Teaching/Living in Tulsa...

[Dr. Foosball]

I am an education student in Fort Smith, Arkansas who is considering a move to Tulsa to teach in the TPS system.  I am curious what locals think about the local school district.  I have relatives who live in Owasso who don't seem to think that working for TPS would be the best decision on my part.

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by Dr. Foosball

I am an education student in Fort Smith, Arkansas who is considering a move to Tulsa to teach in the TPS system.  I am curious what locals think about the local school district.  I have relatives who live in Owasso who don't seem to think that working for TPS would be the best decision on my part.

My advice is to talk to current TPS teachers. I know a few and they are happy enough. It pretty much depends on what your motivations are and which school you end up with. Beware of putting much weight on the opinions of suburban school supporters. The suburban schools are a different animal. As far as my children, I was quite happy sending my three boys to TPS schools.

[RecycleMichael]

My kids are in a very good TPS school.

Let me know when you get to town and I will beat you in a game of foosball.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

My kids are in a very good TPS school.

Let me know when you get to town and I will beat you in a game of foosball.

I'll beat both of you with my dead-man pull...

[]

[RecycleMichael]

quote:Originally posted by Hoss
I'll beat both of you with my dead-man pull...

I have the whole package. I can do a toe push shot that you will swear is magic. I have a pull shot that you can't see without special slow-motion cameras. I have a flip shot that will make you leave the table and play Ms. Pacman.

You are on.

[Dr. Foosball]

My dad used to talk about going to a place called the Tornado Room (or something like that)to play foosball in Tulsa.  It would have been in the late 70's.  Does Tulsa still have a place like that?

[RecycleMichael]

There was a place at 15th and Memorial that was called something like Tornado of Tulsa. I played more than a few games there in the late 70s.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

There was a place at 15th and Memorial that was called something like Tornado of Tulsa. I played more than a few games there in the late 70s.

I'm not that old, but if I remember right it's that old building just south of the old Fedex building, right?  I lived in the apartments across the street behind the Git and Go for several years until about 2005.

I learned to play at the Jungle Safari.  I was a rookie state champion in doubles back in the late eighties.

[RecycleMichael]

I learned to play well when I was in college up in Kansas. There were many good players and every town had a bar with a foosball table. My friends and I would travel to the nearby towns to take on the locals...beat them at foosball and then date their women.

I started by playing back for a guy who had a pull shot that would draw crowds. All I had to do was play solid defense and get the ball to him for us to win.

We had a game ethic that meant you couldn't score the same shot twice in a match. You could have the greatest short pull shot in the world, but if you didn't have some other shots, you couldn't win. It meant that games lasted longer and we became well-rounded players on offense.

[Dr. Foosball]

I should have used a different screen name.

[RecycleMichael]

OK doc. We can talk about TPS schools. Tell us what you want to know...

I know three of the school board members well and could give you their e-mails addresses if you PM me.

I love the TPS school our kids are in. I have a first grader and a fourth grader.

The test scores and demographic information is on the TPS website. There is a new superintendent and a few magnet schools. The last superintendent got into trouble with his alternative school and the district seems pretty stable in money and faculty.

[TURobY]

I attended elementary (Disney), middle (Foster), and high (East Central) schools in East Tulsa. I had a great experience in the TPS system. My sister is still in the system, and my parents have no qualms with the system either.

[Dr. Foosball]

My main concern is getting stuck in some dirty, underfunded inner-city school with kids that will be more concerned with where they will get their next meal than the curriculum.  That is not a slight against the city.  Fort Smith is much smaller and still has schools that I wouldn't wish my worst enemy to have to teach at.  I know how the politics work; The young/new teachers usually get the hardest classes/schools that nobody else wants to do.

[bugo]

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

I learned to play well when I was in college up in Kansas.

KU?  I think I have had a lot of good times in Lawrence, but I can't remember for sure.

[random]

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

There was a place at 15th and Memorial that was called something like Tornado of Tulsa. I played more than a few games there in the late 70s.

The original Tornado foosball place in town was at 11th and Pittsburgh. It was owned by Bruce Groening. It was my second home in the mid-seventies as a Rogers student. Playing foosball and listening to LOUD music! Tornado eventually moved to the southeast corner of 21st and Harvard. After that,the place to go was K.L. Snoozers (where Brothers Houligan is now on 15th street.) Tornado was definitely the kind of table to play on for the serious player. That reminds me - RecycleMichael, we should get a couple of foosball tables and a pool table for our next reunion!