Please Vote Today for the Technology Needs of Tomorrow!
If you dropped your kids off at a Tulsa Public School this morning, you may not realize that they will spend their day in a school that is technologically inferior to the surrounding suburban school districts. That’s right. Just a few miles apart in distance, yet a million miles apart in opportunity.
The $38 million bond proposal called “Smart and Secure Schools” will bring all Tulsa Public School sites up to date in technology so that your kids will have the same opportunities that the suburban school kids already enjoy. Did you know that not every TPS school site is wireless? And that our student-to-computer ratio is 12-to-1, while Jenks’ is 2.5-to-1?
What will the proposal buy? One of the most important things it will do is erase the inequities in TPS schools. Even within the district, there are major differences in the technology that is available to students. Shouldn’t all children have access to computers, whiteboards, iPads and wireless Internet? If we are preparing our children for the future, these things should be standard equipment in the classroom.
The bond would also provide $3 million for security repairs and upgrades. Some schools need to have cameras and door systems replaced. Intrusion alarm panels would be installed district-wide. Eleven schools are wooden structures that need upgraded fire sprinklers for a cost of $4 million. Even though all buildings are up to code, the fire at the old Barnard School site is an example of how quickly a fire can overtake a building and how important it is to have the best possible sprinkler systems.
Students deserve the best education we can give them. Our teachers need the technology to prepare them.
And what is the cost? Minimal. For a house valued at $100,000, the increase would be $3.38 per month or $40.50 per year. Don’t buy that mocha frappacino one day a month and spend it to open the world to our TPS students!
For more information and details on the bond, go to www.tulsaschools.org.
Polls are open until 7 p.m.
