What will become of Capitol Hill High School? OKCPS bond could replace it.

An uncertain future lies ahead for one of Oklahoma City Public Schools’ oldest high school buildings.

Built in 1928, Capitol Hill High School could be replaced if voters approve the district’s 2022 bond proposal on Nov. 8. The only older high school in the district is Emerson North, an alternative school serving 1,000 fewer students.

Should the $955 million bond issue pass, the district school board would decide in a matter of months whether to make major alterations — but preserve — the original building or tear down Capitol Hill and build anew.

It wouldn't be the only call the board would have to make on the future of a historic Oklahoma City school building. Taft Middle School, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is also on the list of sites that could be replaced or heavily modified with bond dollars. A property owner isn't prohibited from remodeling or even demolishing a historic location on the national register.

Schools like Capitol Hill and Taft are part of the fabric of Oklahoma City, Superintendent Sean McDaniel said. Altering them invites a "whole other level" of scrutiny.

“First of all, we don’t go into a project trying to figure out how to tear a building down,” McDaniel said. “We go into a project trying to figure out how can we save that building. How can we create a solution or come up with a solution that incorporates new into old?”

Capitol Hill in its new form, whatever that looks like, would open in August 2026, as would other freshly constructed schools, McDaniel said.

Capitol Hill Middle School also faces significant alterations. The bond package would consolidate it with Wheeler Middle School in a $58.68 million project. Two more southside schools, Adelaide Lee Elementary and Shidler Elementary, would merge at the cost of $23.33 million.

The nearly $1 billion bond proposal offers improvements to every district school. It remains unclear what would become of vacated facilities, but if the district's last round of closures in 2019 is any indication, they could be leased to charter schools, private schools, or health and social service centers.

Capitol Hill alumni say they fear the high school’s historic architecture will be lost or left to crumble. At an August luncheon in a south Oklahoma City restaurant, members of the class of 1964 said they would be happy to see the original building repurposed as long as it still stands.

“Capitol Hill has something about the stateliness of the building,” 1964 graduate Barbara Blanton said. “Oklahoma City has something about age. They think new is necessarily better.

“Just like older people, there is value in age.”

Teaching methods have changed since the school was built 94 years ago, McDaniel said. The classrooms were built when students sat strictly at their desks while teachers delivered a lecture, he said. That leaves less room for project-based learning for 21st Century students.

And as with any structure almost a century old, operating costs are high. A maintenance audit reviewed every Oklahoma City district school — their strengths, weaknesses and readiness for modern learning — and found Capitol Hill and Taft were lacking.

Building a new Capitol Hill is expected to be the district’s priciest bond project. A new construction would cost more than $116 million, according to an Oklahoma City Public Schools estimate. Rebuilding Taft would cost almost $57.8 million.

The Capitol Hill campus offers enough space to build a new school while the old still operates, McDaniel said. That would allow students to remain in the original facility until the next is finished.

For now, it appears unlikely the school would relocate from 500 SW 36. The school district hasn’t found an affordable property large enough to fit a high school within Capitol Hill’s attendance zone, but the superintendent said district officials are still looking.

Renovations and expansions to the existing school would cost about half as much as a new construction, McDaniel said. This option could fuse historic pieces of the building with new expansions, but it could require students to occupy the facility while upgrades are underway.

The school’s beloved fieldhouse adds another complication. Generations of Capitol Hill students have played sports and attended graduation ceremonies in the domed arena since it was built in the 1950s.

But, the fieldhouse has fallen into disrepair, McDaniel said. It suffers from foundation problems, leaks, structural damage and undersized visitor locker rooms.

As with all facilities up for replacement, the district has to weigh fiscal responsibility against a facility’s historic and sentimental value.

“You’re constantly throwing money into an old building to keep it in shape when at the end of the day it’s still an old building,” McDaniel said. “Can we do better? Can we create new spaces? Can we build something that we think the community will be proud of and that will add value to the life of a student? We believe the answer to that is yes, we can.”

But, sentimental attachments to Capitol Hill and Taft are strong. As McDaniel said, the buildings are “iconic” pieces of the school district's history and represent more than a place “where a bunch of people went to high school.”

Class of 1964 alumni still gather monthly, some sporting Capitol Hill shirts and hats, to reopen old yearbooks and maintain a fellowship born from attending the same school.

Members of the group, now in their late 70s, reminisce on the education they received, the teachers who made a memorable impact and the paths they took after graduation.

“There's a spirit living in that building,” said Jerry Gene Nelson, a 1964 alumnus. “There is a heritage. There is a good thing coming out of Capitol Hill High School.”

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: What will become of Capitol Hill High School? It could be replaced