Looking to move to Tulsa - schools and sports questions (Broken Arrow: homes, neighborhoods)

[Serendipity414]

Hey y'all.

We are looking to move to Tulsa from the Denver area in the next year to get closer to family. We have 3 kids who are currently going into 1st, 3rd, and 6th grades at a small charter school which is K-8 (aprox. 70-80 kids per grade). I have not found anything similar to this in the Tulsa area so if you know of anything I would appreciate it. I am most drawn to the Jenks school district because I have heard so many wonderful things about them. I keep hearing about magnet schools but I have no idea what that is.

My kids are really into sports and currently most of our activities are thru our recreation centers and I can't find anything like what I am used to in Tulsa. My kids' favorites are swimming, baseball and gymnastics so it is important we find out about what is offered at both recreational and competitive levels. Are there swim teams thru neighborhood pools? Are there sports offered in middle schools or just high school?

TIA!

[ckhthankgod]

Wouldn't Jenks or Union be good choices in terms of schools?

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by Serendipity414

Hey y'all.

We are looking to move to Tulsa from the Denver area in the next year to get closer to family. We have 3 kids who are currently going into 1st, 3rd, and 6th grades at a small charter school which is K-8 (aprox. 70-80 kids per grade). I have not found anything similar to this in the Tulsa area so if you know of anything I would appreciate it. I am most drawn to the Jenks school district because I have heard so many wonderful things about them. I keep hearing about magnet schools but I have no idea what that is.

My kids are really into sports and currently most of our activities are thru our recreation centers and I can't find anything like what I am used to in Tulsa. My kids' favorites are swimming, baseball and gymnastics so it is important we find out about what is offered at both recreational and competitive levels. Are there swim teams thru neighborhood pools? Are there sports offered in middle schools or just high school?

TIA!

Tulsa Booker T. Washington High School is the 108 best school in
America , and the Jenks Public School District is also highly ranked.

Booker T. Washington.....
America's Best High Schools - Newsweek

Jenks...............
Run off of time , use the link above to find Jenks

[SouthXSW]

If you are interested in the Jenks district, look at neighborhoods in south Tulsa (the district is roughly south of 61st St and west of Yale). Lots of wooded hills and great neighborhoods in the area from 81st to 61st, Yale to Lewis.

The Jenks swim team is the best in the state and their new aquatics center is one of the nicest in the nation.

[swake]

Originally Posted by SouthXSW

If you are interested in the Jenks district, look at neighborhoods in south Tulsa (the district is roughly south of 61st St and west of Yale). Lots of wooded hills and great neighborhoods in the area from 81st to 61st, Yale to Lewis.

The Jenks swim team is the best in the state and their new aquatics center is one of the nicest in the nation.

Jenks Schools also have a top notch gymnastics facility

[DLwebb1994]

Jenks and Union are the two major south Tulsa schools. Though I'm not sure exactly of the boundaries, I might as well warn you, Jenks is a little bit nicer than union, but smaller if I'm right. Also, btw I go to Union so don't judge me to badly, but Union has some weird people and drug problems, so beware of this when you move here. People here are friendly and kind, and despite what i just said about Union, I'm sure you'll be very happy here. But it get's hot, i mean really really hot over the summer!

[cjh5]

I am curious where you live in Denver. We currently live in South Tulsa and my oldest 2 attend Jenks Southeast elementary. We are actually considering relocating to the suburbs of Denver. We could help each other out it sounds like!

[nolimits76]

Maybe I can explain magnet schools better, at least for this area. Most locals know you don't want to send your kids to Tulsa Public Schools (TPS). The exception being TPS has a couple magnet schools, Booker T Washington and Edison Preparatory, that score exceptionally well and "produce" some brilliant kids. To enter these schools you must live within a certain area in Tulsa. The bulk of these areas include upper-scale homes, meaning higher income families. However, some lower income families are also included in the mix, so you can end up with a diverse crowd in the schools.

Other options for people wanting to live in Tulsa (usually areas like Brookside, Cherry Street and Mid-town) would be private schools such as Cascia Hall or Holland Hall.

A good portion of people believe the surrounding communities offer a better education, and this is where Jenks, Bixby, Owasso, Union & Broken Arrow come into play. Each offer their own unique opportunities.

[swake]

Originally Posted by nolimits76

Maybe I can explain magnet schools better, at least for this area. Most locals know you don't want to send your kids to Tulsa Public Schools (TPS). The exception being TPS has a couple magnet schools, Booker T Washington and Edison Preparatory, that score exceptionally well and "produce" some brilliant kids. To enter these schools you must live within a certain area in Tulsa. The bulk of these areas include upper-scale homes, meaning higher income families. However, some lower income families are also included in the mix, so you can end up with a diverse crowd in the schools.

Other options for people wanting to live in Tulsa (usually areas like Brookside, Cherry Street and Mid-town) would be private schools such as Cascia Hall or Holland Hall.

A good portion of people believe the surrounding communities offer a better education, and this is where Jenks, Bixby, Owasso, Union & Broken Arrow come into play. Each offer their own unique opportunities.

Sorry, not to be rude but this is completely wrong and misleading. That's not the way the magnet program works at all.

Magnet schools grew out of school desegregation in the 1970s. Tulsa and other cities instead of forced busing shut down schools that were all black, or nearly so and reopened them as magnet schools with the best teachers and more resources. These schools, in Tulsa at least, for the most part do not even have attendance districts and students from across the district have to apply to get in. In the past these schools then would take the top 50% of black applicants and top 50% of other races to accept into the student population. Today those rules are no longer acceptable so there is an equal percentage of students that have to come from each sector of the school district but it effectively the same, the schools are very racially diverse and very progressive.

There are a lot more than two magnet schools. Booker T Washington is the main magnet high school and Carver is the main middle school. Edison is a combo middle/high school that has a magnet program as a segregated part of the school. It is not a totally magnet school. The magnet students and the kids from the Edison attendance district don’t intermingle. But it’s also worth pointing out that most of the Edison district is pretty if not very wealthy. There are a number of magnet elementary schools and other schools with specific magnet programs. I don’t know anymore which schools these are as TPS just went through a big reorg and closed a number of schools. One that I know of is Thoreau which is a language immersion school.

Booker T Washington and Edison both are counted as being among the best high schools in the nation. There are also a number of charter schools. If I were you I would call TPS and ask them about the specific magnet programs and about charter schools. It’s also worth pointing out that more than 1/3 of the city of Tulsa is not in Tulsa Public schools. The whole south side south of 61st/71st, much of the east side and a good portion of the west side is in the Union and Jenks school districts.

[BAGuy]

Broken Arrow offers a lot as a community for youth sports and recreations. The school system is also great!