The Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences, also known as "TSAS", is a public charter school serving grades 9-12 located in Tulsa, Oklahoma with a middle school addition of 7-8 grade in 2016. The TSAS mission is to provide a liberal arts, college preparatory curriculum through innovative teaching methods focused on developing the individual. Enrollment is approximately 275 students, and as a public charter school, accepts only students who reside within Tulsa Public Schools boundaries, when there are more applicants than can be accepted, a random lottery open to the public determines new pupils. TSAS was selected as a 2015 Blue Ribbon School. TSAS was founded in 2001 as the city's first charter high school by Darla Coghill, Suzanne Lee, Linda Joyce Stromblad, and J. Evelyn Williamson. The group of educators primarily from Tulsa's Memorial High School, wanted to provide a college preparatory curriculum mixing liberal arts with sciences and mathematics.
Location
In 2012, TSAS Directors announced plans to move the school to the former Barnard Elementary School building located at 2324 East 17th Street. Throughout the summer of 2012, staff and volunteers helped clean and revamp the old building. School started August 15, 2012. On the morning ofSeptember 5, 2012, three weeks after school began, firefighters were called to the building. The building and nearly all of its contents were destroyed by fire. Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard made the decision to offer TSAS the former Sequoyah Elementary building located at 3441 E. Archer St. In 2016, TSAS made a final move to the Roosevelt building located at 1202 W Easton in Tulsa, OK. As stated on their website, "The additional space will allow the school to not only install many of the amenities lost in the fire, but to add 7th and later 8th grades to the school, expanding our legacy of quality schools to younger students."
Academics
The curriculum at TSAS is rigorous and college preparatory. Advanced Placement classes are emphasized, and graduation requirements exceed the state's requirements. In addition to its rigorous college prep environment, TSAS offers visual art, jazz band, orchestra, musical theatre, speech, debate and photography. The school year is divided into trimesters, and students take only five 70-minute classes per session.
Along with the high school portion of the school, as of 2016 TSAS expanded to include a new 7th grade class that will become the 8th grade class in the following year. They will be allowed to attend TSAS High School as well without going through the lottery acceptance again. Any siblings of students already accepted in either the Middle School or High School will have the option of entering TSAS without going through the lottery. Eric Doss will remain executive director of the school with Dan Hahn stepping into the roll of Middle Grades Principal.
