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TPS Moving Ahead With School Name Review

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Tulsa Public Schools will move ahead with a review of all the district schools’ names after the district board agreed to it this week.

"As a board, we look forward to examining and understanding how and in what context our schools were named and evaluating whether those names align with who we are as a school district, which includes kids, teachers, principals, parents, grandparents, neighbors — the whole community," said TPS Board of Education President Suzanne Schreiber.

Superintendent Deborah Gist proposed the review in the wake of white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month. The board this week unanimously approved a resolution supporting that review. Schreiber said the review isn’t a distraction for TPS.

"We just really have so much work to do on the way to Destination Excellence, which is our plan to make TPS the most desired place to teach and learn, but we can't underestimate the importance of having this conversation on the way there," Schreiber said.

It's a busy time of year between opening school and tackling larger, Destination Excellence initiatives on graduation, third grade reading and kindergarten readiness.

Gist and the board have said the district needs to consider how school names may affect students and staff of color. TPS has an elementary school named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Details about how the review process will work will be discussed at the board's next meeting. Gist has said the entire community is welcome to participate.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.