ENID — It probably was the winds of change blowing Wednesday near the corner of Willow and Garland during the groundbreaking ceremony for Prairie View Elementary School.
Whatever wind it was, it blew strong throughout the event.
“We’ll try not to blow away out here as we celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Prairie View Elementary School,” said Enid Public Schools Superintendent Shawn Hime as he stepped to the lectern on the temporary stage on the graded 23 acres where the school will rise.
Cummins Construction, which donated the land for the school, was recognized during the ceremony and presented with plaques of thanks. Prairie View, designed by Corbin Associates, is part of the voter-approved 2010 bond issue. It will be able to serve 600 students when the doors open in the fall of 2012.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Willa Jo Fowler, president of the EPS Board of Education, when she took her turn at the microphone. “A lot of people have worked very hard for it.”
Enid High School Jazz Band, Glenwood Elementary School Pop Choir and Monroe Elementary School Honor Choir regaled the crowd with “Oklahoma.”
The mascot for the school, proposed during a two-month search for names that drew 240 suggestions ranging from acorns to zebras, was voted on by the school board during the groundbreaking ceremony. The board voted unanimously for the Prairie View Buffaloes.
After taking care of that piece of official business, board members turned their attention to manning the shovels and breaking the ground.
The board will meet at noon today to handle a routine matter connected to the bond issue passed in 2010.
Bids on interest rates for bonds to be issued will be opened at 11:45 a.m., and the financial consultant for the bond issue will report on which financial institution offers the lowest bid on interest.
According to EPS business manager Karl White, the district hopes to find a low interest rate. The interest on the bonds is paid by ad valorem tax, so the lower the interest rate, the more money saved by the taxpayers.
The $5.52 million general obligation combined purpose bonds to be issued will be used for the purchase of buses for transportation and for computer equipment for the district, White said.
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