The Tulsa school board approves reopening the former site of Mayo Demonstration School.
TPS chief of staff Amy Polonchek said population growth in east Tulsa means more classroom space is needed there, and it will be enough to accommodate up to eighth grade.
"We will renovate and expand, and make available to that neighborhood for children K–8," Polonchek said. "With the sixth-graders that we put back into the elementaries, we have seen some great results, so we look forward to a K–8 model in that building."
The building is at 2525 S 101st East Ave. and would open for the 2015–2016 school year.
As its meeting tonight, Tulsa’s school board will also vote on a proposal that would let some sixth-graders go to a different school.
Nine TPS schools — Carnegie, Eisenhower, Eliot, Lanier, Lee, Mayo, Patrick Henry, Wright and Zarrow — don’t have sixth-grade classes in their programs.
Parents were concerned about their kids changing schools two years in a row, and district chief of staff Amy Polonchek said a task force was put together.
"They looked at various options, and this is their result, that those students who are in those elementary schools will have a guaranteed spot at one of our demonstration schools, Monroe Demonstration Academy," Poloncheck said.
Monroe has sixth- through eighth-grade programs. The ideas are part of the Project Schoolhouse review to improve students’ opportunities.