SANS SPRINGS — Two years ago, Sand Springs voters approved the 2024 Futureready Sandites Student Investment Plan.
One of the results of that bond issue was unveiled last month when Sand Springs Public Schools opened its new middle school, formally Clyde Boyd Middle School.
Sand Springs Middle School which houses both 7th and 8th grade students.
The building includes new science labs, a place for kids to sit and talk, and a storm shelter in the cafeteria big enough for every student in the building.
Superintendent Sherry Durkee previously visited with Sand Springs Middle School Principal Dakota Nealy about the new building and name change on the school district’s podcast Sandite Chat.
Boyd's career in education as principal and director of athletics in the Garber School system, where he served for nine years before relocating to Sand Springs in 1932. Boyd became principal at Sand Springs and was later named superintendent in 1939.
“The State Department of Ed (will) officially name the middle school Sand Springs Middle School this school year,” Durkee said. “We want to make sure people know that we never, never would want to lose the historical value of the name. In fact, the sports complex or the gymnasiums that houses wrestling, basketball, volleyball, archery, that's still going to glean the name Clyde Boyd Sports Complex. And then of course Thurman Garrett will still stay as the Thurman Garrett Auditorium. So, never would we want to devalue the history of that building.”
Durkee said Clyde Boyd Middle School had been added onto through the years.
“It was (added on) several times, as you probably know if you've lived here very long, and each time there is a historical marker for each segment,” she said. “And we're trying to just focus on a way to display those, so that people that maybe don't know about the history of that site can peruse through and understand and learn. So, I just wanted to say that upfront.”
Durkee said she is proud of the new school’s building design.
“Our architect team and then, of course, Ellie Kearns, who has completed a lot of projects, were immaculate in just the planning and making sure the structure was suitable and appropriate for middle school level students, with a lot of thoughts about what teachers needed and windows, and there's a middle section that is a courtyard.
The whole thing is going to be brilliant,” Durkee said.
Nealy said he was excited to see the expression of students walking through the new building.
“I had the eighth-grade football team help me move boxes in, and getting to see those boys walk through the building, the excitement, and almost like, I know this sounds weird, but the reverence for it, like, 'Oh my gosh, we get this brand-new building.' It was more exciting for me to watch them experience it than really for me because they deserve it,” he said.
Nealy said the new school’s cafeteria is large enough to accommodate an entire grade during each of its three lunch periods.
“We'll be able to have the entire grade. For each lunch, we'll have sixth graders first, then seventh graders, then eighth graders, so they'll each (have their own) schedule,” Nealy said.
Durkee said the new cafeteria also serves a multipurpose role.
“So, in the event of any kind of emergency, we lock that down, and it becomes safe for kids to be in, and enough capacity that the entire school can be housed there, which is cool. So, I don't have to be nervous about that anymore,” she said.
Nealy concurred. “Now we have a dedicated space we know our students will be safe in, so it relieves me a lot,” he said.
Nealy said Officer Levi Lemon with the Sand Springs Police Department serves as their School Resource Officer (SRO).
“He's going to be wonderful,” Nealy said. “And a big thing we want our officers to do in the school is to just build relationships with the kids.”
Nealy said his principal office is housed on the building’s first floor, and assistant principals are housed on the second floor.
“(It's) just to help kind of spread out where we are, because I think having us all kind of downstairs would've been rough,” he said. “That way we can just be available for our students because I think most people hear the principal and they think discipline, and that's not necessarily what we do. We are trying to get to know our students and help them. And I know the public gets to see a little picture of what we do, but we have great assistant principals.”