By Rex Hogan/Staff Writer
published April 30, 2008

It’s decision time for the El Reno Board of Education.

After months of discussion and public meetings, the board has called a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the board of education office.

One of the items on the agenda is the proposal to turn three of the district’s elementary schools into centers.
“I really don’t know what they are going to do” said Superintendent Ranet Tippens.

“We’ll find out when they vote.”

Tippens has been the most vocal proponent to turn Hillcrest into a center for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade students, Lincoln School into a center for second- and third-graders, and Rose Witcher would become a center for fourth- and fifth- graders.

Last week, Tippens held public meetings at the four elementary schools. The proposal was met with generally open minds by parents who attended the meetings with the exception of Rose Witcher, where scores of parents expressed their opinion that Rose Witcher should remain a neighborhood school.