Winter weather playing havoc with Tulsa Public Schools' schedule

Many schools had planned to open Wednesday, but the wintery weather that rolled in late Tuesday night made them change their minds. <br><br>Tulsa Public School officials say the freezing rain forced them

Wednesday, February 26th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Many schools had planned to open Wednesday, but the wintery weather that rolled in late Tuesday night made them change their minds.

Tulsa Public School officials say the freezing rain forced them to cancel classes for the third day in a row. News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson has an update on how this winter storm is affecting an education deadline.

Tulsa Public Schools is set to start state testing next week. And some teachers are concerned these snow days are costing them important review time. Snow fun, is no fun for this Tulsa teacher. Lisa Rucker, McClure 5th Grade Teacher: "we need to be in school right now." The reason, state testing starts next week. "I'm very disappointed that I didnâ€™t have this week I was ready to go back and do everything we needed to do and get it done."

Instead of playing in the snow, Tulsa students are supposed to be reviewing for state exams. Third, fifth, and eighth graders will take a weeklong battery of tests in several subjects. It's not only supposed to measure what students have learned, but it's also used to evaluate teachers like Lisa Rucker and their schools. Without the review, Ruckers says she thinks students won't do as well on those tests. "Fifth graders tend to. Need a little review every once in a while a little kick start. I think that the more they see that they remember the more comfortable they are with it."

Looking at her snow-packed street, Rucker says she's crossing her fingers the weather clears up, so her kids can show what they know. â€œI have a lot of faith in them, because I personally have a great group of kids this year who love school I'm just hoping they pull it together."

This week's snow days will be tacked on to the end of the year, pushing Tulsa Public School's last day back to Wednesday June 11th for students, June 12th for teachers. And if the weather cancels any more class time, that will push the close of school back even further.

They do not plan to cut into spring break or any holidays.