The Geary School Board held a special meeting – meaning, essentially that it was outside the regular schedule approved by the board at the end of 2024.
Like any meeting, a special meeting requires public notice, meaning an agenda is posted at multiple sites including the schools and district offices.
Following a discussion the board selected Easley Associates Architects based in Enid, for what the district calls ‘potential upcoming school projects.’
The old school gym was destroyed in a March fire and several adjacent classrooms and areas were either damaged or destroyed as well.
Sean Buchanan, superintendent for the district, spoke about revisiting the site with an insurance adjuster last week.
One of the damaged classrooms was where his sister, Danella Buchanan, taught English. The blackboards in the classroom still had lessons outlined on them.
“It was completely surreal,” he said. “I’ve been here only eight years and I got a small taste of what it feels like for people who have been here 50 years.”
The district and its insurer have not come to an agreement on what the damage is and what the payout will be.
However, at the regular school board meeting on April 7, Buchanan told the board the district had received its first advance payment from the insurance company to take care of incoming expenses.
That advance included $1.5 million to start debris removal, $350,000 to replace business/personal property and $250,000 for extra expenses like portable buildings.
Some of the goods covered by the advance – like the portables or computers -- might not be available until the beginning of the new school year, even if they are ordered right away.
The board questioned whether the cost to rebuild might be more than to build new structures from the ground up. Rebuilding costs would be repairing and retrofitting the existing damaged structures like classrooms to bring them up to new building codes.
Buchanan pointed out that either way, the buildings would have to contain a fire suppression system like sprinklers.
That would mean new water lines to the buildings and probably new drainage lines as well.
Now that the district has selected an architectural firm to represent its interests, the process of rising from the ashes can begin.