MOVING!!! Help

[GG]

quote:Originally posted by phikappa5

My husband was just promoted and we will be moving to The Tulsa area.  I have never been there!  Where are nice places to live?  We have 3 children and a modest income.  Looking for low crime, clean, friendly, down to earth people.  What surrounding areas would you recommend?  Are allowed to live within 30 miles of Tulsa if needed (would prefer suburb) not used to a big city.  Thank you in advance!!!

Owasso, take a good look at Owasso.   []

[Composer]

Broken Arrow Public Schools is a great school district that would more than meet the needs of your children.  Plus, Broken Arrow is a great community to live in.  I grew up here and was very pleased and went K-12 at Broken Arrow PS and had a great experience.

[RecycleMichael]

I bought a home in east Tulsa a few years ago after living in mid-town most of my life. I was amazed at how much further our houising dollar went. We love our neighborhood and are still conveniently close to expressways.

[TheArtist]

No need to worry about living in a big city, there isnt one around these parts. Dallas to the South KC to the North, well outside your 30 mile range. If your looking at suburbs, Jenks is starting to be the more "upscale" of the suburbs. Its very close in. If the River District actually happens as the plans show, it will be THE suburb of choice and no doubt property values will go up in the area.

[bbriscoe]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder


I wonder how many people that pass on the tidbit about TPS have ever had a student actually enrolled there.

We could have one, but we choose not to enroll him in TPS.  Seems it was just last month at the school our son would have been attending that a boy was molested in the bathroom and the parents weren't even told for 2 days.  Thank God he isn't in TPS.

[RecycleMichael]

I think a single incident could happen at any school. Tulsa Public schools, suburb schools, private schools and schools across America have had incidents.

The security at the Tulsa Public school where my kids attend is top notch. Strangers are immediately identified and confronted. I know this because I asked my mother-in-law to pick up my kids once. She described the experience as something between airport security and a Mexican prison.

[cannon_fodder]

The incident could happen ANYWHERE. The anecdotal evidence of the incident is meaningless.  

It was not a two day response, the parents learned about it the same day.  The problem was they learned about it from the news as the school neglected to contact them.  They contacted the police and the police thought the school contacted the parents and visa versa.  Clearly a lack of protocol, a sign of both a lack of preparation for such an event, a lack of thought, and also a lack of repetition (read: isolated incident).
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/1107/470810.html

I'd be willing to bet someone could walk into many schools, head directly for the bathroom, and grab some little girl - in nearly any school.  My sons TPS school has their doors locked and you have to be buzzed in during hours from the front office.  But you could probably flag some kid to open a back door or otherwise wedge something in the latch if you truely wanted to be a horrible person.  Public institutions of any kind (airports, courthouses and schools...) can deter criminal and dangerous behavior but they can not prevent it.

If you care, they caught the guy and have the whole story:
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/1107/471303.html

He was an uncle a student in the school and was properly buzzed in to visit with a teacher.  So unless you are going to accompany every parent to the bathroom this would have been nearly impossible to prevent.  Then what about janitors , contractors, or teachers - this guy had a clean record.  Or do we just run our schools like prisons to protect the children.

Basically, if this is your reason to avoid TPS, you're just kidding yourself.

[bbriscoe]

actually, we home school.  That incident would be very UNlikely to occur in our environment.  And this incident and the illustration of security being like a mexican prison for a mother-in-law to pick-up her grandkids just validates our decision.

I'm not saying that TPS should be expected to do things any differently, given what they have to work with, but I feel my kids are too good to have to put up with all that garbage.

[cannon_fodder]

I feel my kid's education is not garbage, he has yet to be molested, and that he needs to be socialized in an open (read not strictly controlled) setting.  I can always teach my kid math if I need to, but it is impossible to teach socialization.  

What's more, I've been very pleased with his education.  I have specifically raised my son, to the surprise of no one here, to be inquisitive, solve problems on his own, and not necessarily accept answers at face value.   In spite of the annoyance of that at times and the occasional difficulty (boy, while I find your idea interesting... you're just wrong) it really helps him learn.  I honestly strive to get his take on things instead of telling him how to think (unless he is clearly wrong: ie. you do NOT hit animals, be mean, cheat, etc.).  What he does not learn in school or areas he needs additional education, I am willing and able to help him with.  

On top of all that, conflict often ensues if I'm with anyone 24/7 for too long.  My best friend, my wife, my dogs... or my son.

and FYI, most molestations take place in the child's home or at another location they feel secure, and the most likely culprit is a relative or family friend.  So keeping him away from school is a dubious solution to that problem. Not that your child is at any more risk or that your home is not safe, just saying statistically the home is not a molestation free zone.

Sorry if I am being defensive, but by your own admission you were unaware of the circumstances of which you complained and have no additional experience with the entity you are complaining about.  Really trying not to sound like I'm on the attack, but I've always been curious why people choose to home school?

[RecycleMichael]

I would love to home school.

I don't feel qualified and I also know it is important to have outside friends and influences in my kid's life. I protect them all I can and know each of their friends and their friend's familiies.

The Tulsa Public School system has been great for my kids. We got into the right school and feel part of a family there.

[bbriscoe]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

Sorry if I am being defensive, but by your own admission you were unaware of the circumstances of which you complained and have no additional experience with the entity you are complaining about.  Really trying not to sound like I'm on the attack, but I've always been curious why people choose to home school?

Not saying his education is garbage, but all the things that go along with it.  My cousin went to the same TPS schools that my son would be in based on where we live.  Maybe your son hasn't encountered it, and good for him if so, but she will admit the presence of drugs, teen sex and prenancy, etc which I never encountered in my own Christian school education (well, the pregnancy thing once, but I was never offered drugs or alcohol and never had sex myself during high school).  That is one reason we chose to home school.  Another is his specific personality.  He is a rather hyper but very bright kid who gets bored easily because his lessons are so easy for him.  He gets other opportunities to socialize, but he has a hard time learning in a crowd.  His Sunday school teacher from last year is a public school principal and he told us that home school is probably the best thing we could do for him at this point.

Also, saying that a home is the most likely place a child will be molested is a meaningless statistic.  It is like saying that a particular marriage has a 50% chance of divorce (it depends on the spouses, histories, parents histories, backgrounds and other factors).  
Homes, relatives, and friends vary widely from one to another, but ultimately, I have significant control over what goes on there.  Not that it is entirely safe, but I am responsible for who enters my home and who spends time with my kids (not just anyone).  In other situations, my kid would be just as likely to be molested as the next kid.  Statistically, maybe less so than at a generic "home", but since I have no direct control there that creates a risk I am not comfortable with.  

In Sunday School however, I feel somewhat safe that something will not happen to him such as happened at TPS, at least not in the bathroom.  The kids use their own bathrooms which don't even have a doors, making it easier to monitor.  There is a separate one-holer for adults which locks - so even if a kid used that one, he could lock out a potential molester.