Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

Voters in the Ramona and Ochelata areas braved the icy conditions and approved a $10.5-million bond issue for Caney Valley Public Schools on Tuesday.

86.93-percent of the vote was in favor the measure while 13.07-percent of the vote was not in favor of the proposition. 167 people voted yes on election day while 25 individuals voted no.

10 voters voted by absentee mail. Eight of the ten absentee mail voters approved of the bond issue.

In total, there were 199 votes with 192 of those votes coming in on election day.

Caney Valley Superintendent Steven Cantrell said their communities do a fabulous job of supporting their schools. Cantrell said the Ramona Chamber of Commerce, the Town of Ramona, the Town of Ochelata, the volunteer fire departments, and a great deal of others do a great job of supporting CVS kids, which is what it should be about. He said they want to take care of their kids.

Superintendent Cantrell said the $10.5-million will take care of new construction at both of their campuses in Ramona and Ochelata.

In Ramona, Caney Valley Public Schools is looking to build a new practice gym. Cantrell said it would also have three classrooms. He said it would also serve as a FEMA approved storm shelter, which would be large enough to fit all of their Ramona campus students and staff.

Caney Valley is one of the only schools its size to not have an auxiliary gym. Cantrell said they had to cancel their basketball tournament a few weeks ago because of COVID-19. He said they would've been able to continue with their basketball tournament if they had an auxiliary gym. He added that the basketball tournament is normally a great draw for the community.

At the Ochelata campus, Caney Valley Schools is building a new cafeteria that will also act as an auditorium. Cantrell said the cafeteria on the Ochelata campus is way outdated and in need of repairs. He said they're going to build a new building for their elementary kids so they'll have a nice place to eat. He said the students will have a new auditorium for them to participate in events through.

Technology is also being covered by the approved bond issue. Cantrell said Caney Valley is fortunate to be a one-to-one school as they're able to give out devices to students from Pre-K through 12th grade. He said they've been able to do this thanks to past grants that have been approved by the public. He added the grants from the Cherokee Nation have been greatly appreciated as well to help them on this front over time.

However, most of these devices are at the end of their life expectancy. Cantrell said five to six years is the average life span of the devices that they have on hand. He said they're going to go ahead and replace those devices.

The last thing they're going to do at Caney Valley is renovate facilities at the sports complex. Cantrell said their field house is in desperate need of repair and needs to be enlarged. He said the district wants to build a separate facility onto their baseball and softball building that will also double as a visitors locker room for track and football.

The second proposition on the ballot was also approve by voters. The proposition was for $275,000 that would allow Caney Valley Schools to buy new buses.

86.5-percent of the vote was in favor of proposition two by the end of the day Tuesday. 167 people voted yes for the measure on election day while 26 voted no.

Again, 10 people voted by absentee mail with eight of those voters approving the second proposition.

There were 200 total votes with 193 of those votes coming on election day.

Superintendent Cantrell said they made a pledge to buy new buses with air conditioning. Cantrell said their kids are on the bus for a long period of time sometimes. He said they want to ensure that they're taking care of their kids, which is why they're going to purchase buses with air conditioning.