RSC and the automobile dealership were the only bidders on separate pieces of property owned by the school district, which voted to take bids on Sooner-Rose Elementary, Traub Elementary and the enrollment center on Midwest Blvd. The district’s action is considered a cost-cutting measure in light of reduced student enrollment and a significant drop in state funding.

Rose State submitted a bid of $1.2 million for Traub Elementary and its 12.5 acres. Included in the bid is a three-year lease-back option “or until a new school is ready for occupancy.” Traub, located along S.E. 15thSt. west of Sooner Road, is adjacent to the college campus and would provide a natural expansion for RSC.
Mid-Del school officials have discussed closing some older, existing schools and replacing them with new, energy-efficient buildings.

In a statement attached to its bid, Rose State officials wrote “Currently, the college has little vacant space for expansion, especially a space that will accommodate any future instructional buildings. Potentially, new programs in computer and information technology, engineering, health technicians and other developing technical careers can be expanded when adequate and appropriate instructional space is made available.”
Rose State President Terry Britton said after the bid opening that the college enrollment has grown 17 percent in the last two years.

“A new building would provide us relief on classroom space,” he said. “Quite frankly, it solidifies our plans for the future.”

SPECIAL SERVICES
David Stanley Dodge was the only bidder on the Special Services office building, located at 2712 South Midwest Boulevard. The automobile dealership submitted a bid for $251,000. The bid also included a one-year lease-back option for the building only.

Sooner-Rose Elementary, located at S.E. 15th and Sooner Road, received the most attention with four bids, although three of them came from the Midwest City Memorial Hospital Authority, a public trust that lists the city as its beneficiary. The city submitted the highest bid at $1,655,280, but did not include a lease-back option. BancFirst was the second highest bidder with a bid of $1,629,000 with a four-year lease-back option.

“We’ve been looking for seven years to find a location in Midwest City,” BancFirst’s Brian Renz said. “We included the four-year option because we’re not for moving kids all around all the time. We’re here to help the school district.”

If the bank’s bid were accepted, Renz said some of the eight acres at Sooner-Rose Elementary would be sold.

“A bank branch doesn’t require that much property,” he said.

The city also submitted bids of $1,522,857 with a two-year lease back and another one for $1,589,068 with a one-year lease back. The city reportedly would use the land at S.E. 15th and Sooner Road for retail development.

City officials said the high bid was based on fair market values while the lower bids were based on the net present value of money for the one and two-year lease-back options. School board members will decide at their April 11 meeting which, if any, bids to accept. Board members have the option of not accepting any of the bids.

Selling the two elementary schools and the special services building are the first steps in reducing the number of buildings in the school district. Currently, the district operates 26 school buildings with an enrollment of about 14,500 students. At its peak, the Mid-Del district had more than 20,000 students enrolled.

A $190.9 million bond issue that was narrowly defeated in December called for four elementary schools and two middle schools to close. At the same time, the bond issue would have provided funds for the construction of four new elementary schools.

Mid-Del school board members voted in January to continue with a school consolidation plan and pursue another bond issue similar to the one that failed in December.

School officials have repeatedly said the proposed school sales and the pending bond issue are not connected.
tfarley@eastword.net | Photo/Mark Hancock