Maria, I think I get you. I&#39;ve thought for awhile that school quality determines the development how-and-where in this city, as well as in a lot of other cities in this part of the country. <br /><br />At the same time, I hate to hang the dunce hat on any public school. I say this as the stepdaughter of a school teacher at a Tulsa school with a reputation of being one of the roughest in the city, as well as a former mentor of at-risk kids at Roosevelt Elementary (next door to Owen Park). <br /><br />I know not all teachers and administrators in the public system do, but many of them give up their free time and significant portions of their disposable income to do right by kids in our public school system. Plus, these aren&#39;t bad kids. The challenges they face at home day after day would cause any of us buckle. I loved this argument that I heard from a downtown business owner/a fellow Tulsa parent - if we take the kids with any and all advantages possible both in and outside of school out of these classrooms, we perpetuate this problem of quality of education, both real and perceived, in these schools. While I don&#39;t claim that as my own opinion - I&#39;m still mulling it over for myself - I really like how it sounds.<br /><br />I don&#39;t think it&#39;s impossible to get a good education in today&#39;s public school system in Tulsa, Oklahoma, not at all. What&#39;s tough is the thought of sending my son through a set of metal detectors so he can go to school, and subjecting him to a set of experiences in school with which, as someone who was never in a class larger than 20 and who never shared a classroom with an African American until college, I am totally unfamiliar. <br /><br />So, I guess what I&#39;m saying is, it&#39;s easy to talk patriotic about the revitalization of downtown, including any commentary on improving the quality of nearby schools to attract young families. But, how do we do it? Who has to take the first step?