(Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part series on the founding and development of what would become the Midwest City-Del City School District.)
MIDWEST CITY — While 1943 and 1944 were the years that laid the foundation for a school district in Midwest City, the focus of the years that followed was on providing an environment conducive to continued growth, vision and achievement.
Oscar V. Rose, the first superintendent, and JE Sutton, principal, had worked to meet the early challenges presented in starting a new district. Now, their focus was managing growth and growing to become an outstanding school system.
Sports teams and extracurricular activities such as Boy Scouts, study and flower clubs, and civic organizations were started, often with coaches and sponsors of the superintendent and principal. Parents, townspeople and teachers also helped create a well-rounded school experience.
In his 1982 memoirs, Sutton said that with sports and extracurricular activities starting in the schools, it created a sense that the schools were the center of the community and were established to serve the students and the community.
Building a school system was a unique challenge and honor, Sutton recalls. He said everything was new: new schools, new students, new teachers, new churches, new businesses, all working together to make this new community, Midwest City, a great one.
In April 1944, the district moved into its first brick and mortar school, which is now Jarman Middle School. But as the population continued to grow, the huts (temporary classrooms) also remained in use, until 1953.
Also in 1944, the Soldier Creek School District was annexed into the Midwest City District. At the end of the year, the average daily attendance was 732, with 14 high school graduates.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, growth in the area was rapid. Mishak, Harmony and Barnes school districts were annexed. What was once an area of nine square miles had expanded to 45 square miles.
From 1948 to 1951 more primary schools were opened. The East Side, West Side and Country Estates campuses joined the existing Barnes, Sooner and Soldier Creek schools. Not to be overlooked is the Post School, located at the main gate of Tinker Air Force Base from 1948 to 1951.
In 1948, approximately 1,000 students in grades four through seven attended the Post School. When Country Estates was completed in 1951, Post students moved there.
Del City joins the area
In 1948, neighboring Del City was founded by George Epperly. Because of their proximity, the communities created Midwest City-Del City Schools.
The 1950s and early 1960s brought even more growth to the Midwest City. Glenwood, Traub, Steed, Ridgecrest and Cleveland Bailey elementary schools opened. Midwest City Junior High moved to a new building in 1951. This location is now Midwest City High School. Carl Albert Junior and Senior High Schools were combined and opened in 1962.
“Even though the district was growing very quickly, there was always a sense of family, along with tremendous pride in our schools,” said Shirley Nicholson, a longtime administrator.
“We were always so happy to tell people we were from the Midwest City.”
By the late 1940s, Rose was concerned about the long-term sustainability of funding. The school's standard source of funding, ad valorem taxes, did not apply to the district because most of the students came from families who worked at a tax-exempt federal property, the Midwest Air Depot.
Longtime state Sen. James Howell said Rose has sought help from lawmakers Carl Albert and Tom Steed to seek help from the federal government. Howell said several trips were made to Washington by Rose and school board member Dr. Tony Thomas.
Congress signed a bill in 1950 referred to as the Impact Assistance Program, providing financial assistance to school districts that were impacted in such a way. Today, Congress continues to appropriate more than $1 billion annually to the program that benefits the Mid-Del school system and hundreds of other districts across the country. The amount of impact aid the local district received in fiscal year 2017 was $568,403.
Howell said that because of his vision and tenacity to get such a program going, Rose has long been seen as a champion for public education.
Retraining
Among the many accomplishments that are an important part of Midwest City Schools history is the creation of the Mid-Del Technology Center and Rose State College.
Over the years, both institutions have provided educational opportunities and community pride.
When the Mid-Del Technology Center was founded in 1965, it offered nine courses to 315 students. Today it is known as Mid-Del Lewis Eubanks Area Vo-Tech and offers 46 local programs and 29 state programs to approximately 511 students.
Because the center is the only Vo-Tech school in Oklahoma that does not have its own ad valorem tax base for funding purposes, solutions were sought. Howell said that in the early 1980s, there was an attempt by the school district to negotiate an agreement with then-Oscar Rose Junior College to share annual taxes.
According to Howell, initial discussions did not go well, but an agreement was eventually reached. As a result, the ad valorem taxes collected by Rose State College continue to be shared equally with the technology center.
Named to honor the memory of Oscar Rose, who died in 1969, Oscar Rose Junior College was founded in September 1970. Rose had a vision that one day, Midwest City would have a college to call its own. Renamed Rose State College in 1983, it has grown from an initial enrollment of 1,700 to a fall enrollment of over 8,000.
The Rose State is an open-admission, associate degree college that provides comprehensive lower division programs of higher education and related community services. The college provides many scholarships, including leadership scholarships and the popular Ticket to Rose program. Ticket to Rose provides free tuition and compulsory tuition for graduates of Midwest City, Carl Albert, Choctaw, Del City and Star Spencer high schools.
Today, the Mid-Del system consists of 23 campuses serving more than 14,000 students, where leaders continue to strive to meet the changing demands of education in 2017 and beyond.
Kay Hunt is a public relations specialist for Midwest City.
