The Midwest City-Del City (Okla.) district is moving forward with a $26.5 million consolidation plan that calls for closing two middle schools and expanding, renovating and renaming two others.
The Oklahoman reports that Del Crest Middle School in Del City and Jarman Middle School in Midwest City are set to close in summer 2020. Del Crest students will move to Kerr Middle School and Jarman students will move to Monroney Middle School for the 2020-21 school year.
“I think there’s some cautious excitement about it,” Superintendent Rick Cobb says. “Staff wants to know what their new role will be once the buildings are combined.”
Kerr will be renamed Del City Middle School and Monroney will be renamed as Midwest City Middle School. The schools will adopt the mascots and colors of the high schools they feed into.
Carl Albert Middle School and Carl Albert High School already share a similar arrangement.
Dwindling enrollments factored into the decision to close two of the district’s five middle schools, Cobb says. The average enrollment at each of the four schools is about 550 students.
The Kerr and Monroney campuses will be expanded and renovated with funds from the district’s October 2017 bond issue.
Cordell Ehrich, the district’s executive director of secondary instruction, says additional buildings at Kerr and Monroney will house sixth-grade wings along with special education classes and some electives. Seventh- and eighth-grade students will be concentrated in the existing structures.
The additions will include practice gyms that double as tornado shelters.
District officials are considering whether to find other uses for Del Crest and Jarman — the original Mid West City High School.
“We have some rough plans to repurpose Del Crest,” Cobb says. “With Jarman, everything is on the table.”
