Tagged: Tulsa Public Schools

The TPS school board tonight voted to appoint Wilbert E. Collins, Sr., to the District 2 seat recently resigned by board member Oma Jean Copeland.  Collins, 71, a former Tulsa County Commissioner, was among three candidates who applied for the position. 

The board unanimously voted in favor of Collins, who will fulfill the remainder of Ms. Copeland’s term, which expires in February 2013.  The other candidates were Daryl McGee, currently employed as a neighborhood inspector with the City of Tulsa, and David Leon DeVille, both of whom are former educators with TPS. 

 Tulsa Public Schools considers early-release days once per month. The early release allows educators to collaborate teaching techniques. Students would be released in the middle of the day. Tulsa schools administrators determined that early-releases are more cost effective than adopting the late-start method.

A survey has been released for parents’ opinions. To take part in the survey, click this link

The Tulsa Public Schools Department of Athletics today announced new ticket prices for the coming athletics year.

In an effort to increase student attendance, student ticket prices for all levels of athletics will be reduced to $3. Included in the price reduction will be the senior citizen discount ticket which will also be $3 for anyone 65 years and older. Students and seniors citizens will be required to show a valid I.D. in order to purchase reduced price tickets.

An anonymous donation of $600,000 will save 15 teacher jobs that were recently eliminated in the Tulsa Public Schools.  Superintendent Keith Ballard also says additional jobs will be saved after budget reviews. He expects that number to be around 15-t0-18 jobs.                                 

That means about 45 jobs are still at risk. The district says it's searching for that funding. The cuts were brought about by the legislature’s failure to allocate more money for common education.

Tulsa’s School Superintendent confirms he will leave when his current contract expires at the end of June in 2013. Dr. Keith Ballard says it was never his intention to stay longer than five years…and that time will be up next year.

Dr. Ballard says he’s not leaving because he’s disgruntled about anything in his job with the Tulsa district. And while he says current budget woes had nothing to do with his decision to leave,  he did blast state lawmakers and the governor over the ‘flat budget’ for education, saying that they had failed Oklahoma’s school children.

Tulsa Public Schools' McLain Advisory Committee will host a meeting for students, parents and community members. The meeting will take place from 6-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 11, at McLain High School, 4929 N. Peoria Ave.

The purpose of this meeting is to share information with parents and community members about the State Department of Education partnership with Tulsa Public Schools.

On today's program, we speak with Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Keith Ballard, who --- like every other school system administrator across Oklahoma --- is working hard to deal with the new reality of reduced state expenditures for education. Indeed, such aid is now lower than it was four years ago. Less and less money for schools, teachers, classrooms, and textbooks means more and more to be alarmed about, according to Dr.