OKCPS To Address Parents At 'Pathway To Greatness' Informational Meeting

The Oklahoma City school district will address parents about changes that will affect thousands of kids Tuesday night. The “Pathway to Greatness” program calls for the closures of 15 schools to free up money for other programs.  

That meeting at Grant High School is the second of three community informational meetings, the first in English. There will not be public comment, since that part of the process is already complete, but folks will be able to ask questions afterward.

High schoolers at Classen SAS are among those who will be moving to a new school next year. The district's Pathway to Greatness plan calls reconfigering the school into a middle school, and high schoolers will move to Northeast Academy. Ilria Capasso's freshman daughter will be one of them.

 “So, to bus kids from all over the metro to get there at 7:30, what time do we actually have to put our kids on the bus?” she questions. “And what time do they have to be at the corner of the street to go to school on time? We don’t know yet.”

District officials say there were a lot of questions about bussing at Monday night's meeting. They are currently analyzing route options but estimate they will have to add 10 bus routes next year. Parents will know routes and stops by the end of the school year.

Parents have also expressed concern that the new plan will impact student's ability to transfer to a different school. Superintendent McDaniel says it will have an effect on the total number of transfers the district can accept.

“What we expect is high percentages of kids who are on transfer now to get to come back as transfers to those schools. We cannot guarantee outside of those grandfathered kids, who are raising up to the top grade in a school. Those are guaranteed. Outside of that, we cannot guarantee other kids’ seats,” said McDaniel.

There is one more meeting Wednesday night at Northwest Classen.