Latest news with #TulsaPublicSchools
Epoch Times
20-05-2025
- Climate
- Epoch Times
More Severe Weather Pummels Central US as Thousands Recover From Deadly Tornadoes
LONDON, Ky.—More tornadoes plowed through the central United States on Monday, ripping apart buildings and knocking out power as people from Texas to Kentucky continued to clean up from days of severe weather that killed more than two dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. At least four tornadoes were confirmed in Oklahoma and Nebraska on Monday evening, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service. Across Oklahoma, at least 10 homes were destroyed and multiple buildings were damaged, including a fire station that was wiped out, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. A spokesperson for the agency said they have not received any reports of injuries or deaths. Around 115,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri, according to Parts of several highways were also closed due to flooding or storm damage. In northwest Arkansas, severe weather caused a Halsey concert to be canceled, and a municipal airport had to close temporarily Monday night so crews could remove debris from the field. And in Oklahoma, Tulsa Public Schools canceled all afterschool activities. Related Stories 5/18/2025 5/17/2025 Northern Texas saw softball-sized hail measuring 4 1/2 inches in diameter, according to Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the service's Weather Prediction Center. Missouri and Kentucky Clean Up Earlier Monday in St. Louis, where officials estimated a Friday tornado damaged 5,000 buildings and may cost well over $1 billion, the mayor warned that federal assistance could take weeks. Kentucky has been hardest hit by the storms. A devastating tornado late Friday into early Saturday damaged hundreds of homes, tossed vehicles, and killed at least 19 people, most of them in southeastern Laurel County. In London, Kentucky, where the devastation was centered, the small airport became a beehive of cleanup work after it took a direct hit from a tornado. Small aircraft stored there had large dents in them, and even wings ripped open. Officials were using it as a base to get water, food, diapers, and other supplies out to the community. 'We have 1,001 things going on. But we're managing it. And we're going to get it all cleaned up,' said London Mayor Randall Weddle. Officials in Kansas and Texas were also evaluating damage from late Sunday storms. The risk of severe storms moves into Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee on Tuesday, the weather service said. Kentucky Hit Hard The Kentucky storms that killed 19 people were part of a weather system that caused seven deaths in Missouri and two in northern Virginia, authorities said. Lonnie Nantz hid in a hallway with his wife, two daughters, and a grandson as the one-story brick home they bought near London in 1977 was destroyed around them. They were trapped in rubble for about 20 minutes in the midnight darkness before they were rescued unharmed. 'I don't know why this happened. I've tried to live a good life all my life. I've still got the faith,' said the 77-year-old Nantz, who went to church as always on Sunday. London city worker Ashley Taylor was back on the job Monday loading doughnuts to take to a hospital and dispatch center even though there was a tarp on her roof. She was lucky—the houses across her street were destroyed late Friday night. She survived the storm with nine other people and three dogs in the crawl space of a neighbor's home. 'We prayed like never before—and just thankful for everything God did for us,' Taylor said. In surrounding Laurel County, first responders mourned one of their own. Fellow firefighters found the body of Laurel County Fire Major Leslie Leatherman on top of a woman he was shielding from the storm's fury as he answered calls during the worst of the storm. The woman was yelling for help, and they were in a field across from a destroyed subdivision. The injured woman turned out to be Leatherman's wife, and officials aren't sure if he knew who he was protecting in the darkness and chaos, the fire department said on social media. St. Louis Waits for FEMA St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said five people died, 38 were injured, and more than 5,000 homes were affected by an EF3 tornado with winds up to 150 mph that slammed areas north and west of downtown Friday. Spencer has estimated that damages will exceed $1.6 billion. 'Eight miles of pure destruction, at times a mile wide,' Spencer said at a Monday news conference. 'We're talking about thousands of buildings, thousands of families are being displaced.' The city is awaiting a disaster declaration from the governor's office as a first step to getting federal assistance. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, expressed frustration over the federal response to a deadly March storm. 'I'm not happy about the fact we're still waiting from all of that damage two months ago,' Hawley said. Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency Chief David Richardson said last week he plans to shift responsibility for disaster recovery to states this year as part of an agencywide transformation and that FEMA would coordinate federal assistance 'when deemed necessary.' Spencer said during a news conference Monday evening that emergency protocols put in place in 2021 were not followed, possibly preventing sirens from being activated to warn residents about the tornado. She said it was not clear whose responsibility it was to let the community know about the emergency, but that the fire department would do so moving forward. In Texas, several tornadoes touched down west of Fort Worth on Sunday, including an EF1 with peak winds of 105 mph that caused damage in and around Gordon, the weather service said Monday. By Bruce Schreiner
New Indian Express
20-05-2025
- Climate
- New Indian Express
Severe weather pummels central US as thousands continue to recover from deadly tornadoes
LONDON (KENTUCKY): More tornadoes plowed through the central US on Monday, ripping apart buildings and knocking out power as people from Texas to Kentucky continued to clean up from days of severe weather that killed more than two dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. At least four tornadoes were confirmed in Oklahoma and Nebraska on Monday evening, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service. Across Oklahoma, at least 10 homes were destroyed and multiple buildings were damaged, including a fire station that was wiped out, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. A spokesperson for the agency said they have not received any reports of injuries or deaths. Around 115,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri, according to Parts of several highways were also closed due to flooding or storm damage. In northwest Arkansas, severe weather caused a Halsey concert to be canceled and a municipal airport had to close temporarily Monday night so crews could remove debris from the field. And in Oklahoma, Tulsa Public Schools canceled all afterschool activities. Northern Texas saw softball-sized hail measuring 4 1/2 inches (11.4 centimeters) in diameter, according to Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the service's Weather Prediction Center.
USA Today
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
Car crash in Kansas leaves 8 dead, including students, staff from Oklahoma schools
Car crash in Kansas leaves 8 dead, including students, staff from Oklahoma schools 'Many branches of our Tulsa Public Schools family are in mourning today,' Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Ebony Johnson said in a statement to a local TV station. Show Caption Hide Caption Car safety systems may lead to distracted driving, AAA study finds Multiple systems that are designed to make driving safer and easier may be placing drivers in danger, according to a new AAA study. USA TODAY A crash over the weekend in Kansas left eight people dead, including two students, a staff member and a former coach from public schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma, officials said. According to a Kansas Highway Patrol crash log, the crash happened around 5:43 p.m. on May 4 and involved a 2016 GMC Yukon and a 2016 Subaru Legacy. The truck was being driven by 33-year-old Jaimon Gilstrap, a staff member who worked at the transportation department, Tulsa Public Schools told News on 6. Apart from Gilstrap, Donald 'DJ' Laster, who attended Booker T. Washington High School and Wayne Walls, a former Carver Middle School coach and teacher, also died in the crash. The fourth casualty from Tulsa was a 9th-grade student, Union Public Schools told USA TODAY in a statement. The student was identified by police as 14-year-old Kyron Gilstrap. 'On behalf of the entire Union Public Schools community, I extend our deepest condolences to the student's family, friends, and loved ones,' Union Public Schools Superintendent John Federline said. 'We have activated our crisis response team and are providing additional counseling resources at the Union Freshman Academy and across the district.' According to police, the four casualties in the other vehicle were identified as Alexander R. Ernst, 37, John D. Elliott, 76, Madalyn N. Elliott, 33 and Norleen L. Elliott, 69. 'Lost friends, brothers, sons and fathers' Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Ebony Johnson confirmed the deaths of Gilstrap, Laster and Walls in a statement sent to News on 6. 'Many branches of our Tulsa Public Schools family are in mourning today. In a car accident in Kansas on Sunday,' Johnson said. 'I am praying for their families and everyone involved, and hope others will continue to come alongside our students, team members, and families who are hurting." A teacher at Booker T. Washington High School told the same news station that Laster was a hard-working student. "I've taught a number of students who've moved on to D1, even the NFL, and there is a thing about them, and that is they work as hard at the academics as they do at their sport," Horton said. Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
CBS News
06-05-2025
- CBS News
Highway crash in Kansas kills 8, including students, former coach and school employee from Oklahoma
