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Gist to Recommend School Closures as Part of TPS Budget Trimming

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Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist will recommend to the TPS Board of Education closing four elementary schools as part of a plan to close a $20 million budget shortfall.

Amid social media rumors of school closings, TPS released a statement from Gist Tuesday afternoon saying she will recommend closing Grimes, Jones and Wright elementary schools and consolidating Mark Twain into Wayman Tisdale Fine Arts Academy to the TPS Board of Education next month.

"The recommendation to close Grimes, Jones, and Wright elementary schools and consolidate Mark Twain into Wayman Tisdale was an extraordinarily difficult decision to make. I am proud of the work our teams are doing serve their students and families," Gist said.

Gist will also recommend to the board making Memorial, Central and Rogers junior high schools into sixth-through eighth-grade middle schools. TPS administrators may also recommend creating pre-K through eighth-grade campuses for Memorial, Hale and East Central.

Gist said if the board approves her recommendations, the district will work with affected teachers to find them new jobs within TPS.

If the recommendations are approved, there will be several changes for the 2020–2021 school year.

  • Pre-K through fifth-grade students at Mark Twain would move to Wayman Tisdale.
  • Students at Jones, Grimes and Wright would move to other neighborhood schools.
  • Rogers and Central would become sixth- through 12th-grade campuses.
  • Sixth-graders at Burroughs, Emerson, Academy Central and Tisdale would move to Central.
  • Sixth-graders at Key, Marshall and Salk would move to Memorial.
  • Rising sixth-graders at Sequoyah would have preference at Rogers or attend Monroe.
  • Rising sixth-graders at Kendall-Whitter Elementary would have preference at Rogers.

TPS intends for students to have no more than two school transitions — fifth to sixth grade and eighth to ninth grade — by the 2021–2022 school year.
"We know from research and experience that minimizing transitions supports strong academic performance and helps foster meaningful relationships with teachers and peers," Gist said.

TPS will reach out to families affected by the recommendations and take feedback at next month's board of education meeting.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.