Tulsa Public Schools Could End Year-Round School

Tulsa Public Schools looks like it will pull the plug on year-round schools. The district said the continuous learning calendar hasn't produced the expected results.

Some parents said they like the program, while others don't; but what TPS is considering now, isn't how people feel about it, it's whether or not it's working.

Myra King's daughter started school at Eugene Field in Kindergarten, one of six Tulsa schools that offers year round education, and said she likes the continuous learning calendar.

“This is the only routine they know,” King said. "This is a really good program and I would like to see it continue for the community and the school."

Cassandra Croslin has a child with disabilities and said the continuous education keeps up with his needs.

"For him to be going to school constantly is a good thing for me because it helps him retain the information," she said.

Some parents said they don't like the schedule, and TPS Superintendent Dr. Keith Ballard said the trial program hasn't led to improved test scores the way they hoped.

"But as time has progressed CLC is not really meeting the needs of those kids,” he said.

Especially in a district where 85 percent of students qualify for free school lunches.

Ballard said the district is working with the summer school program, faith based organizations and other groups to help fill the gap eliminating CLC would leave.

"As long as we can substitute, and have more time on task and meet the needs of the children, then I'm ok if CLC becomes a thing of the past," he said.

That means kids at Chouteau, Eugene Field, Kendall-Whittier, Mark Twain, Marshall and Gilcrease would all have new schedules come fall.

It's an adjustment for parents and kids no matter what their stance.

“As a parent you can understand both sides, if they take it. If they keep it or leave it, I mean you just have to make the adjustment because we're going to have to make the adjustments anyway," said King. “Hopefully our kids can adjust, especially the kids who have been going here since they started school."

The schools would go back to the traditional schedule that the rest of Tulsa Public Schools follows.

School board members will vote Monday, but Ballard said he anticipates they will not be voting to keep the CLC program.