good kids and students there, but they are in the minority. The school was opened at least a year to early. Faculty not complete, building not complete, no books, no equipment in the science classes, no lockers, the list goes on and on. It has been a total, classic, clusterf**k from the beginning.

[andimthomas]

Westmoore is the largest of the 3 schools, student population wise. Southmoore only has around 200 seniors this year, but should go to full status next year. With that, Westmoore will still be the largest in student count. Southmoore does look very nice at first glance, but "state of the art". Not hardly. The district had to cut many corners due to lack of funding. It is very cheaply designed and constructed in many cases. I "work" in the district and talk to teachers at Southmoore on a weekly basis and there is widespread dissatisfaction and dissapointment with the entire situation. Teachers equate Southmoore now to an inner city school. They got the castoffs from Moore and Westmoore. Don't get me wrong, there are good kids and students there, but they are in the minority. The school was opened at least a year to early. Faculty not complete, building not complete, no books, no equipment in the science classes, no lockers, the list goes on and on. It has been a total, classic, clusterf**k from the beginning.

I meant state-of-the-art as in electronic wise. Okay, glad someone mentioned the cheap construction. I almost forgot. If you look around the school, look at the detail, it's obvious that everything was rushed and slapped together. The materials used are very cheap. The classrooms are small. There are lots of hand-me-down materials and supplies. Like books, overheads, desks and such. Projectors are set on carts and rolled around. Why not mount them on the ceiling? Because Moore and Westmoore can't complain that Southmoore as everything and they don't. Some things are just plain ridiculous. Like the field house. They built it without consideration of many athletics. Football has everything they need. And the other sports have to share with each other. And there's offices for girl's soccer. But not boy's soccer. Ridiculous.

I'm not trying to sound ungreatful or anything. If they want this facility to be around for awhile, they should've waited one more year.

[bombermwc]

Well it is a bond issue building. You can never get enough money together to build the entire school at once. You won't see a fully complete Southmoore for several years. That doesn't mean that they should have left a building empty without students though. The whole move was done in reflection to the requirement for 9th graders being at the high schools. There's a federal guideline about college preparation that was the driving force why districts like Mid-Del and Moore moved 9th graders up. Mid-Del actually did it intelligently by adding on to their 3 high schools, with very nice 9th grader wings that sort of isolate them some from the other classes...even with different bell schedules so they don't "intermingle".

Anyway, in moore, they built Southmoore because of the projections in growth of the student population in the district. Within 5 years, all 3 schools will be pushing the 2000 student mark. Items like the auditorium and athletic facilites aren't neccessary to educate the students. Heck, Moore still doesn't have an auditorium and won't until that bond issue has raised it's funds for construction....along with the funds for Westmoore's fieldhouse. The new OKCPS high school's had similar issues when they first opened, but they are being addressed.

Give the disrtict time folks. All they need is a few years so they have the money to do it. You can't blame them for not being able to get money together to complete the project perfectly. How often does anything government related happen on time and in budget? Plus there's still a 5th jr high that they are going to add. Once that shuffles all of the students around again. As I understand it, once the new jr. high is built, that's when they'll move the 6th graders up too.

I know we're not used to giving districts the benefit of the doubt, but it's just too soon to judge this situation. Maps for Kids had many more years to get funding built up before they started....and remember they are still in the process. There is a law that limits how much money you can put into a project in a bond issue, and it doesn't cover everything for a school. Think about how much it takes for a 6A school....desks, chairs, uniforms, band instruments, art supplies, computers, infrastructure, etc......millions more than is legal in a single election.

[oneforone]

Well it is a bond issue building. You can never get enough money together to build the entire school at once. You won't see a fully complete Southmoore for several years. That doesn't mean that they should have left a building empty without students though. The whole move was done in reflection to the requirement for 9th graders being at the high schools. There's a federal guideline about college preparation that was the driving force why districts like Mid-Del and Moore moved 9th graders up. Mid-Del actually did it intelligently by adding on to their 3 high schools, with very nice 9th grader wings that sort of isolate them some from the other classes...even with different bell schedules so they don't "intermingle".