Why pedestrian deaths are rising in the U.S. Why pedestrian deaths are rising in the U.S. Why pedestrian deaths are rising in the U.S. Two vehicles collided head-on and burst into flames on a two-lane highway in rural eastern Kansas, killing eight people, including two high school students, a former teacher-coach and a school employee from Oklahoma, authorities said Monday. The crash occurred at about 5:45 p.m. Sunday on U.S. 169 outside of the small town of Greeley, about 60 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas Highway Patrol said. One person escaped from a wrecked vehicle and was hospitalized. Three of those killed were connected with Tulsa Public Schools, the school district confirmed Monday. Booker T. Washington High School student Donald "DJ" Laster died in the crash, along with former Carver Middle School coach and teacher Wayne Walls and Ja'mon Gilstrap, a member of Tulsa Public Schools' transportation team. Laster, Gilstrap and Walls were part of a competitive travel basketball team called the Oklahoma Chaos, KSHB reported. Kyrin Schumpert, a 9th grade student from Union High School Freshman Academy in Tulsa, also died in the crash, according to a Union Public Schools spokesperson. "I am heartbroken for those who lost loved ones, and committed to honoring the immense collective impact each of these people had in Tulsa and in the lives of our young people," Dr. Ebony Johnson, superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, said in a statement obtained by CBS affiliate KOTV. "I am praying for their families and everyone involved, and hope others will continue to come alongside our students, team members, and families who are hurting." TPS confirms a Booker T. Washington student and staff member died in a Kansas crash over the weekend. Details are still limited. This is a developing story, we will provide updates below ⬇️ — News On 6 (@NewsOn6) May 5, 2025 Ron Horton, a teacher at Booker T. Washington, said in a video sent by Tulsa Public Schools that he has seen a lot of kids come and go in his 17 years of teaching and that DJ Laster was "something special." He said Laster was a quintessential student-athlete who worked as hard at academics as he did at sport during the busy varsity basketball season. "He stood out for his friendliness and just the way he made kids feel at ease. They just felt so comfortable around DJ. He was always smiling," Horton said. "No one had a beef with that guy. He was just a good guy." Horton said Laster was one of only two freshmen to make the varsity basketball team and that Laster worked hard to keep up. "It's just a shock, it is, that he's gone," Horton said. Union Public Schools Superintendent John Federline said in a statement that the district has activated a crisis response team and is offering counselors, school psychologists, and support staff for anyone who may need the support. The crash closed a section of the highway for four hours, and Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Jodi Clary said authorities were still working at the crash site Monday evening. The cause of the crash remained under investigation. "Both cars burned up," Clary said. The crash happened just days after a pickup truck and tour van collision in Idaho near Yellowstone National Park killed seven people and injured eight others.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oklahoma school districts should resist efforts to cut back needed programs
Marnie Taylor, the president & CEO of the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, recently explained how nonprofits that often receive support from federal grants, are contributing critical services for families, schools and our social infrastructure. However, due to presidential executive orders, they could face a 'sweeping funding freeze for nonprofit work.' In partnership with other organizations, the National Council of Nonprofits ― of which the center is a member ― filed an injunction to pause the funding freeze. In my opinion, it would be impossible to stabilize and then improve our state's urban schools without the holistic, research-based contributions from nonprofits. That is one reason why I admire the Oklahoma center, and the National Council of Nonprofits, for resisting the funding freeze. I also would be surprised if high-challenge school districts took the risk of standing up for what works for children. Not surprisingly, but understandably, the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) will be reducing its partnerships that provide essential services for its poorest children of color, in order to focus on 'critical grade-level benchmarks.' For instance, Tulsa will be reducing high-impact tutoring, even though it is far more effective than the approaches, like benchmark testing, that Tulsa seems to be prioritizing. In other words, the Tulsa district seems to be giving into pressure to jack up test scores, regardless of whether those scores reflect real, long-term learning. At a time when chronic absenteeism is out of control, the Tulsa district will reduce the number of campuses served by City Year by 50%, thus shifting away