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School News - Tip Sheet - 7/16/2008

TPS Awarded Literacy Grant 

7/16/2008

Tulsa Public Schools has received a grant of nearly a half-million dollars to improve reading skills among its student population. The office of Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla, announced the $456,373 grant to implement the Literacy and School Libraries Program grant.

The grant enables TPS to do the following:

-Purchase up-to-date school library media resources, including books.
-Acquire and use advanced technology that is integrated into the curricula to develop and enhance the information literacy, information retrieval, and critical-thinking skills of students.
-Facilitate Internet links and other resource-sharing networks.
-Provide professional development for school library media specialists and provide activities that foster increased collaboration among library specialists, teachers, and administrators.
-Provide students with access to school libraries during non-school hours, weekends and summer vacations.

 

Students Qualify for IB Diploma 

7/16/2008

Twenty-three Booker T. Washington students have earned an International Baccalaureate Diploma. The diploma sets students at an international level and gives holders access to the best colleges in the country.

To qualify, a student selects one subject from six groups. At least three subjects are taken at the higher level—240 teaching hours—and three at the standard level of 150 teaching hours. Other demands to obtaining the diploma include a 4,000-word essay and 150 hours of community service.

These are the BTW students that qualified: Catharine Brierre, Rachael Cervantez, Billy Chyan, Claire Cornett, Carl Engle, Anna Facci, Kendrick Feller, Ashley Gibbs, Dylan Hames, Evan Hockett, Caroline Kellough, Christian Loya, Susanna Michael, Sam Miller, Emily Moore, Solange O’Brien, Sophia Pederson, Jordan Rogers, Tim Seitz, Hannah Shepherd, Olivia Snellgrove, Hilary Stambaugh and Jordan Walker.

 

Grand Opening for Early Childhood Education Center 

7/31/2008, 1:30 p.m.

A grand opening for the Skelly Early Childhood Education Center is July 31st at 1:30 p.m.

Funded through a combination of state and private donations—including a multi-million dollar contribution from the George Kaiser Family Foundation—the center reflects a commitment to enhance and expand learning through Oklahoma’s Pilot Early Childhood Program, approved by state lawmakers in 2006 and touted by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett as “one of Oklahoma's greatest hopes for a successful future.” The program caters to low-income children. Almost nine out of ten recipients are minorities and six out of ten live in a single-parent home.

The center “will provide our community with services that will help prepare children and their families for a successful entry into Skelly Elementary. We look forward to the opportunity to work with CAP,” said Skelly Principal Mike Howe.

The Community Action Project of Tulsa County is tasked with running the center. The project has issued the following statement on the childhood program: “We believe that early childhood education coupled with family strengthening programs represent the best pathway out of poverty for low-income families, improving prospects for academic success, wage-earning capacity, and economic independence.”

“Tulsa Public Schools is a strategic partner for us in terms of where we site and build our early childhood education centers,” said Catheryn Mason, the Community Action Project of Tulsa County’s Director of Development and Communication.

The grand opening includes a tour of the facility, located at 8811 East 31st Street. Organizers are not wasting any time making the center operable: On-site enrollment services will available at 2 p.m. that day.

 

Cutt-Off Sends Students to School in Style 

8/11/2008, 8 a.m.

A close shave can be a good thing. Just ask one of the several thousand area youngsters that took advantage of the Barber Cutt-Off, an annual event that sends students to school looking styled and spiffy.

This year’s Cutt-Off marks the sixteenth annual. As they have done since 1992 local barbers and stylists donate their time and skills to students in elementary and middle schools, also chipping in with school supplies and free lunches.

“Last year we serviced over 2,000 kids,” said Tamara Lockett, one of the Cutt-Off’s coordinators, “because some parents can’t even afford haircuts for their children and this helps them start school with confidence.”

The Cutt-Off is Sunday, Aug 10, at the Hutcherson YMCA, located on east Pine and Peoria. Organizers say they are always looking for volunteers. Contact Kenya Hill at 405-881-4817 or email barbercuttoff@gmail.com, for more information.

 

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