My family and I have lived in East Tulsa for nine years now. The things I’ve enjoyed the most have been our wonderful neighbors, our nice house with lots of room, the 2 mile proximity to work, and of course getting to know and working with Jim Mautino and Sue Tibbs. In the last nine years my family and I have become invested in East Tulsa but unfortunately East Tulsa can no longer provide the quality of life I need for my family. I’d say it was a difficult discussion to move except it wasn’t; my wife and I made it in a split second.
About a month ago, I received a letter from the TPS administration center, informing me that the 4-year-old did not get in to Mayo Demonstration Academy. This means that if I take no action, my first born will have to attend Disney Elementary, a school that is just barely off the State’s failing list. No offense to the administration, the teachers, and the parents who worked so hard to remove Disney from the failing list, but I cant bear to send my children there. So when we got that letter we decided right then and there it was time to sell. We have to do what we think is best for our children, and that means leaving the “District of Choice” and moving to South Tulsa, either in Union or Jenks.
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10 comments:
I don't blame you a bit for leaving East Tulsa, but if education is your principal consideration, give some thought to homeschooling. It is far superior to any government education anywhere. The District of Choice is regular hamburger, Union and Jenks may be "ground chuck" or "ground round," but you don't get the steak in government schooling, period.
Hrmm, I'm not sure my kids would get steak at home either. I wish I could afford private school.
As far as schools go, I'm impressed with Union, Jenks, BA, Bixby, and Owasso.
My wife and daughter both teach in elementary schools in Union, so I'm biased about which is the best.
For us, Owasso is too far out and Jenks is too wealthy (we didn't want our kids to consider themselves poor by comparison when in fact we do all right). In the end, we moved to the city of BA for the small town feel but the Union school district for the schools.
I think I know what you mean about Jenks being "too wealthy". It's not that the school has too much money, surely, because a school can never have too much, but that the surrounding population has money? If that's what you mean, it does get a bit obnoxious at times.
The great thing is the school gets a tremendous amount of volunteer hours because of the stay at home mommies and that's invaluable for the students.
Sadly, there is a distinct group of haves and have nots, snobs and knobs, east side and west side. There is plenty of drama and drama queens to be had.
Some of the teens act as if they are on the next Real World episode. Little Brittanys, Paris', and Timberlakes, too many ugly brown vinyl designer 'roach' bags and limo rides for 6th grade 'graduation' - ugh. There is actually a group of girls that refer to themselves as the "Mean Girls" club as if it were a complimentary thing.....pity really. Person's who didn't hang out with a certain clique of wine tasters were labelled as 'anti-social'. The wine tasters were clueless to the fact that it just means that nobody cares to hang with their kind.
If you can rise above the spoiled brats, arrogance, and country club cliques - the great teachers, coaches, curriculum, and programs Jenks has to offer are well worth it! Besides, watching the snobs and all the drama that comes with it is rather entertaining and fodder for great laughs!!
We love Jenks Schools!!!
True about the Jenks schools. It is hard to get away from all the fluffy people. Also,they go a bit overboard on the sports stuff, especially football. No offense to the hardworking athletes but all schools across the nation need to concentrate more on the three r's. That's reality.
don't know if you have a daughter or not but hopefully they don't have a run-in with the "mean girls" of jenks. spoiled little ruthless rich girls who think backstabbing friends is a sport. other than that - great schools.
if you have younger kids jenks south east elementary at 101 and yale is by far the best. we used to refer to it as tulsa's only public private school. well organized, nicely maintained and clean, and principal does a great job of staying in touch with the staff, students, and parents.
they consistently had smaller class sizes than some of the costly private schools around town.
Your situation is why I was so frustrated about the Bunche situation, and the whole "choice" and "magnet" culture in Tulsa Public Schools. A bunch of Power Parents liked Bunche, and had no intention of letting their kids go to a neighborhood center. So instead of working to make every Pre K program like Bunche, they just exerted political pressure to keep Bunche.
Now, in your case, Mayo is on the East Side. You are not really going so much out of sector since you live in the Disney district. What, a mile and a half? But you cannot get what you want and so you are leaving the school district.
There is a mindset in Tulsa that if your child does not get into Mayo or Eisenhower, they will have a poor education. Sadly, this situation is deserved to some extent, but I think it is because of policies that have been building for over 30 years.
Further, there is an additional mindset that is is absolutely essential to get your kids into Carver Middle School, because if you are a Carver student and have a pulse, you are guaranteed a slot by district policy into Booker T. Washington, and THAT is the only Tulsa high school worth attending. This has changed somewhat as Edison makes inroads, but there is still a perception that Edison and Washington are good, and everything else is bad.
Keep in mind that Washington has 300 slots every year, and the first 220 or so go to the Carver kids and then a small group at Wilson that get in before any other Tulsa Public Schools 8th grader is considered. That leaves 80 precious slots for the other 12 middle schools, and the coaches will make sure to recruit the folks that can play ball first.
The screening criteria for Carver and Wilson Language Magnet students is standardized test scores on the 35th (!) percentile and a GPA of 2.5. That's it. Three years of mediocrity at Carver or Wilson gets you a free ride to Washington.
They have instituted an area quota, but that does not change things so much. They still get most of the best and the brightest, by district, but the Carver and Wilson kids in each district get 1st chop in those districts.
That keeps test scores high at Carver and Washington. Smart and well-behaved kids learn enough to pass the state test, even with average teachers.
Here is the problem for Tulsa Public Schools, and the neighborhoods, with this situation. The best and the brightest kids, and the best parents either get into the schools they want, or they leave. Those kids would be the leaders, socially and academically, in their schools. The parents would be active and interested in their kids education, and they would not hesitate to complain if there were a problem. The good kids and parents who are left are insufficient to the task of making a difference.
These people would also be the neighborhood leaders, and their absence diminishes the neighborhood in the same way.
I understand your situation. Although good people are willing to fight and sacrifice much for themselves, they are not willing to do the same when their kids are concerned.
It's easier and safer to leave for greener pastures than to stay and fight for a good education at the local school, especially if it looks like an uphill fight. But Tulsa Public Schools, and the neighborhoods, pay a great price when parents can't get satisfaction at their neighborhood schools.
wow - 2.5 grade average is all it requires? if my kid's gpa were that low they wouldn't see the light of day. they'd be on restriction. that's a shame. should be higher.
I am a parent whose children attend both Disney and Mayo respectively. Its true Mayo does provide better teaching practices. The biggest problem Disney is facing is uneducated parents,Low income and kids that do not speak english as a first language. Its not the teachers, its the community that has to change. We need an english program to cater to all elementary students just like we have a spanish program at Eisenhower." Its all about Economics" Moving is not a solution as long as you stay in TPS.
I've spent a grand total of 30 min a Disney over the course of the last week; looking at the school, meeting the teachers, ect. I agree that it's probably not the educators. Even with my limited interaction, I was very impressed with the faculty and there dedication to the students. I have no plans to stay inside TPS...
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