Upgrades necessary as program grows

Feb. 13 is the date for a special election on a bond issue aimed to provide much-needed improvements at Okmulgee Public School facilities.

The proposed bond, for a total of $17,750,000, includes a new Okmulgee Primary School multipurpose building which will include a storm shelter.

At Harmon Stadium, new bleacher seating is desperately needed, along with resurfacing of the track and replacement of the field turf.

Dunbar School is set to have renovations of the Special Needs classroom, along with repairing the parking lot which has portions closed off due major damage.

Another part of the proposal includes improvements at Okmulgee High School, such as the Agricultural Education buildings.

The Okmulgee Ag-Ed program restarted in 2018, led by Tim Taylor, and assisted by Angela Johnson.

Since then, the Okmulgee Agricultural Education program:

• Has grown student enrollment by 316 percent to 145 members.

• Maintained a statewide and nationally recognized, award-winning top-10 FFA chapter.

• Added a second full-time agricultural education instructor, Calvin Johnson.

• Obtained nearly $100,000 in grants and scholarships for classroom and laboratory projects.

• Provided hundreds of students with hands-on experiences in agricultural education principals like welding, food science, animal science, leadership development and horticulture.

“Many of our students have become successful citizens in an ever-changing society; going on to attend many of Oklahoma’s colleges, universities, technology centers, and industry,” Taylor stated in an information provided about the program.

“Starting in 2018, our staff and administration worked tirelessly with the facility and equipment they inherited to provide quality instruction for Okmulgee’s 8th through 12th-grade students. Six years later, we are now asking for our community to take this dedication to another level with the proposed bond issue vote on Feb. 13, 2024. As part of the high school’s $750,000 portion of the proposed bond, work will be done to renovate two of the buildings located at the AgEd Facility.”

--- The Facilities

The buildings, commonly referred to as the “East and West AgEd Buildings,” were once home to Okmulgee’s masonry and carpentry programs during the 1970s through 1990s. The buildings are set up with classrooms, laboratories, restrooms, and shop spaces similar to the main AgEd Building that was built in 1973.

The proposed bond would allow for the renovations of these buildings to fill two critical needs for the growing AgEd program:

• Additional classroom, restroom, and shop space to allow one of the instructors to have adequate space to teach and provide experiences for students.

• Convert the West AgEd Building to an animal science facility that would allow students to house their livestock supervised agricultural experience projects at the AgEd facility as well as provide space for longer-term projects as part of the animal science course curriculum.

“From day one, we have appreciated and relied on the amazing community support shown by our Okmulgee neighbors to provide awesome experiences for our students,” the program leader stated. “From plant sales, donations, fundraisers, and community work days - Okmulgee has always stepped up and shown out.

“We are now asking the community to step up once again to support our students for the Feb. 13 bond issue vote. The overall bond includes many priorities that will affect all our students from the Primary School’s multi-purpose building, to Dunbar’s SPED room and tennis court renovations, and to the high school renovations which include the AgEd Building.”

Additional information about what the proposed AgEd Facility renovations would mean to current and future students, as well as the work the program has done over the past six years with the existing facility, will be shared on the Okmulgee FFA Facebook and Instagram pages.