Broken Arrow High School

[EricGarcia]

Here is an artist rendering of the new facade Broken Arrow High School will receive as part of the $295 million dollar bond issue passed in 2009. 

[TheArtist]

Very nice.

[custosnox]

What?  Someone allowed spending on education in this state?  This must be reported!!!

[Conan71]

That is really cool.  Who is the architect on the project?

[heironymouspasparagus]

And what they really need is a second high school.  By the time Tulsa was the size of that school system, there were about 4 high schools.  Mega schools are just about as crazy as mega churches.

Same with Jenks and Union.

But that would interfere with football, wouldn't it?  The obvious highest priority of any educational endeavor.

[swake]

And what they really need is a second high school.  By the time Tulsa was the size of that school system, there were about 4 high schools.  Mega schools are just about as crazy as mega churches.

Same with Jenks and Union.

But that would interfere with football, wouldn't it?  The obvious highest priority of any educational endeavor.

Broken Arrow has three high school campuses today and Union has two. They just don't divide the schools up in a traditional way. Broken Arrow was talking about adding a second upper high school when the economy went south.

Jenks is a bit different and is actually the largest high school in the state on one campus. And even Jenks technically isn't a single high school, the "Freshman Academy" is a semi-separate school on the east side of the high school campus.  Jenks' size is not only about football, though that certainly is important. Jenks has facilities and class offerings that blow away a lot of colleges. The school has an indoor Olympic sized pool, a planetarium, they teach classes like Ornithology, Calculus III and Linear Algrebra and offer absolutely every single AP course that you can.

[Conan71]

Broken Arrow has three high school campuses today and Union has two. They just don't divide the schools up in a traditional way. Broken Arrow was talking about adding a second upper high school when the economy went south.

Jenks is a bit different and is actually the largest high school in the state on one campus. And even Jenks technically isn't a single high school, the "Freshman Academy" is a semi-separate school on the east side of the high school campus.  Jenks' size is not only about football, though that certainly is important. Jenks has facilities and class offerings that blow away a lot of colleges. The school has an indoor Olympic sized pool, a planetarium, they teach classes like Ornithology, Calculus III and Linear Algrebra and offer absolutely every single AP course that you can.

It's more of a university for kids between 15 & 18 than a high school.  It's a very well-run district and other systems would do good to take a long look at what makes Jenks such a great school system.

[Townsend]

It's more of a university for kids between 15 & 18 than a high school.  It's a very well-run district and other systems would do good to take a long look at what makes Jenks such a great school system.

This means I can say "smoting".

[patric]

The "Venture Brothers" compound was my first impression.

[BKDotCom]

What?  Someone allowed spending on education in this state?  This must be reported!!!

Does spending money on facilities translate to a better education for the students?

[Red Arrow]

Does spending money on facilities translate to a better education for the students?

Of course it does. 

Now the math students have an opportunity to measure the pool, calculate the volume, and convert cubic feet to gallons in order to determine how much it would cost to fill the swimming pool with water.  It lends meaning to the book learning.

[DolfanBob]

Does spending money on facilities translate to a better education for the students?

HA ! No kidding. I can be stupid in a old ugly building too.  

[TheArtist]

It's more of a university for kids between 15 & 18 than a high school.  It's a very well-run district and other systems would do good to take a long look at what makes Jenks such a great school system.

What does make Jenks such a great school system pray tell?

[DolfanBob]

What does make Jenks such a great school system pray tell?

              $$$$$$$ Ka-Ching $$$$$$$

[Conan71]

What does make Jenks such a great school system pray tell?

The curriculum is the main thing.  As well, they are incredibly efficient with their money.  Swake had posted the numbers here before, but IIRC they actually do have one of the lower rates of spending per student on their annual budget yet consistently get very good results.  Another thing that helps is parental participation.  I'd argue that Jenks probably has one of the higher rates of parental participation in classroom activities and extracurriculars.  Their facilities are kept in pretty good condition and students take pride in the school.

Swake, care to add anything that I may have missed?