Villa Teresa

[Architect2010]

This might be an optimistic possibility....if the OKC school system knew how to run a quality school. Trading down is never good.

Classen SAS and Harding are nearby and are better than any suburban school. There are also PLENTY OF GREAT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN OKCPS. As for middle schools, you better get your kids into Harding, Classen, or another private school because there really are no viable alternatives in OKC.

[Spartan]

Who will be running the downtown elementary school?

That's a fight that's going on right now. People who understand what they're doing favor the charter school model (a la Classen, Harding) but now the teacher unions are getting involved and throwing a fight over it. Really, they look pretty out of touch, and obviously they don't understand the downtown residential picture if they think a regular school district model is best for the school.

[Rover]

Classen SAS and Harding are nearby and are better than any suburban school. There are also PLENTY OF GREAT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN OKCPS. As for middle schools, you better get your kids into Harding, Classen, or another private school because there really are no viable alternatives in OKC.

Actually, that just isn't true...especially for elementry schools. The closest one rated in top level is at 45th street. Only one OKC piblic school shows up in the top ten in the state. I love OKC but the school system is way underperforming. Thats why many young families go to Edmond , Norman, and now Moore. Losing a very good private elem school in the core of the city is not good at all.

I will give you the Classen School of Advanced Studies, but that is high school and jr. High.

[Skyline]

Where is the source for the ratings?

[Spartan]

I think there are a lot more than just 10 good elementary schools in this state, or at least, I would like to think so..

[Pete]

Wilson Elementary in Mesta Park / HH has an API comparable to any Edmond school and there are about 4-5 others in the district that can say the same.

Public schools are tied very closely to the socio-economics of their surrounding neighborhoods; it's very little to do with the district itself.

[Skyline]

A few years ago USA Today ranked elementary public schools in the U.S. and Wilson Elem was in the top 100 for the entire U.S. Wilson was also the only elementary school listed for the entire state of Oklahoma. There were no schools listed in Edmond, Moore, Norman, Tulsa, etc.

[Rover]

According to the grade data for proficiency

Top Ten Best School Systems in OK
NAME
1 Edmond
2 Luther
3 Jenks
4 Owasso
5 Kingfisher
6 Valley Park
7 Moore
8 Norman
9 Yukon
10 Devol

TO think the OKC school system is doing a good job isn't reality. They underperform in a state that underperforms educationally. To think losing VT isn't a real loss is just not true. Denial just means perpetuation.

[Skyline]

Actually, that just isn't true...especially for elementry schools. The closest one rated in top level is at 45th street. Only one OKC piblic school shows up in the top ten in the state. I love OKC but the school system is way underperforming. Thats why many young families go to Edmond , Norman, and now Moore. Losing a very good private elem school in the core of the city is not good at all.

I will give you the Classen School of Advanced Studies, but that is high school and jr. High.

I thought we were discussing Okc elementary schools, and specific schools not entire school districts.

[soonerguru]

Rover's list is for overall performance, not individual schools. There are several high quality elementary schools in OKC that would stack up very well with their suburban counterparts, which he does not address.

[Pete]

Again, the performance of a school and district is almost completely determined by the socio-demographics of the neighborhoods they serve.

If you want to improve city schools, improve the neighborhoods around them. And this means primarily having some regulation over unbridled sprawl, otherwise people will keep moving further out and leaving previously good neighborhoods and schools to rot.

Just track what were considered the best public HS's in each decade: Northwest Classen in the 60's, Putnam City in the 70's, Putnam North in the 80's, Edmond Memorial in the 90's, Edmond North in the 00's, and now it's looking like the trend is towards Deer Creek (and more and more private schools).

These shifts were all completely due to the upper middle class moving further and further out. It's not like the teachers and administrators in Putnam City schools suddenly lost competency.

[Pete]

[kswright29]

Great pictures, VT holds a special place with me as both my kids went to school there. My daughter was in the last graduating class. I hope that spot ends up being something amazing. For those unfamiliar with VT, those pictures are not of the school. Although it's next door to the school buildings, this is the convent which is still in use by the Carmelite Sisters as far as I know.

[Pete]

[Easy180]

Looks much better than the completely run down school in Moore on Western. Not sure why that nasty thing hasn't been completely demolished. Huge eyesore.

[Achilleslastand]

Beautiful pics......
Thanks!

[Urbanized]

My former house in Gatewood was previously owned by the Carmelite Sisters. It was donated by an estate, and they lived in it. I'm not sure if it was overflow or what the deal was. But it was a beautiful G.A. Nichols home, and they chopped it up like a dormitory. Maybe it was the bad nuns..?

Anyway it was sold after a number of years and eventually restored by subsequent owners including me. One of the previous owners, who I contacted by phone before buying, had a letter from the Sisters to the Archdiocese asking if it would be acceptable to sell it to non-Catholics, and offered to send me a copy for framing. Totally illegal of course, but I found it charming.

The previous owner also asked if my (now ex-) wife and I were Catholics and/or had lots of kids and seemed sweetly disappointed when the answers came back "no." Same question asked by multiple other neighbors over the years I lived there. I guess a lot of people would be offended by to question, but somehow it made the neighborhood feel traditional and cozy to me. I still miss Gatewood.

What I REALLY miss most right now is the property appreciation I would be getting owning a house a block north of Plaza.

[Pete]

^

Where do you live now??

[Urbanized]

I'm in a townhouse at The Aberdeen. On thing I don't miss: mowing a corner lot. Haven't mowed (mown?) a yard in 9 years. Two big wheels on the weekend are WAY better than four tiny ones.

[Pete]

I hear you... I just spent almost a week hacking down and hacking up ONE large shrub in my yard.

I try not to think about all the other things I could have done with that time and energy, although part of it is certainly therapeutic. And the real estate market out here has really picked up which means I should get a nice payday when it comes time to sell.

Still, I'm leaning heavily towards going much smaller in my next move.

[Urbanized]

I definitely want to own again, but I sincerely doubt it will be a 3K sq ft house built in the twenties with a detached garage with overhead apartment (rented), leaky basement, bad sewer line, leaky 75 year old clay barrel tile roof, dozens of trees including nine oaks fronting the street, cracked sidewalks and driveways, etc. etc... ...that my friend is WORK. Especially when you know how to do most home repair and hate to pay people to do things you can do yourself.

Next time: condo. Or loft. Or shipping container. Or something else that still lets me ride on weekends. Although I still want David Wanzer to build a house for me, so who knows...

[betts]

David Wanzer has some land on 4th St. that's interesting. I'm wondering what he plans to do with it.

[Prunepicker]

I remember Villa Teresa in the 60's and 70's. I remember watching the kids
playing on a really cool cement playground, I mean it. I really thought it was
cool. And the uniforms were fab. White tops and blue bottoms. It was a
couple blocks west of my Dad's lab.

[ljbab728]

Looks much better than the completely run down school in Moore on Western. Not sure why that nasty thing hasn't been completely demolished. Huge eyesore.

That's not in Moore. It's in Oklahoma City.

[Pete]

Just uploaded a bunch more photos to the article at the top of the page.

Here is a sample: