The Moore Public School District, also known as Moore Public Schools, is a public school district in Moore, Oklahoma. The school district is the third largest in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City Public Schools and Tulsa Public Schools, with an enrollment of 24,075 as of the 2023-2024 school year.

Service area

Within Cleveland County, the district includes all or part of three cities: the entire city of Moore, a very large portion of southern Oklahoma City, and northern Norman. The district extends into Oklahoma County, where it covers other parts of Oklahoma City. The district covers approximately 160 sqmi and has pre kindergarten through 12 grade students enrolled.

History

2013 tornado

On May 20, 2013, parts of Moore and neighboring Newcastle and southern Oklahoma City, were affected by an intense multiple-vortex EF5 tornado. The tornado struck Briarwood Elementary School (South Oklahoma City), Plaza Towers Elementary School (Moore), and Highland East Junior High School. Briarwood and Plaza Towers sustained enough damage to be considered a total loss. Highland East's gym was for the most part destroyed. All out buildings were destroyed completely. Seven third graders inside Plaza Towers' 2nd-3rd grade annex lost their lives when the structure's walls collapsed.

Ebola reaction

On October 20, 2014, the district asked several employees and students who had been on a Carnival Cruise ship which had also been carrying a lab technician who may have come in contact with specimens from Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan three weeks earlier, not to return to school until the worker was cleared and there was no medical threat. The Lab technician tested negative and the employees and students were allowed to return to school.

2015 tornado

On March 25, 2015, an EF2 tornado hit southern Oklahoma City and Moore and lifted the roof and damaged Southgate Elementary and other houses in the path of the tornado. Some were injured. No one was found dead.

List of schools

The school district has 35 schools including VISTA Alternative Education, with preschool through 6th grade students attending elementary school, 7th and 8th grade students attending junior high school and 9th through 12th grade students attending high school.

High schools

Junior high schools

Elementary schools

Briarwood Elementary School

The previous facility was built in 1984 by an Oklahoma City company, RGDC. It had a central building as well as separate buildings for classrooms, storage, and multipurpose functions. RGDC later experienced scandal in 1996 after issues in the construction of the Oklahoma County Jail were exposed. A team from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Structural Engineering Institute (ASCE-SEI) examined the debris after the 2013 tornado. A civil engineer who serves as an associate professor and as the director of the Donald G. Fears Structural Engineering Lab at the University of Oklahoma, Chris Ramseyer, was one of the authors of the ASCE-SEI report. Ramseyer stated that the school had code violations and issues with its construction. Issues cited included rebar that was too short and insufficient steel in masonry walls. The current building, with a cost of $12 million, opened in 2014. It has designated safe rooms so children can avoid injury during a tornado. Funded by insurance coverage, it was built with a similar size as the previous building.

Preschool

Alternative education