Tulsa Public Schools Seeks Input On Changes In Project Schoolhouse Plan

Tulsa Public Schools along with its recently-appointed sixth grade task force, is seeking opinions from school district parents and the Tulsa community on whether or not sixth-graders should remain in the middle schools at Tulsa's four magnet/demonstration middle schools.

Those four schools include Carver, Edison, Monroe and Thoreau.

10/19/2011 Related Story: Parents, Tulsa Public School Administrators Discuss 6th Grade Shuffle

The sixth-grade task force according to TPS Superintendent Dr. Keith Ballard is expected to make a recommendation in the coming weeks.

"Let me be very clear: Tulsa Public Schools will not be moving sixth-graders from the 44 elementary school sites that serve them," said Dr. Keith Ballard. "With Project Schoolhouse, we determined that sixth-graders are best served in an elementary school environment. Now we are asking parents for their opinion on leaving sixth-graders in the magnet and demonstration middle schools. All options are on the table. We have not discounted the idea of a hybrid approach, which would allow for both options. It will be up to the task force to make a final recommendation."

That hybrid approach, if implemented, would have sixth-grade students remaining in magnet or demonstration middle schools. School officials say there would be two points of entry into magnet and demonstration middle schools, at the sixth and seventh grades.

"This model would create some challenges," said Dr. Keith Ballard. "It just means that we would have to leave a sufficient number of seats for incoming seventh graders, but it is not impossible."

The survey will be available online at www.tulsaschools.org.

The deadline for responses is Monday, November 14, 2011 by midnight.