Reporter

Revealing Respect. From Jan. 14 to April 14, Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium (TASM) will host the traveling exhibit, The Test. This exhibit tells the story of the first African-American aviators to serve in the military of the United States. It is a story about their struggles in World War II combat overseas and against prejudice and racism in America. It is a very fascinating story that every American should know. While it is a very exciting story about men in war, flying incredible machines, locked in mortal combat miles above the earth, it is also a quintessential story about the continuing struggle to make America live up to its ideals, the struggle of every generation to make America more American.

Tulsa Air and Space Museum.

Through photographic and text panels and models of the aircraft that they flew, The Test reveals these men's inspiring stories of their struggle for equality in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

The Test arrives at TASM just before Black History Month in February and will allow visitors to learn more about a proud and dramatic era in the history of African-Americans. For more information, visit TulsaAirandSpaceMuseum.org or call 918-834-9900.

Down the Block. At a public forum last week, Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) shared plans to improve equity and expand enrollment opportunities at Eisenhower International School and its sister language-immersion school, Zarrow International. TPS unveiled a proposal that would relocate Eisenhower from its current facility at 2819 S. New Haven Ave., to the former Nimitz Middle School at 3111 E. 56 St., which was closed last year as part of Project Schoolhouse. As a result, two kindergarten classes would be added at Eisenhower and one class added to Zarrow increasing the number of seats for the 2012-13 school year. The recommend changes are pending board approval.

The forum, held at the district's Education Service Center, was attended by more than 300 parents and members of the Tulsa community who were all quite vocal in their support for the programming at both schools.

Other recommendations at the forum included:

Move to a lottery application process at Eisenhower and Zarrow, with the inclusion of sibling preference.

Remove the current assessment/screening process, which has proven inadequate, until further study. In the coming months, the district will research best practices in other districts across the country.

Relocate Eisenhower to Nimitz and add an additional section of kindergarten (this would be a kindergarten class that would grow by one grade level each year).

For 2012-2013, add a one-time kindergarten section at Eisenhower and continue with an additional kindergarten section at Zarrow.

Conduct a magnet school entrance study and review with the expectation of making permanent recommendations to the board of education before Sept. 1, 2012.

Application acceptance to these schools is divided among geographic quadrants within the district. When TPS studied data related to application and acceptance rates by quadrant, there were great disparities. Quadrant IV, which comprises the Tulsa midtown area, has the smallest total student population -- about 8,500 students -- yet has the highest number of students attending both Eisenhower and Zarrow. The other quadrants are all larger, with 9,200, 9,600 and 11,000 students.

For additional information about Tulsa Public Schools, please visit the TPS website, tulsaschools.org.

Make Room. Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of Tulsa will be accepting donations for "Restock the Shelves," a food drive benefitting Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. The National Service Project food drive runs through Jan. 16.

Donations of canned or non-perishable foods can be dropped off at RSVP, 5757 E. 31st St., Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm. Call 918-280-8656 for more information.

Eco-Youth. Memorial High School received the 2011 Green School of the Year award from the Tulsa Metropolitan Environmental Trust (MET) thanks to the efforts of its Earth Team. The award was given out as part of MET's America Recycles Day celebration banquet on Nov. 15. Greenstar Recycling hosted the banquet.

John Beasley, environmental studies teacher at Memorial, sponsors the Earth Team, but he said it is truly a student-driven organization.

On hand to receive the award for Memorial High School were Beasley, seniors Alli Martin and Brandon Weaver and graduates Sarah Turner (2010) and Tasha Mecher (2011), who won the 2010 Green Student of the Year.

The Earth Team was started in 2005 with nine members and now has more than 100. This year the students worked with Blue Thumb, a water education program through the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, conducting field work at LaFortune Park's Little Joe Creek and two ponds.

The Tulsa County Conservation District also gave students volunteer opportunities, including helping build and maintain rain gardens in the greater Tulsa area including at Tulsa Public Schools' Remington Elementary.

This year, the Earth Team is looking for options to repurpose and reuse materials, such as those used at the Route 66 Marathon, Beasley said.

"Our first endeavor into repurposing is with the Tulsa Girls Art School (Tulsa GAS)," Beasley said. Tulsa GAS has taken in several of the banners used at the marathon and will be working with students to transforming them into handbags and other items.

Beasley said other TPS schools are getting involved with this as well. He said art teachers from Memorial, Hale, Rogers, Washington and Edison Preparatory High Schools have contacted him about materials and are excited about coming up with repurposing projects for students.

More information about MET is available on its website at metrecycle.com and America Recycle's Day at americarecyclesday.org.