Tulsa Public Schools Back In Session

It's the first day of school for students in several school districts today, including Tulsa, Union, Sand Springs and Bixby.

At Tulsa Public Schools, there still are about 70 open positions for mostly teachers and counselors, but officials say parents shouldn't worry.

They say they have plenty of qualified substitute teachers who will teach the classes that currently don't have an assigned teacher until the positions are filled.

The vacancies are heavier at the elementary level than in secondary schools, and a lot of the open positions open are special education positions.

The school district says it is looking at candidates, but it cannot officially count them as employees until they agree to take the job.

"We started early on recruitment effort, we've had some success in doing that,” TPS spokesperson Chris Payne said.

TPS representatives say every year they usually have vacancies as school starts,and this is something that is typically seen in Tulsa.

Some also will be noticing undergoing construction. Six schools are currently being worked on.

At Mitchell, construction at the library is done and a new parking lot is ready for use. Renovations to some administrative offices and six classrooms are also complete. Crews are still working on building four more new classrooms.

Construction at Lindbergh is almost done.

East Central Junior High has a newly renovated library, and Central High School will be getting a new air conditioning unit.

Over at Elliot, there's a new playground in the process of being built after an arsonist damaged it.

At McLure, the construction in the front of the school is complete, but crews are still working between Yorktown and Joe Creek, so you may run into some slowdowns through there.

Starting next year, the old Mayo Demonstration Academy will be doubling in size.

ECDE Bunche will also begin working on making room for a program that helps students to learn Spanish and English at the same time.