TPS board approves relocating special education program (2024)

The Tulsa Transition Academy will have a new location come August.

As part of its consent docket, Tulsa Public Schools’ Board of Education approved a trio of agenda items Monday night to renovate the former Grimes Elementary School and have it house the Tulsa Transition Academy on its west side starting with the 2024-25 school year.

Grimes, at 3213 E. 56th St., closed at the end of the 2019-20 school year and now houses Tulsa Virtual Academy. As approved by the board, the two programs will share the building and will be divided by doors that could be opened only by a coded badge similar to the security protocols between Mayo Demonstration School and Wilson Teaching and Learning Academy, 11th Street and Columbia Avenue.

The Tulsa Transition Academy was created in response to House Bill 1041, which the Legislature approved in April 2023 to provide an alternative diploma path for the roughly 1% of special education students statewide who have the most significant cognitive disabilities.

It is a school continuation for students who received special education services in high school, obtained an alternative diploma and are identified as needing additional support in developing life skills. Students may attend after they graduate from high school until they turn 22.

Currently operating out of Hale High School and serving 13 students in its inaugural year, the Tulsa Transition Academy is expected to add 20 to 25 students next year and eventually grow to more than 100 students within four years.

With the 2024-25 school year starting in less than two months, the renovations to accommodate the program at Grimes are slated to be done in phases through August 2025. Pending additional approval from the Oklahoma State Department of Education, the district plans to use federal funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to pay for the $3 million project.

TPS officials originally proposed moving the program to the former Ross Elementary School, 8934 E. Latimer St., which has not been used as a school since 1988 and currently houses the district’s Child Nutrition Program.

However, that location drew objections from both at least one potential student’s family as well as Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond due to the number of registered sex offenders living near the campus.

State law requires that sex offenders stay at least 500 feet away from schools, parks and day cares at all times and live at least 2,000 feet away from them. However, state statutes include a grandfather clause that allows registered sex offenders to stay in their residences if a school, park or day care moves into their neighborhood after their conviction.

As of Monday afternoon, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ sex offender registry showed eight offenders living within one mile of each campus.

With board member Jennettie Marshall absent Monday night, the relocation and renovation were approved by a 5-1 vote. The lone no vote came from E'Lena Ashley, who voted against the entire consent agenda.

After the meeting, a spokesman for TPS said the district will have meetings with prospective Tulsa Transition Academy families about the new location before school starts in August but that dates have not yet been confirmed.

Additionally, he said there have not been any discussions about whether to rename the building in light of its incoming occupants.

In addition to the Tulsa Transition Academy relocation, the board approved multiple Cabinet moves as part of Monday night’s consent agenda.

After serving in an acting capacity since March, Kathy Dodd is the district’s deputy superintendent effective Tuesday. She succeeds Paula Shannon.

Effective Tuesday, Talent Management Director Tasha Johnson will be the new chief of staff.

A former TPS deputy superintendent and the current deputy superintendent at Muskogee Public Schools, Kimberly Dyce will be the district’s new chief talent officer effective July 8. Dyce was with TPS from 2013-16.

Campus Police Chief Matthias Wicks will move to a new position, director of youth advocacy.

The position was approved by the board in May and specifically works with alternative education students who are in the juvenile justice system.

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