Transcript Staff Writer
When Norman Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Richard Schiller discusses the district's potential plans for the Joe A. Smalley U.S. Army Reserve Center he has the similar posture of a first-time home buyer.
The administrator has armed himself with pages of research, experienced many facility walk-throughs and has envisioned the best possible use of the floor plan. The whole process has left him with a stack of charts, aerial photos and the feeling that this is the site the district's alternative education program can call home.
"It would be a delightful place for us to turn into a school," he said last week to the NPS Board of Education.
But before even one school bell can ring at the Army Reserve Center, a 34,000-square-foot complex on about 4 acres on the northwest corner of Lindsey Street and Wylie Road, the district will have to win the approval of the Norman Local Redevelopment Authority. Like Schiller's research, it sounds good on paper. But two other local entities have eyes for "Joe," and the LRA only has room for one.
The Smalley Center was declared surplus by the federal government last spring following the recommendation of the Base Realignment and Closure commission. That announcement fit into the Oklahoma Army National Guard's five-year armory reorganization plan to close 58 armories and construct seven armed forces reserve centers and combine Guard and Reserve units.
Norman was among the cities selected for a new center slated for construction on Tecumseh Road near I-35. Other locations in-line for construction projects are Muskogee, McAlester, Oklahoma City, Broken Arrow, Enid and Lawton.
According to Linda Price, revitalization manager for the City of Norman, it may take up to three years for the new center to come on-line, but the LRA's window to select a new occupant is significantly shorter.
"We are going to have a meeting at which time the applicants will make their proposals," Price said of the planned 6 p.m. Dec. 13, meeting in the city council's chambers. "It will be an open meeting, but no decision will be made at that time. The public can attend and ask questions."
NPS will be there with their proposal as will officials from Middle Earth Child Development Center, 2748 Decatur Ave., and the Norman police and fire departments. Middle Earth would like to relocate to the site, and the city wants the facility to establish police and fire investigation offices. While the city isn't expected to award the rights to the facility next month, it might make a fine post-holiday season gift.
"The LRA can take up to 270 days to make a decision," Price explained. "I'm sure they will take one month or two at least to make their decision."
After an entity is chosen, it will up to them to file a second application with the appropriate federal agency ? NPS would have to file with the Department of Education. At that time the government will determine if they are a "public benefit" and turn over the facility. The waiting period just may leave NPS Alternative Education Director Charlie Mason like a sleepless child on Christmas Eve, eager to open presents.
"It would mean a lot to the kids to in a building that is more school-like," she said. "We would be on one campus. It would be great."
The alternative education program currently operates out of two facilities located near the intersection of E. Main Street an 12th Ave. NE. More than 110 high school, middle school and elementary school students attend the 11 year program. More than 20 students are on a waiting list to enroll. The Smalley Center would double the district's alternative education space and allow for more students, modern classrooms and a central location.
"What it means is we could cut down on our waiting list, offer classes that meet the state's new graduation requirements in science," Mason said. "We also could reinstate production management classes and enhance the family and consumer sciences classes."
The advantages described by Mason aren't possible for her program at the existing location. The district leases the property, and the lack of ownership prevents any improvements through capital improvement bonds. Schiller said Joe A. Smalley would remove those constraints and give NPS the means to address those issues.
"In my estimation we have an exemplar alternative education program," Schiller said. "The Joe A. Smalley Center would allow us to support that program and provide a more modern classroom environment than we can provide at the present location. We simply can't do capital improvements to property we don't own."
If the district were to acquire the center, the bonding process almost would start immediately. Schiller said the facility would need more than $2 million in renovations.
"I expect it would take about $2.5 million," he said, "but a new facility would easily cost twice that. We also run the risk of losing a prime location. The center is nicely located to the other schools in the district."
Money and location aside, Schiller said the district's main goal in this three-person lottery is to provide the best possible education experience for its students.
"Where ever our kids go to school, we are trying to improve the facility so that they can be provided with equitable opportunities," he said.
If the LRA decides the police and fire departments or Middle Earth are more suitable occupants, Schiller said the district would turn its attentions elsewhere. But NPS has gone ahead and worked on its second application just incase. It is that commitment and positive attitude that gives Mason a good feeling about her program's future at Joe A. Smalley or not.
"I'm extremely excited," she said. "The district has always supported this program, and this demonstrates again that they are supportive of what we do."
Tony Pennington 366-3541 schools@normantranscript.com