Anyway, in moore, they built Southmoore because of the projections in growth of the student population in the district. Within 5 years, all 3 schools will be pushing the 2000 student mark. Items like the auditorium and athletic facilites aren't neccessary to educate the students. Heck, Moore still doesn't have an auditorium and won't until that bond issue has raised it's funds for construction....along with the funds for Westmoore's fieldhouse. The new OKCPS high school's had similar issues when they first opened, but they are being addressed.

Give the disrtict time folks. All they need is a few years so they have the money to do it. You can't blame them for not being able to get money together to complete the project perfectly. How often does anything government related happen on time and in budget? Plus there's still a 5th jr high that they are going to add. Once that shuffles all of the students around again. As I understand it, once the new jr. high is built, that's when they'll move the 6th graders up too.

I know we're not used to giving districts the benefit of the doubt, but it's just too soon to judge this situation. Maps for Kids had many more years to get funding built up before they started....and remember they are still in the process. There is a law that limits how much money you can put into a project in a bond issue, and it doesn't cover everything for a school. Think about how much it takes for a 6A school....desks, chairs, uniforms, band instruments, art supplies, computers, infrastructure, etc......millions more than is legal in a single election.

Moore already has five Jr. Highs, West, Brink, Highland East, Highland West and Central. The sixth will most likely be placed down south near Southmoore. You right as far as the rest of your post is concerned. I attended Moore Schools from K-12. They will not disappoint in the end the school will have everything they intended it to have.

[SOONER8693]

Westmoore is setting at about 2100 students this year.

[andimthomas]

The school district has two elementary and two jr. highs planned. They already have the land, too. Now they just need to get out of the Southmoore debt.

[SOONER8693]

The financial person at Southmoore was escorted out of the building by the ass't sup on Wednesdy and given x number of days to get his stuff out of the building. Evidently bills were not being payed and the finances of SHS could be a serious mess.

[andimthomas]

Looks like the new elementary school south of Southmoore is progressing nicely.

[TheTravellers]

Thought there was a more recent PCHS thread, but there wasn't, so this one popped up and fits the bill too...

Watched the London New Year's Day Parade on OETA for the first time this year and it was incredible, beat the crap out of the Rose Parade as far as entertainment value goes (totally separate concepts, I know). *Tons* of American HS marching bands in between all the borough and other entries, and they give them 2 minutes to perform at the end of the parade, very cool!

Anyway, the Southmoore Sabercats performed at about 1:35, the Pride Of Putnam City performed right after them (1:38), and there was a great version of the completely politically incorrect (but great) Fat-Bottomed Girls by the University High School Titans (from Florida, I believe) at 2:14. At the end (3:06), the street reporters wrapped it up while standing in front of the the PCHS Orchestra group with their banner, pretty nice publicity for OK!

Also, the Jenks band was in the Rose Parade...

[jn1780]

Wow! Must have been a great experience for those kids.

[TheTravellers]

Wow! Must have been a great experience for those kids.

That's what the announcers and band directors they interviewed kept saying - it's a fantastic experience to travel and be in London for a week or so (there was some kind of actual concert where a lot of the bands played a couple of days after 1/1) - not just for the kids, but also for their families and all the support staff, travel is very enlightening and some of the kids had never been on an airplane or out of their county before...

[Bellaboo]

London has some great venues to visit, The British Museum and the British Library, and they are both totally free.
And then the typical places like Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the list goes on and on...
Great if they got to visit those places.

[m.williams]

London has some great venues to visit, The British Museum and the British Library, and they are both totally free.
And then the typical places like Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the list goes on and on...
Great if they got to visit those places.

My son is in the Southmoore band and I went with him to London for the parade. I can say that Southmoore has a truly great band program with directors who pour themselves into those kids. The dedication they have for the program and the kids is second to none. We had a great trip and the kids were able to spend a week in London. We had scheduled visits with several of the popular tourist attractions and several blocks of time for small groups to see additional things as they wished. It was a once of a lifetime trip for many of those kids.

[bombermwc]

Amen about the directors. Mewhorter is just a wonderful human being as well as a wonderful director. Some of his staff has been with him for years now and that's a testament to his leadership with that organization. I'm hoping that Moore can get some stability with the staff they have now and make some of those same strides.