Oakwood Bond Fails

By Melissa Missildine
     Have you ever wondered if your vote really makes a difference?  Well, if there are fourteen people reading this who would have voted in favor of Oakwood's bond election, but did not, the answer is yes.  The bond election failed by only 13 votes.
     Early voting at the Oakwood Administration building brought in 193 votes for and 31 votes against the bond.  Two votes for and 5 votes against were mailed in.  The Centerville Precinct #1 box had 4 for and 27 against.  West Buffalo Pct. #10 had one for and 13 against.  Oakwood Pct. #12 box had 64 for and 44 against.  Flo Pct. #13 had 13 for and 164 against.  The Dogan Cafeteria box had 1 for and 3 against.  The Fairfield Conference Center had zero votes for and 4 votes against the bond.  The final tally was 278 in favor of the $4 million bond to 291 against it.
     That means no new elementary school for Oakwood students.  That means the entire elementary is still going to be housed in portable buildings that are a decade old.  There are still going to be plumbing, roofing, and flooring problems.  There will still not be a safe, weather free way for the students to travel back and forth to their various classes.  There will not be a new library or computer lab for the elementary.  There will not be any rooms for tutoring, parent/student/teacher conferences, or individual testing.  There is still a space problem as well.  The school is maxed out.  There is not anywhere else to put students.  So, no room for expansion either.
    The question now is...What will O.I.S.D. do about it?  Is there a back-up plan?  When I asked this question of Superintendent Richard Scoggin, he said, "We did not approach this with failure in mind."   He says the bond issue will go back to the school board members for discussion.  They will need to decide whether or not to bring it back to election. Then they will go from there.  So, we will have to wait until the next school board meeting to find out what that decision will be.