By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
Construction is progressing on a new $25 million school that will alleviate some large elementary class sizes now in Yukon Public Schools.
Redstone Intermediate School will open in August 2020 at Mustang and Britton roads. This will prompt a grade level reconfiguration at several YPS sites.
Redstone, which will be the Yukon school district’s 12th school, will be about 120,000 square feet when it opens to start the 2020-21 school year.
This new school has been planned due to the Yukon school district’s rapid growth in recent years, YPS officials said.
“Redstone Intermediate will have fourth, fifth and sixth graders,” YPS communications specialist Larrissa Lockwood said.
District-wide Yukon student enrollment now stands at 8,982. That includes 4,352 students at the elementary level.
The new Redstone Intermediate “will house up to 900 students,” Lockwood noted.
Ground-breaking was this spring after Wynn Construction of Oklahoma City was awarded the contract to build Redstone Intermediate School.
Construction of Redstone was made possible with passage of a $44.6 million bond issue approved by YPS voters in September 2017. The measure passed by a 5,477-1,903 vote margin.
In April, the Canadian County Educational Facilities Authority approved issuing $18 million in lease revenue bonds to allow the Yukon school district to start construction earlier on Redstone.
GRADE LEVEL CONFIGURATION
YPS now has seven elementary schools, two intermediate schools, one middle school campus, and one high school campus.
The opening of Redstone Intermediate School will prompt a grade-level reshuffling at some YPS sites for the 2020-21 school year.
Yukon Middle School will have grades seven and eight, with sixth graders moving to Redstone Intermediate School, Lakeview Intermediate School and Independence Intermediate School depending on school boundaries. Fourth and fifth graders already attend Lakeview and Independence.
Both Lakeview and Independence, now elementary sites, will become intermediate schools as part of the grade-level reconfiguration. Interestingly, Lakeview and Independence both began as middle schools.
Meanwhile, Yukon High School will still house grades 9-12. And the school district’s seven elementary sites – Central, Myers, Parkland, Ranchwood, Skyview, Surrey Hills, and Shedeck – will continue with pre-kindergarten through third grade.
