Tulsa School Board discusses proposals for middle school athletics and elementary school fine arts

Tulsa's school board began discussions on two proposals Monday night that would affect thousands of students next year. Tulsa superintendent of schools David Sawyer wants to reinstate middle school

Monday, November 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa's school board began discussions on two proposals Monday night that would affect thousands of students next year. Tulsa superintendent of schools David Sawyer wants to reinstate middle school athletics as a school sponsored program, and he wants to develop a fine arts program for elementary schools.

Tulsa Public Schools withdrew sponsorship of middle school athletics at least 40 years ago, primarily because of the high cost. Since then, volunteers have coached and operated programs through the Tulsa Junior Athletic Association or T-J-A-A. Sawyer says it's time for the district to take over the program again, mainly to combat dropout at a time when more students begin disconnecting from school.

"We know that athletics plays a major role in their lives,â€ said Tulsa assistant superintendent Dr. LaVerne Wimberly. â€œWe wanted to insure that they were getting the quality, the training, the amount of time spent, and having more of a an ownership in their middle school than many of them have had in the past."

Carver Middle School's volunteer athletic director Roy Owens, sees several advantages to the plan, including academic incentive, more school spirit, and the end of player participation fees. "You have some who might be unable to participate because of the fees,â€ Owens said. â€œThey do have to buy their own uniforms. There's been no subsidizing from Tulsa Public Schools at all."

T-J-A-A allows any child who wants to play to do so. Owen says the downside to school sponsorship is that fewer students may be able to participate. â€œThen you're looking like high schools are now, and colleges,â€ he said. â€œEverybody wants to play, but if they don't have the skills, they're not given that opportunity.â€

Sawyer is also asking the school board to approve plans for a district-wide fine arts program at the elementary level, an area where several Tulsa schools don't have full time art and music programs. Wimberly says the district is looking at outside funding sources. "We've very fortunate here in Tulsa in that we have many organizations, many of our people wanting to help us succeed."

Wimberly says the district wants more students to succeed academically, and these two changes will help make that happen. She says preliminary cost estimates are under $300,000 a year for middle school athletics, and more than $1,000,000 in start up and annual costs for fine arts.