Last Updated on February 5, 2024, 12:15 PM | Published: February 4, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY — Crooked Oak public school district normally stays out of the news except for wins in sports.
Teachers, leaders, and staff of the small district nestled about two miles southeast of downtown Oklahoma City earnestly work at providing an education to its 1,200 students with little fanfare or public attention.
But, in the past several weeks, the district has been top of mind for those who want the new Oklahoma County jail location to be at 1901 E. Grand Boulevard and for those opposed to the idea.
Del City residents and elected officials have been gravely concerned about the negative possibilities of having the county jail next door to the small city within Oklahoma City.
But, at least two of the Oklahoma County Commissioners, Myles Davidson and Brian Maughan, have made positive public statements about the location.
Why?
How Crooked Oak figures heavily into the discussion — some might say “fight” — is that patrons just voted for the district to issue $26 million in bonds to build a new sports complex on a combination of the current football and softball fields and land they just purchased next door.
And, that land is, for some, uncomfortably close to the site being considered for a new jail.
One City Council member in Del City makes a case that it would be illegal.
Were commissioners going to big-foot the small district and put a jail on the site no matter what?
That was the fear of Del City leaders and those who have had or have children in Crooked Oak.
Then, there was a new development early in the week.
A big ‘if’
Brad Richards, superintendent of Crooked Oak, sent a letter to all three commissioners agreeing in principle to a land swap if the commissioners were to decide to go ahead and place the jail in the 1901 Grand site.
Free Press obtained this copy of the letter.
JailRichards told Free Press Saturday that it is a big “if” whether the commissioners will go ahead and choose the 1901 Grand site.
“I’m not asking them to put the jail there,” Richards said. “I don’t want them to.”
“But, if that happens, we want the possibility of a land swap.”
He and others are concerned about their students congregating close to the jail where detainees are released around the clock out onto the street, especially at night after games at the sports complex.
Stalled?
The proposed land swap would involve commissioners arranging to buy land a few blocks north of the district’s main campus which is at NE 15th and Eastern, then swap that land for the current sports fields and the new land next to it.
It was about four weeks ago, Richards said, that he was approached about whether he would be open to a land swap to address the anxieties about students being close to the jail.
“Well, when I was approached about that, I assumed that a decision was going to be made relatively quickly,” Richards told us. “And it wasn’t. So, here we are, I’ve asked our architect and our construction guys to hold up on everything until we figure out what’s going on.”
“I can call and talk to the commissioners. But you can’t talk to the commissioners more than one at a time because of the Open Meeting act,” said Richards about discussing what their thinking is. “So I thought the most efficient way to do that is to send the letter: Yeah. We’re officially interested.”
So, he wrote the letter. And, it got out.
But, the Board of County Commissioners and the Crooked Oak Board of Education have not yet taken up the idea, leaving the appearance to some that there is a lot of talking behind the scenes with no open process in the public eye.
More controversy
“I just worry about Open Meetings, and open records, you know,” Gina Standridge, Mid-Del Schools Board of Education member told Free Press Friday evening. “That just appears to me that stuff has been happening. And it has not been board approved in any kind of open session, you know. Who’s got the authority to do all this?”
Standridge said, “We just think things shouldn’t be happening that are not in front of the public. And, we shouldn’t be scaring a little school district into thinking this is their only option when we’ve heard that the votes aren’t there.”
Standridge has been vocal about her objections to the idea of putting a jail at 1901 E. Grand in Board of County Commissioners meetings.
But, she’s not the only one.
A regular troop of residents around the county have been showing up at BoCC meetings for the last eight months as commissioners have considered different possibilities for a jail site.
After a site near the airport was nixed by the FAA about a month ago, the pressure has been mounting for commissioners to get a site secured so that other planning for the facility itself can get underway.
And, as commissioners circled back several times looking at sites on the historically-black Eastside (north of the Oklahoma River) and the site at 1901 was floated, both residents north of the river and south of the river east of downtown have become more animated in their opposition.
A panel at MetroTech was held Monday night where a mix of black, white, and Hispanic residents filled the auditorium to hear broad spectrum of leaders from the community discuss problems with the current proposals.
At this point, residents of the historic Eastside, Del City, and OKC residents in the Crooked Oak district are on guard about anything the commissioners are trying to do to solve the problem of the jail location.
One thing that came out at the town hall was that it is feasible to have the new jail built on the current site with some neighboring land purchased and a two-story structure being built.
But, residents are suspicious that two of the commissioners, Davidson and Maughan, are set against the idea of keeping the jail location on the current one even through the courts, and services are readily available in that location.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
