State BOE Approves Accreditation Status For Tulsa Public Schools
Tulsa Public Schools will stay under local control, despite predictions of a state takeover.
The State Board of Education approved the district's accreditation status at a meeting Thursday.
Tulsa Public Schools is now accredited with three deficiencies - an upgrade from its former status of 'accredited with warning,' decided last year.
The decision comes the day after the Tulsa Public School Board voted to accept the mutual separation agreement from
TPS Superintendent, Deborah Gist.
Gist announced her resignation in hopes of staving off a state takeover.
The Tulsa board named Chief Learning Officer Ebony Johnson as interim superintendent effective Sept. 16.
The district must now present monthly in-person reviews to the state board addressing its shortcomings, which include financial mismanagement and low reading proficiency.
Extreme Heat Increases Drought, Fire Danger
Extreme heat and no rain have resulted in drought quickly making a comeback.
Drought has more than doubled in just a month. The most significant increase is south of Interstate-40.
State Climatologist Gary McManus says south central Oklahoma is the 2nd driest it’s been in more than a century.
The lack of rain and extreme heat is leading to a flash drought situation.
Fire danger has also increased dramatically in southern and southwestern Oklahoma.
McManus says a lot of vegetation has died or gone dormant in that region of the state.
There is a chance for some rain early next week as a cold front moves in, however, McManus says it doesn’t appear to be drought-busting moisture. But it will give us a break from the heat--dropping highs back into the upper 80s and low 90s.
Edmond Animal Shelter Reopens
The Edmond animal shelter has fully reopened following a respiratory outbreak.
The shelter closed June 9th due to the Canine Flu.
The contagious upper-respiratory disease has impacted many local shelters including the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare facility.
Officials say during the closure they intensified their cleaning process and had protocols in place to avoid cross contamination.
Upon reopening, the shelter has also changed the process for meeting with dogs.
OSU Makes Changes To Buildings On Campus To Protect Birds
Oklahoma State University has covered windows on two of its biggest buildings with polka dots. It’s to protect birds who might otherwise fly into the broad reflective surfaces.
Up to a billion birds die each year after flying into windows. That’s according to research from Scott Loss, who’s studied bird collisions across the country and on OSU’s campus.
"Some of the species that fly with buildings here in town and on campus and around Oklahoma are in really steep decline," Loss said.
As you’d expect, lots of birds die from hitting dazzling glass skyscrapers. But Loss says we shouldn’t underestimate how much smaller buildings contribute to the death toll.
"We have hundreds of millions of individual residences in this country. And even if each of those only kills one or two birds per year on average, it adds up." Loss said.
As part of a project spearheaded by Loss and his colleague Tim O’Connell, OSU paid $78,000 to cover its most collision-prone windows in a dotted film that lets birds know there’s a hard surface there.
The researchers say bird lovers with smaller windows and smaller budgets can add decals or paint dots in a two-by-two-inch grid to the outside of a problem window.
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