Tulsa Schools Proposed Calendar May Change School's Fall Start Date

Friday, January 14th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The school calendar may be changing this fall. Tulsa Public Schools and many of the other school districts in the Tulsa County could start school a week later than the current year. This change in part is a response to the hot weather problems that occurred last summer.

When school began this year, the weather was blazing hot. Students sweltered in classrooms after the air conditioning failed several times during the first two weeks of school. The weather and air conditioning problems led parents and faculty to ask for the fall start of school to be pushed back. â€œWe found that while most people did not want school to start a lot later, they wanted it to start a little later,â€ said Tulsa Public Schools Jerry Roger. â€œThis is due to the hot month of August that we often have in Tulsa.â€

Tulsa Public Schools released its tentative calendar for the 2000 school year Friday.
Classes would begin a week later than this year on August 17th. Winter break would be cut by two days. Spring break would remain a full week and classes would end May 18th. "From everything we can tell, this is a pretty good compromise which everyone can accept,â€ said Roger. â€œIt's also in line with what the surrounding districts and with what the Tulsa Technology Center is doing, so we're going to be in sync with most of them."

A committee of thirty parents and staff members recommended the changes. The new calendar must approved by the school board before it takes effect. â€œThe calendar committee was a pretty congenial group,â€ noted Roger. â€œWe didn't have any fights. We had good discussion. We didn't have unanimity, but we had a consensus on the surveys. I think most people will be satisfied if not ecstatic about the calendar,â€ he said.

The changes will also affect thousands of students as smaller districts usually synchronize their calendars with the Tulsa districts.