Just as quickly as an auctioneer pounds his gavel, Mid-Del’s Board of Education voted without comment April 11 to sell two elementary school properties as the district fights a dwindling student enrollment and a projected $6 million budget shortfall.

Sooner-Rose Elementary, with its 8.5 acres of land, received the most attention with four bids — three of them from the Midwest City Memorial Hospital Authority, which lists the city as a beneficiary. The hospital authority was the high bidder with a bid of $1,655,280, but did not include a lease-back option that would allow the district time to make new accommodations for the students.

As a result, the board awarded the property to BancFirst, which submitted a bid of $1,629,000 with a four-year lease-back option.

BancFirst’s Brian Renz said the bank intends to keep the two acres at the corner of Southeast 15th Street and Sooner Road and negotiate a sale or trade of the remaining property. The bank will lease the school property back to the district for $1 a year while other arrangements are made for the Sooner-Rose students, according to Pam Twidwell, Mid-Del deputy superintendent of transition.

The board also voted to award the Traub Elementary property to the Rose State College Technical Area District, the legal entity representing the college. Rose State submitted the lone bid on Traub Elementary and its 12 acres of land for $1.2 million.

However, a third Mid-Del property — the central enrollment and special services building at 2712 S. Midwest Blvd. — will stay with the district temporarily. The school board voted to reject the only bid on the property because the bid was more than 50 percent below the appraised value, Twidwell said.

The bidder was David Stanley Dodge, which submitted a bid of $251,000. The district will not solicit a second round of bids on that property for at least another year, Twidwell said.

TRANSITIONAL RELATIONSHIP
Prior to the votes on the school property bids, Traub Elementary Principal Rondall Jones and Sooner-Rose Elementary Principal LouAnn LeClair urged board members to “give them time” to help their students, faculty and parents deal with the transition.

“Please give us time to heal and mend, time to get things in order,” Jones said.

In similar fashion, LeClair said, “If you’re looking at closing Sooner-Rose, we ask for time. Time to pack our boxes and time to move to the next destination for our students. We stand ready to embrace whatever decision you make tonight.”

Traub Elementary parent Kelly Kornbeck made an emotional plea for her son and other students.

“Our kids’ future at Traub is priceless,” she said. “It’s more than a school. It’s bonded us together. It’s a piece of history. It’s not just property that’s up for sale, it’s our kids. What does it teach them if we take their school from them?”

tfarley@eastword.net