Tulsa School Board: School calendar adopted; opening date changed to Aug. 22
ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
02/23/2005
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page A9 of News

Tulsa schools will open Aug. 22 this year instead of after Labor Day, the school board decided Tuesday.

The board adopted the 2005-06 school calendar and swore in a new District 2 representative, Oma Copeland, at its meeting Tuesday night.

Superintendent David Sawyer recommended the Aug. 22 start date as a compromise between Aug. 15 and Sept. 6, which he also had offered as options.

The board also heeded the recommendation of the local teachers union, which requested that the calendar be amended to let teachers and students be off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Steve Stockley, president of the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association, told the board that 94 percent of the 1,400 teachers who responded to a recent union survey asked that schools be closed that day.

The board voted 4-2 to close schools on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and to make up for it by adding one day at the end of the school year.

Under the new calendar, students will have five fewer days for winter break than the 17 they had in 2004.

Sawyer said students will attend school two more days in 2005-06 than they will this year and that teachers will have three days added to their work contracts.

For the last three years, Tulsa Public Schools has started classes after Labor Day to save money on typically high August utility bills.

But this year, teachers and parents complained that the late start means that schools don't let out for the summer until the second week in June.

This puts students at a disadvantage in competing for summer jobs and makes teachers and students miss the start of college summer classes, they argued.

Additionally, a late start means students receive less instructional time before state-mandated standardized tests are administered.

District officials have reported average savings of about $200,000 on August utility bills since implementing the later schedule, but standardized test data for the last two years showed no significant change from the 2001-02 school year, which was the last time Tulsa Public Schools started in August, Sawyer has said.

In other business Tuesday, the board passed a resolution commending Paul Thomas for eight years of service in the District 2 seat.

Thomas lost his bid for re-election to Copeland in the Feb. 8 school election.

Thomas thanked board members, Sawyer, and district employees for their kindness to him and their efforts on behalf of Tulsa students.

"My time on the school board has been the most challenging and most gratifying experience of my career," he said.

"There has been for the last eight years a stability in our system that has held a promise of hope for our city of Tulsa."

School board attorney Doug Mann administered the oath of office to Copeland, who took her seat with the board.

"I'm enthusiastic, and I look forward to working with everyone," she said.

Vice President Matt Livingood was elected president of the board, and Gary Percefull was elected the new vice president.