A bigger library is one of the new things Turner Public Schools officials hope to purchase with two bond issues, totaling over $1 million, to be voted on Tuesday.
“Right now I have trouble housing everything for all the grades in one building,” librarian Robin Mayes said.
Books are not the only thing that no longer fit in the Turner library.
“I cannot seat an entire class as it is now. Some students have to sit on the floor,” Mayes said.
The new library would fill the currently open space between the high school and elementary buildings. It will also include an expansion of the high school administration offices and a formal entrance to the high school.
“The old library will be turned into a technology room because of demands on testing and will have 30 computers,” Turner Superintendent Don Simmons said.
Demands include state testing now becoming computerized.
Turner currently has bonds that are due to retire in June and in 2011.
“We are retiring our bonds, so the tax increase will be minimal,” Simmons said.
For someone who paid $500 in property taxes in 2009, the new tax rate would increase by $30.38 annually or $2.53 per month.
Also with the passage of the bond, a digital sign would be purchased for in front of the school.
“We are an ideal sight for a digital sign because people go up and down that highway and we could keep them informed,” Simmons said.
Athletic purchases could include a dressing room, public restroom, and storage at the softball/baseball complex, which is currently without such a building, and a new basketball scoreboard.
“(The scoreboard is) over 30 years old and we can’t get parts for it anymore,” Simmons said.
Other items in Proposition 1, which totals $940,000, would be new energy efficient windows and lighting, technology upgrades, an air conditioning system in the auditorium and a suburban.
The district’s old suburban has over 200,000 miles and is used for small groups such as the academic team.
Proposition 2, totaling $110,000, would be used to purchase two off-lease diesel buses to replace older buses.
Four area school boards will also have elections Tuesday.
Robert Thomason and Rick Watson are running for the Southern Oklahoma Technology Center Board.
Joann Moore and Willie Tiller Jr. are running for the Ardmore City Schools Board.
In Davis, Elva Campbell, Pat Parks, Kip Pruitt and James Taliaferro are running for school board.
In Kingston, Jeff McDonald, George Witt and Dena M. Jones are running for school board.
