Is this man a villain?

I don't know Mr. Dan Hicks well, but he is an acquaintance. Actually, we each have sons that were in the same class and played on some of the same teams in the past number of years. Having observed him over those years, I was appalled by the personal attacks and names he was called as a result of his stand against pantheism, hinduism, etc at the Tulsa Zoo.

I know him to be a mild mannered and polite Christian man with a nice family. I respect him for standing up for all Tulsans who believe in the Creation account of Genesis found in the Holy Bible. He has never displayed any of the crusader arrogance of so many other Christians. There is no holier-than-thou attitude, no gossip, no slandering.

He is not a villain. He is a great example and a leader. Heck, I wish he would run for a local office. We sure could use more men like him! Check out this website for more information.

ACT Scores for Tulsa Area High Schools

The latest ACT scores are just now out. The new state average ACT composite score is 20.4.

Kudo's to my favorite, and Tulsa's first charter high school, Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences. It scored the highest on the composite ACT than any other Tulsa area school. It ranks #7 in the state with a score of 23.1!

Here's a summary of the TPS schools:
#16 Booker T. Washington 22.3
#99 Memorial 20.7
#222 Edison 19.5
#322 Nathan Hale 18.5
#343 East Central 18.3
#397 Will Rogers 17.4
#424 T.S.S.T. 16.4
#433 Webster 16.0
#435 Central 15.8

Other Tulsa Area Schools:
#9 Jenks 23.0
#17 Union 22.3
#23 Broken Arrow 22.0
#44 Owasso 21.5
#62 Bixby 21.2

You can link to the information on the Oklahoma State Department of Education website here.

Its kinda funny that the State Department emphasizes how many more minorities are taking the test and gloss over the overall decline in scores. But there is a map that shows Oklahoma is still doing well as compared to all the other Southern States.

Up to Our Eyeballs in Alligators

As parents and students are preparing for the start of another school year, I am reminded of the person who is up to their eyeballs with alligators in a swamp, looking for a way to drain it. Maybe it's too late to drain the swamp...but I don't think so.

The issue that I have been blogging about the longest,(public education in Tulsa), is now front and center with the local media. Just in time for our poor parents to put their kids in school. Here is a link from KJRH about the ability to transfer, but there is much more to this story.

First of all, the 23 schools is the wrong number and only pertain to the Tulsa elementary and middle schools. The needs improvement list identifies 38 schools, including high schools that failed the API index for two or more consecutive years and is a result of the Federal Legislation called the "No Child Left Behind Act". You can learn more about the list and the law from the Oklahoma State Department of Education website. Schools that don't meet standarized criteria for two years in a row are put on this list. The result is that the local school district must offer parent the choice to transfer to any other school in the district that the parent so chooses.

The spokesperson for Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) was bragging about how last year 11% of parents eligible for the open transfer took advantage of it, and that all indications this year is that percentage would be less. I also noticed that TPS was being very creative by adding additional school days and starting school early for some of the Northside schools (attendance is one of the criteria used to determine the list). This really does not seem "fair" and creates a false sense of compliance as compared to the other schools with fewer school days.

What is not mentioned in the KJRH article, but is so germaine is the situation in the public high schools here in Tulsa. KOTV mentioned it on their newscast last evening. But I think what they said was wrong. I know that 7 of 9 TPS high schools are now officially on the list. This includes Edison. The only two not on the list are Booker T. Washington (BTW) and Memorial. Now Memorial may only be about 6 months away from being on the list as they failed it for the first time earlier this year. It takes two years of failing to make the list. What was said on KOTV was that there were no schools for parents of high schoolers to tranfer to, since all were on the list.

But Memorial is not and neither is BTW.

By the way, BTW is the best school in the district, with the highest API score. But TPS will not let you seek a transfer there. I guarantee the good ole boy network is alive and well at the education service center and the educational establishment.

They have had the bully pulpit regarding education since the beginning. And the results are disasterous and they continue to degrade. Parents, its past time to take a deep breath and dive for the drain plug to empty the swamp of failure in Tulsa's public education. Only then will we begin to see our beautiful city begin to turn around in a meaningful way.