Looking for Development Center for 2 year child in Tulsa Area (Owasso: neighborhoods, good schools)

[RuRuRu]

Hi, we are relocating to Tulsa with our 2 years old son.

Do you know good early development centers in Tulsa for 2-years old child? We are looking for a full or half-day center with wide range of developmental activities like arts, sports, music etc. Also it should be without any religious influence on kids.

I saw La Petite Academy with nice site in Internet – have you heard any good or bad about them?

[dekes1969]

riverfield country day which would be close to you if you picked Jenks. this IMHO is the best secular program in the area here is the link RCDS - Infants to Threes Overview. I also so saw your link about where to live. I would say Jenks becuase it has more caracter i think anyways. BA is good to but I think Jenks is a better option.

By the way if you do not mind me asking where in Europe are you coming from and is this your first time in the US ?

[RuRuRu]

Dekes1969, thank you much for swift reply. I really like the RCDS site and program for Infants to Threes. Will try to contact them to learn more on their programs.
We are moving from Moscow, Russia. For me it will be the first visit to US , but my husband used to come to US quite frequently and Tulsa is one of the cities he visited. In Tulsa I would like to use an opportunity and take a rest from big metropolis with stressful career life living in quite green area with my family.
Dekes1969, I’m trying to learn more about Jenks and BA - please share some more details on why you would prefer Jenks? BA is slightly closer to husband’s work in Claremore.
Could you please also advice on the districts’ name? I’m looking at Tulsa map and am a bit confused with the names of the areas: Jenks and Jenks schools are the same area? What is the virtual border between Jenks and South Tulsa – is it a river?

[Goodpasture]

Why aren't you looking at Claremore or Owasso? Both have good schools, both are closer to Claremore workplaces. Owasso is a really nice up and coming suburban community. Everything Jenks or BA have can be found in Owasso, and Claremore is aquireing them.

[TulsaArtist]

Aaah didnt realize your husband was going to be working in Claremore when talking about stuff on the neighborhood thread. As for the Tulsa and Jenks schools thing... from what I gather some areas of Tulsa are actually Jenks schools. Also, generally speaking the dividing line for Jenks and Tulsa is the river,,, However some parts of Tulsa are on the other side of the river and even some parts of the Tulsa side of the river may be Jenks addresses lol. You could live in one neighborhood and it be Jenks on one side of the street and Tulsa the other side. In that whole general area it really doesnt matter, its all mostly new, good schools and upper middle class. When your driving around there someone from out of town, sometimes even those that live there, cant tell whats Jenks and whats Tulsa.

As for why Jenks is better than BA. This may sound a bit odd, but you can drive around BA and it just feels more spread out, the intersections are larger, everything is pushed back further from the streets, a lot of it is flatter, buildings are spaced further apart, are often not as nice, rarely any curbs on the roads or sidewalks, there are lots of older, run down, type areas, and to be fair nice areas too. Then when you go to South Tulsa or Jenks, you notice a difference, even though its still suburban sprawl compared to European standards, its more compact. The hills and such in South Tulsa and Jenks make it feel cozier, the river is nice, the buildings look nicer, are a little closer together, closer to the roads, etc. BA is just very, very spread out in every way. I lived there for several years. It got to be depressing. Jenks and far south Tulsa, caught most of its growth spell during the good economic times, so things are just a little nicer. Plus Jenks is smaller land wise so they have to be more compact. Where as BA has a huge land area and for some reason zones things to be even worse sprawl wise than they need to be.

Also whats starting to happen is that BA is, well, aging. Its the largest suburb by far. Its got nice new areas in different sections and older, not so nice areas. It doesnt really have an urban core, its just a huge area of sprawl. Jenks is smaller and is also trending to becoming primarily more upper middle and even upper class.

Since your husband is working in Claremore. One area of BA that does have some nice, new, neighborhoods and is in a decent location, is immediately north of the Bass Pro area off the highway. Not as nice as Wind River, but still nice. So neighborhoods north of the BA expressway may be worth looking at.

Owasso is a bible belt, country, suburb. You will get asked what church you go to and see lots of Jesus bumper stickers on pickup trucks and huge suvs and LOTS of fat people. To pretty much sum that up lol.

[dekes1969]

did not know you hubbie was going to working in the claremore area... the creek turnpike will allow him to get to work fairly quick but you would still be 20 miles away

the area of the jenks school system does include part of sw tulsa city proper a rough idea would jenks would include tulsa city area from 81st street south to the city line and would go west from yale ave hopefully a map will help with that description... the river is the border between the two south of 81st street.. you will find that some people who live west of the river between 81st and 51st on the west side of the river in area called west tulsa are also in the Jenks school system( very green hilly area) this is were RCDS is located on 61st street west


I perfer jenks becuase more of the are is hilly and very green with mature trees.. the downtown area is very quint witha nice walkable main street .. you do not see the massive strip mall sprawl you have in BA

[RuRuRu]

Goodpasture,

Claremore is a bit far from Tulsa.
As for Owasso we consider it but our knowledge of this town is very limited. I would appreciate if you could give some insight on it.
Are there good secular child development centers for such age? What are the entertainment options there? Is it green area? Isn't it too close to airport, I mean noise from airplanes.

[Goodpasture]

no idea about child development centers, but they usually have all the amenities everyone else does.

entertainment? Tulsa is 10 miles away.....abut the same distance Jenks and BA is from Tulsa

It's close to the airport, but I never noticed noise levels being very high.

[sgenet]

If you want a great school for your child, another option is Betty Rowland's School. It is a little different from many of the newer schools, they have been in operation for 50 years and offer many different options, 1/2 days, full days, 2, 3, or 5 days. Many of their staff have been there for 20-30 years. They offer a very loving and developmentally appropriate environment.

[sgenet]

I am going back to one of your earlier posts... Owasso is really no closer to the airport than most parts of Tulsa. There are a lot of new neighborhoods in the Owasso area plus access to nearby lakes at Skiatook & Oolegah.