2000s

SCHOOL HISTORY BY DECADE:

Pre-1940s · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s · 2000s · 2010s · 2020s · Sports

The first new principal for the twenty-first century was Jane Sears in 2002. Chuck McCauley assumed the post in 2005, and he was succeeded by Teri Brant in 2008. 

The school continued to rack up numerous awards of academic exellence, but the number of clubs was diminishing as the new generations of students were preoccupied with opportunities outside of school. The merger of Phillips Petroleum with Conoco in 2002 would lead to employment changes in the community and consequent changing demographics over this decade: the proportion of district students qualifying for free-and-reduced lunches increased from 31% to 43%.

The first decade of the twenty-first century brought the most significant changes to the facility since it was constructed, thanks to the 2001 Building on Excellence bond campaign. The community supported a ten-year bond issue that would spend over $23 million to build a new fine arts center, field house, library, and science wing. In 2007 a follow-up bond issue funded various renovations and technology improvements.

Campus Change

Photographs

2002 Groundbreaking
Campus improvements
Library computer
Science class
Family Living cooking class

Facility History

2000
The middle-floor windows in the stadium were replaced. A new hallway was created in field house to improve the girls' basketball locker area and access to the smaller gym. Asbestos was removed from the original field house hallway ceilings, and those hallways were given new ceiling, wall, and floor surfaces. A new fume hood was added in one of the main building's science labs. New data network wiring and ports were installed in every classroom and office, and there was a telephone system upgrade.

2001
Large ventilation fans were installed in the original field house with $2,000 donation from Phillips Petroleum and $16,800 in district funds. Additional electrical outlets and electrical panels were added throughout the campus.

The district acquired the CrestView Apartments south of campus (using funds outside of the bond issue) and razed the buildings. The site was left undeveloped, intended for future parking as funds become available. Eventually that became parking and the site for the Bruin Activity Center indoor practice facility and the original Agriculture classrooms and shop building.

2001-2008
Building on Excellence:
Over $23 million in improvements were funded by a 2001 bond issue. A new science wing, library, auditorium and fine arts classrooms, field house, practice fields, and parking lots were constructed, with a multimillion dollar renovation of the existing structures.

2002
The new west & east parking lots, practice fields, and the renovated Haley Environmental Laboratory opened as Phase One of the Building on Excellence project. The district paid the city about $3,000 for a 5.15 acre parcel east of the old Haley Lab to expand what remained of the original 16-acre lab after much of it was used for the development of parking and practice fields. The package also included a small plot of land just east of the intersection of Shawnee Avenue and 18th Street, the former site of a sewage lift station.

The district allocated $120,520 from a 2000 bond issue to pay for asbestos removal from the crawl spaces beneath the 1939 buildings.

The All Sports Booster Club supplied a new marquee along Hillcrest Drive with electric bulb text; it was replaced by a video-board version in 2013.

2003
The new Science Wing at the north end of the campus, with six labs, opened as part of Phase Two of the Building on Excellence project. It would expand farther northward in 2015 with four more labs.

2004
The new Fine Arts Center opened as part of Phase Two of the Building on Excellence project with a new auditorium, band room, vocal music and ensemble rooms, and drama Blackbox room, dressing rooms, and stagecraft area. A $1,000,000 donation from the Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation funded a new orchestra room and visual arts room.

The Chuck Doornbos Track (the original blue track surface is visible in this photo from August 2002) was renovated using $233,000 in interest from the 2000 bond issue and a $33,000 donation from the Doornbos family (Chuck's daughter Ami Preston & his granddaughters, including Darian Kedy & Dana Keirsey). It was at this time that the 1988 error in the conversion from the original U.S. measures to metric was discovered and corrected. The track re-dedication took place at the 2004 Homecoming.

The old south gate of Custer Stadium was closed due to construction, and a new gate was constructed at the southeast corner of the football field.

2005
The Bruin statue was unveiled in the lobby shared by the new Fine Arts Center and new Field House.

2006
The new Field House opened with the completion of Phase Three of the Building on Excellence project. It was termed the Bruin Field House and the original Manual Training Building and Field House was termed the Phillips Field House.

2008
The new library/media center opened with the completion of Phase Four of the Building on Excellence project. It was formed out of the 1939 auditorium and one of the adjacent classrooms of the middle level of the 1958 annex.

Custer Field was renamed the E. H. "Ted" Lyon Field at Custer Stadium in recognition of a $650,000 donation to install Momentum 41 artificial turf.

LCD projectors and sound systems were installed in many classrooms in the summer of 2008, and all rooms would be so equipped by 2010-2011.

The classrooms in the main building, annex, and part of the stadium were repainted, changing the 1995 color scheme of three light blue walls and a darker blue window wall to three beige walls and an accent wall that was green on the first floor, blue on the second floor, and light purple in parts of the stadium. New ceiling and floor tiles were installed in the stadium corridors. Installation of water pipes from the new central plant to older buildings in 2007-2008 had left the alleyway in disrepair, so the alley was repaved in concrete.

2009
The campus expanded again to include the property at 1800 Hillcrest Drive. The new Bruin Activity Center indoor practice facility opened on the former site of the Crestview Apartments, initially providing 15,625 square feet of turf surface; it would be expanded in 2012 with the added bay changed into a cheerleading practice room and athletics weight room in 2017-18. A new football locker room was built on the east side of the Bruin Field House; in 2015 it was remodeled into classroom space for multi-handicapped students, with a new football locker room adjoining the Freshman Academy conference room next to Lyon Field.

Custer Stadium had several improvements, with the deck sealed to prevent water infiltration, the leaking windows on the middle floor repaired, some rooms repainted, and the top floor public restrooms were renovated. The boys and girls restrooms in the main building were thoroughly renovated as well.

New student lockers were installed in the main building, annex, and stadium to replace the old narrow lockers. The office areas in the main building were repainted, and remote-control security locks with video cameras and intercom were installed on the entrances to the main building and Bruin Field House and Fine Arts Center. Additional LCD projectors and sound systems were installed in various classrooms.