Tulsa Superintendent Axes One Of Three Consolidation Proposals

Emory Bryan, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- There's one fewer proposal on the table for Tulsa Public Schools' consolidation plans.

The Superintendent of the district, Dr. Keith Ballard, said Proposal C, which would have saved the most money, closed the most schools, and changed up every single elementary, has been eliminated from consideration.

Read the district's three Project Schoolhouse proposals

At least 150 people gathered in the auditorium of Foster Middle School Thursday night. It's not slated for closing, but some elementary schools that feed into it could.

Many parents were in attendance from Peary and Sandburg elementary schools, who want their schools to stay open.

"I do no understand continuing buildings that are two miles apart, yet closing schools like Sandburg and dealing with a much higher bussing cost," Annessa Acree, a Sandburg parent, said.

The parents asked a lot of questions about why their schools are on the list to possibly close. Many asked about elementary redistricting and whether their school could somehow bring in more students instead of having their children go somewhere else.

"My question is have we thought about possibly expanding the borders, so we can take children from other schools, we have the capacity to do so," Christa Robertson, a Sandburg parent, said.

While the Sandburg parents didn't get any relief for their anxiety about the changes, the students and parents from Peary got some news.

Dr. Ballard said their school, slated to close under Proposal C, will definitely not close.

"If I could do a cartwheel I would, I'm so happy, I'm so thankful because it bring peace to my boys, they had been worried," Latashia Pratt, a Perry parent, said.

Dr. Ballard confirmed that not just a few elements of Proposal C are out- all of it is out.

"The 1-8 and the closing of Central and all of that plan C,, really is off the table," he said. "As we listen to input and the get the data, just remind everyone that we said we'd start with the 3 plans, we'd listen and we'd look, we'd take everything into consideration, and 1-8 never got any traction."

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