Deer Creek Public Schools

Deer Creek Public Schools serves students in northwestern Oklahoma County and southwestern Logan County in Oklahoma. Based in Edmond, Oklahoma, the district serves approximately 3,741 students.^[1]

There are six schools in the district: Deer Creek High School, Deer Creek Middle School, Deer Creek Elementary School, Deer Creek Prairie Vale Elementary School, Deer Creek Rose Union Elementary School, and Grove Valley.

History

Deer Creek opened in 1921. Deer Creek is a growing community sprawling over the border between Oklahoma County and Logan County. It is named for the nearby Deer Creek, which snakes through much of the district and occasionally causes the schools to close by flooding during the spring rains.

This region of Oklahoma was part of the Unassigned Lands and was settled during the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889.^[2] Before the land run began, the area was surveyed into sections by the federal Public Land Survey System, with each section measuring one mile (1.6 km) by one mile, and divided evenly into 160-acre (0.65 km²) homesteads, called quarter-sections.^[3] Sections were organized into larger entities, called townships, that consisted of 36 numbered sections. Following a pattern set during the settling of the Northwest Territories in 1787, the Organic Act dedicated section No. 16 for the support of public schools. In the Deer Creek Public School District, both northern quarters and the southwestern quarter were sold to raise funds to build the school. The first school was built on the southeast quarter-section, at what is now called N. MacArthur Boulevard and W. 206th Street in the unincorporated part of Oklahoma County.

During the Great Depression, the federal Works Project Administration built a one-story, red-brick school at the far southeastern corner of this quarter-section. This building included a half-court basketball gymansium, about a dozen classrooms, and a small library. A gymnasium and separate cafeteria were added later. The buildings have since been demolished, but the trees that surrounded the building are still present, and part of the building's brick facade is used on the entrance to the high school's auditorium.

Schools

Since the early 1980s, the district has expanded considerably due to exurban sprawl. It now has four elementary schools, none of which are at the original location. Prairie Vale Elementary School was the first school built away from the original site. It is near the western border of the City of Edmond and on the border of northwest Oklahoma City. Deer Creek Elementary moved several miles south and serves primarily students living in the Memorial and Macarthur area of Oklahoma City. Rose Union is one mile (1.6 km) northeast of the original site and draws students from the largest section of the school district. The latest Elementary school to open is named Grove Valley, it covers the nw 192nd and Portland (Highway 74) area. In the 2008-09 school year, the four elementary schools enrolled a total of 1,850 students in grades Pre-K through 5.^[4]

Deer Creek High School (DCHS) and Deer Creek Middle School (DCMS) are located in northern Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, north of Oklahoma City and west of Edmond on the northwest corner of NW 206th Street and MacArthur Boulevard. The middle school is currently located in a building that was originally built to house Deer Creek Elementary School. 915 students are enrolled.^[4] Deer Creek High School enrolls 1,012 students in grades 9-12.^[4] The high school has dramatically expanded over the past half-decade. After Deer Creek Middle School moved to the former elementary school site, the adjacent middle school building was added to the high school. A building that connects the primary high school building and former middle school building includes several classrooms, as well as a new cafeteria.

Awards

Deer Creek Middle School, Deer Creek Prairie Vale, and Deer Creek High School are Blue Ribbon Schools.

Sports

All schools in this district have the same mascot, the Deer Creek Antlers.

The Deer Creek Football team won the 3A state title in 2000.

The Deer Creek High School Boys Cross Country team won the 4A state championships in 2006 and 2007 and the 5A state championship in 2011.

The Deer Creek Girl's Basketball team won the 4A state championship in 2006.

They made the jump to 5A sports in 2007-2008.

The Deer Creek High School Boys Golf team won the 5A state championship in 2007.

The Deer Creek High School Girls' Soccer team won the 5A state championship in 2009.

In 2010, Deer Creek High School will open a new football stadium. It is currently under construction.

In 2013, Deer Creek Public Schools will move from Class 5A to Class 6A. Class 6A is the largest class a school dist can move to in Oklahoma.

Construction

Two more elementary schools and another middle school are planned.^[5] Grove Valley Elementary recently opened in August 2009. All three existing elementary schools have had classrooms added.

The new expansion of the High School is currently done and many teachers have moved classrooms. The current high school building began in the early 1980s as the two short arms (originally intended to form an X shape) that point northeast and southeast on the east face of the classroom building. Since then, it has been expanded several times, more than tripling its original size to accommodate the rapidly growing student body.

A recently passed $142 million bond issue will fund the construction of the 2nd middle school on NW 234th St. near May Ave., a 5th elementary school near NW 150th and Rockwell, several more additions to the high school campus, multi-million dollar athletic and activity buildings including a large gymnasium and attached performing arts center.

References

1. ^ Deer Creek School District Student Population (accessed November 7, 2010).
2. ^ Maloney, Ann, Organization of Oklahoma Territory (accessed June 15, 2010).
3. ^ Howard, William Willard, The Rush to Oklahoma, Harper's Weekly 33 (May 18, 1889): 391-94.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Student Population, Deercreekschools.org
5. ^ Construction, Deercreekschools.org

External links

• School District
• Middle School