KREBS, Okla. — More classrooms, a storm shelter, and moving a playground to a safer spot are on the ballot April 1. All this is in the form of a $4.2 million Krebs school bond.
2 News Oklahoma’s Douglas Braff spoke with school leaders and listened to a teacher about how desperately they need these items.
“As you can see, when we’re full, it’s tight space,” Amy Snell told 2 News as she showed us her classroom.
She has taught kindergarten at Krebs Public School for 26 years. Back in 1999, she said they used to have about 15 kids per classroom. That number has only grown since.
“I have between 19 and 20 kids normally, at this point,” Snell told us.
When asked if that number is too high for her, she replied, “It is, and in this small space, there's not as much time for one-on-one with the students that I would like to do.”
“Whereas if there were smaller classroom sizes,” she added, “I could pull them more often and work with them more independently, which is what we want a better learning situation for the kids.”
With the number of students rising from roughly 370 to 435 in about a decade, adding four more classrooms is a big-ticket item for Krebs Public Schools, something an upcoming bond election would fund.
“We are at capacity,” Superintendent Patrick Turner told 2 News. “We have no, no longer have any space in our classrooms to take students. We have elementary-age students in classrooms in our junior high hallway, because that's the only open spaces we had.”
But that’s not the only thing the K-through-8 district plans to use the $4.195 million for.
One of the things the superintendent told us they need most is to relocate a playground.
“This is Highway 31,” Turner said as he showed us the playground in question. “I measured it the other day; it’s 18 feet from the corner of the playground fence to the highway.”
In light of some recent close calls, 18 feet is too close for comfort for the school district.
“We’ve had some issues with semis coming off the roadway, taking out that telephone pole,” he said. “We’ve had a semi clip the highline pole right here.”
If the bond passes, the playground would move to the school’s interior courtyard.
Other projects the bond would pay for are adding a storm shelter, restrooms, and upgrading equipment.
The superintendent told us if the bond passes, taxes will increase by 4.71% for the next 10 years.
But this is not the first time the district attempted to pass a version of this proposal.
“Third time's the charm, and it's our last shot,” Turner noted. “It's our last shot at getting this done before the [2014] bond comes off the books. And then we have to potentially face in the near future running one with a significant tax increase, which is not what we want.”
Election Day is Tuesday, April 1.
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