July 2009
By Robin Dorner-Townsend
Senior Staff Writer

Parents, teachers, students, neighbors, community members and school administrators came together for a meeting at Belle Isle Middle School for a community meeting. A discussion for the school’s upcoming MAPS renovations was the topic and there is a great deal of excitement with these upcoming changes.

“We are just very, very excited,” said Lynn Kellert, Belle Isle Middle School Principal. “We can’t believe it’s actually happening; to have security and to have students who do not have to go outside between buildings in the cold and in the rain.” Kellert has been the schools principal for 10 years.

Established in 1998, Belle Isle Middle School will receive over $3.1 million in facility improvements from MAPS for Kids funds. The school will be designed to accommodate as many as 450 sixth through eighth grade students. The school had an enrollment of 426 students last year.

The meeting, coordinated by Renaissance Architects and the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area Public Schools (OCMAPS) Trust Project Office, is one of several that will be held at the school. The next meeting at this location is tentatively planned for November 2009 and discussions will include preliminary design presentations and final design presentation.

Funding for the nearly $700 million MAPS for Kids program comes from two voter-approved sources. Once completed, every student in the Oklahoma City Public Schools district will attend a new or fully renovated school.