from tackling 'learning loss,' and Growing Together, which coordinates and manages wraparound services for students. It will cut the Whole School-Whole Child program, which 'provides targeted supports for students who are identified by teachers and school staff as at risk for dropping out.' Yes, Tulsa has to struggle with managing multiple initiatives in order to effectively promote student achievement metrics. But why would it cut proven policies in order to expand policies that are likely to improve accountability metrics but are much less likely to increase meaningful student learning? I agree with school board member Jennettie Marshall that these changes will reduce both teacher and student retention in high-challenge schools. We should also note that while the Tulsa district is reducing its investments in Reading Partners, Union Public Schools in Tulsa, which is praised across the nation for its full-service community schools, has no plans to reduce its relationships with them. More: Poor math and reading skills in our public schools must improve — and quickly | Opinion I also agree with James Heckman, a Nobel Prize laureate in economics at the University of Chicago, who grew up in Oklahoma City. In 2013, Heckman warned against the standardized test-driven policies that had been taking off across the nation, especially in Tulsa. As I explained in 2014, in "The Myth of Achievement Tests," Heckman, and his co-authors, John Eric Humphries and Tim Kautz, showed that "faith in tests deceives students and policy makers and conceals major social problems.' Instead of test-driven school improvement efforts, they call for programs to support families and parenting. In 2025, Heckman and his co-author, Alison Baulos, published "Instead of Panicking over Test Scores, Let's Rethink How We Measure Learning and Student Success.' They urge us to 'pause some tests and redirect resources toward more meaningful ways to promote and assess student learning.' They don't oppose the use of tests as one measure when used for diagnostic purposes; those metrics 'may be valuable for tracking large-scale trends — such as monitoring recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.' However, 'the current overreliance on tests is costly in many ways and is not an effective strategy for improving education as a whole.' And, 'standardized tests often conceal more than they reveal.' Heckman and Baulos explain that each year, 'America spends roughly $2 billion on standardized achievement tests at the national and state levels.' Testing consumes 'millions of hours of school time' and produces 'waves of stress, as well as increasing students' skepticism regarding school, and 'burnout.' And, they 'often prompt low student motivation.' Moreover, 'this focus on standardized testing reduces education to a technocratic exercise, overlooking the complexity of how students truly learn and grow.' And they 'crowd out curiosity, engagement and socioemotional development.' Again, I don't want to be too critical of Tulsa and other districts who are reluctant to resist state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Trump administration in a meaningful way. When the Tulsa district, and to a somewhat lesser extent Oklahoma City Public Schools, complied with teach-to-the-test mandates, I didn't know anyone in OKCPS who didn't expect that high-stakes testing would cause more harm than good. In my frequent trips to Tulsa, almost every expert and teacher who I met had deep misgivings about their teacher evaluation tests, driven by Value-Added Models (VAMS) that used invalid and unreliable metrics to punish or even fire teachers. Sure enough, research documented the failure of those VAM models. There was hope that 'benchmark tests,' especially in the early years, could be used for diagnostic, not accountability, purposes. But by increasing the number of tests, benchmark testing could further undermine learning cultures; they also might jack up test scores while undermining reading for comprehension, even lowering long-term outcomes. And that brings me back to the need for all of us to stand with nonprofits. In my experience, only they can bolster the confidence of leaders in the Tulsa and OKC districts, so they could commit to the team efforts required to improve schools with intense concentrations of extreme poverty, as opposed to low-incomes, who have endured multiple traumas, and come from neighborhoods that lack social capital. More: Let's celebrate what's right with Oklahoma's public schools I understand today's schools face a combination of challenges: years of failed corporate reforms, the legacy of COVID, the rise of social media, underfunding, and right-wing attacks. Some say today's urban schools may be facing challenges that are as intimidating as those we faced in the crack-and-gangs era in the 1980s. But at some point, education leaders must openly join with nonprofits, and treat the poorest children of color as students, not test scores. John Thompson is a former Oklahoma City Public Schools teacher. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: School programs essential despite threats of federal cuts | Opinion
