OSD Will Sell The Tech Property if Agreement is Not Reached by January

By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

The Oxford School District Board of Trustees sent a strong message to the Lafayette County School Board Monday, offering an ultimatum that if an agreement on how to manage the School of Applied Technology isn’t signed by the end of January, the district will begin the process of selling the property.

Both school districts jointly own the building and the land where The Tech is located. Each has previously stated their wishes to continue The Tech and offer the programs to benefit all Oxford and Lafayette County students.

The two schools are currently part of a consortium that allows the districts to receive reimbursements from the state for teacher salaries.

However, in June the OSD board expressed its intent to leave the consortium with LCSD and create its own Career Technology Education program so it can receive funding from the state for its program.

The Resolution of Intent to Withdraw from the consortium at the end of the 2019-2020 school year expressed the OSD’s intent and “desire” to continue working with the LCSD under a new arrangement to continue to offer classes at The Tech for Oxford and Lafayette students.

OSD Superintendent Brian Harvey said that remaining in the consortium is costing Oxford taxpayers money since the approximately $160,000 a year the district is paying for CTC teachers cannot be reimbursed.

The OSD board sent a draft of an agreement that would allow the two districts to continue using The Tech facility jointly, offering classes to all Oxford and Lafayette County students.

According to the agreement approved Monday by the OSD board, the two districts would divide the classroom space equally and each district will be given full and exclusive use of two of the four shop areas.

Lafayette would be allocated two of the three classroom spaces, and Oxford would have the one remaining classroom space. All other areas within the facility, including but not limited to the office area, outdoor spaces, restrooms, and storage facilities, shall be considered common space available to both parties.

The agreement would dissolve the SAT board with each school district being in charge of its own programs.

Students of each district would be given an opportunity to take classes offered by each district. Each school district would be required to allow an equal number of students from the other school district to enroll in any class offered at the facility at no charge.

“It won’t be perfect but as long as the intention from both groups is to do what’s best for the students and allow all of the students the opportunity to take the classes they need and want to take,” said OSD Trustee Betsy Smith.

Trustee Gray Edmondson suggested that the agreement be sent to the Lafayette County School District for its review with an added note that an agreement must be approved by the end of January.

“It needs to have some teeth,” Edmondson said Monday. “We started this process several months ago.”

The board agreed to include a letter of intent to start the appraisal process on the property if an agreement is not signed by the end of January.

“Our course books go out in February,” Harvey said. “We have to have all of this in place so students can select their courses.”

Harvey said the LCSD Superintendent Adam Pugh told him that his board members wanted to keep it as it is.

“I told him I didn’t think that was an option,” Harvey said during the meeting. “If we continue, we can’t get reimbursement for our (Carrier Technology Education) teachers.”

The Lafayette County School Board’s next public meeting is on Jan. 6. The OSD board meets on Jan. 24.

To read the entire proposed agreement visit https://www.oxfordsd.org/Page/6.

To watch the entire OSD Board of Trustee meeting Monday visit https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/oxford-hs-oxford-ms/evt042c44fb56 .