Mid-Del School Board member: There aren't resources to support the jail at the proposed site.

Since September, I have attended several Oklahoma County commissioner meetings opposing the jail site at 1901 E Grand Blvd. I have listened to my community oppose the site and give valid reasons why this location is not a suitable one. The location at 1901 E Grand has come off the list and gone back on the list three to four separate times. I have watched five to eight sites come off the list with little fight and at least two others removed because of the negative impacts to the community around it; there is a different criterion for the impacts to Del City.

This location is 500 to 600 feet from the Del City boundary. It will be right across the street from our Epperly Heights neighborhood that has about 1,000 homes. Epperly Heights Elementary will be one mile from the site and has 660 students where many walk to and from school. Many Mid-Del students live right across the street from the site. The Del City area has five schools within two miles and minutes from the jail site. If you look at the blueprint around the proposed jail site and look at a one-mile radius around that site, it includes half of Del City. It will be remarkably close to schools, parks, day cares, special-needs living centers, businesses and houses where people and families live their daily lives. This is a safety issue.

More: Del City residents fear a loss of their way of life if a jail is built nearby

There are no resources in that area to support the jail or people who will be released from the facility daily.

At least one commissioner is wasting valuable time and energy making deals to get this site approved when he should be looking for a location that will not negatively impact the communities around the site. With the reports that have come out over the last couple of days and weeks, my question is why are things happening behind the scenes? With the number of contingencies being promised to Crooked Oak Public Schools , it seems like more than one discussion has happened.

I believe that a good many of the promises being made to Crooked Oak will never be upheld. Who is going to end up footing the bill for these promises? Where is the money coming from to make these promises? Who has the authority to make these deals that have not been presented and voted on with the public as witness? Who made the decision to help one district and crush another one? In the end, the jail will still be at 1901 E Grand and have an impact on the communities around the site.

I am happy Crooked Oak will get a different location for the sports complex and improvements, but we all should worry about students and community after-school hours and activities, as well. A new sports complex being built from the ground up will most likely cost more than the $26 million in bond money will cover.

A good many of the students live in the community and their families will have to deal with the impacts before, during and after school hours. The cost to build the jail at 1901 E Grand just keeps increasing. The asking price for this land is around $5.4 million; what will it be with the added contingencies to Crooked Oak? Building this jail on the backs of children is not the answer.

More: OK County hundreds of millions short of what's needed to build new jail

Children are already going to bear the burden of the government mistakes and we should not add another burden. The issues about any proposed site should be in a public forum.

Commissioner Brian Maughan recently did an interview with News 9 urging city leaders to move forward with the 1901 E Grand location because they are running out of time and stand to lose $40-$50 million in ARPA funds. The ARPA funds are for a mental health facility that has been questioned by some mental health and justice reform activists because it criminalizes mental health to tie it to the jail system.

They have had time. Plenty of time has been given to the commissioners. The commissioners have not been on the same page about the location for the new jail. The commissioners have not been a cohesive unit. Sen. Kay Floyd has said it best: “You have had time, and you have wasted time.”

Gina Standridge is a Mid-Del School Board member.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mid-Del School Board member: There aren't resources to support the jail at the proposed site.