You mentioned that you could live in Jenks or Owasso. Is your husband working in downtown Tulsa? ( I assumed because it is halfway bewteen the two). PLEASE consider a nice neighborhood in Midtown Tulsa! There are some amazing areas with wonderful amenities, low crime rates, cultural areas, parks and pools for the children, etc. There is a large difference in property taxes between Tulsa and Jenks, and Owasso. With the savings you are well on your way to putting your children in a moderately priced private school. Tulsa Public Schools is HORRIBLE (unless you are in a magnet school as mentioned before. They also have problems, though). PLEASE do the math and see if private schools might work. All of the local public districts have had their share of problems lately. There is alot of "good ole boy" politics here in Tulsa, but at a private school you get listened to, becasue you are a paying customer. There are some expensive private schools, but some are under $5,000 per year. I have noticed that some of the info on Greatschools about certain private schools is outdated, though. Be careful. Some schools that are K-12 are only listed as K-8. They haven't been updated lately. Hope that helps!

Both schools are great. Academically they are very comparable. I graduated from Jenks and feel the education I have received was top notch. I am a little partial to Jenks, and completely understand what some people are saying about the town of Jenks. However, most students of Jenks don't actually live inside the town. The district is very large and spans from Southwest Tulsa to at least 101st and Memorial. There are many nice communities within the district lines, regardless of price. Also the Jenks district, though still growing, is pretty settle. Owasso is still growing rapidly. I have also been to Owasso many times and the town is much nicer. Within the town you will see newer and older homes of varying qualities and esthetically pleasing displays-- it just depends on the neighborhood.

My office is located in Owasso, and I wanted to say that my drive from North Tulsa to Owasso, only takes 15 minutes. Everything you need is in Owasso, and it's really quite nice there. As far as the school atmosphere, I would say they are close to equal, although I was at the Jenks 7th and 8th grade center, I believe it is, and it had about 30 students per a class room. Those are certainly things you want to avoid, as well as ask the school about. Jenks is working on getting a new building.

Where are you moving from? And is there any reason you wouldn't simply choose to live in Tulsa? If you're in the Southern Areas (71st, 81st, 91st) the areas are nice and you would probably have Union schools there. I'm not saying Union is the best, by any means, it's just my only experience here and I know Jenks, Owasso, and Union are considered the top three districts. Owasso is about 45 min from Tulsa.

No, I am in Tulsa, with one child in the Union schools. Those are pretty good.

Thanks for your input on areas. We liked Owasso also. I wish it had more of a downtown area, but I guess that's why its called a suburb. It seems to be clean and we liked that everything is new and growing. Do you have children in school there?

Owasso is a much, much nicer town. It is new and expanding. Jenks, despite its reputation, always strikes me as a dirty, po-dunk little town with nothing to say for itself. There's just nothing there, except the river which is a very pretty recreational area. And the Riverwalk mall is a cute outdoor area. But otherwise, I see a lot of run-down little shacks with tar-paper roofs falling in (have you ever been to Indiana? Looks like that). Owasso is much nicer, but realize it is MUCH farther from Tulsa. It's more of a small city in its own right, not an outlyer.

I'm sorry I can't be of much help regarding the suburban schools. We tend to enjoy the urban setting with much diveresity. My son attends a magnet school, Booker T. Washington high school in north Tulsa. North Tulsa gets a bad rap but the school is excellent and we live in north Tulsa in a 20 year old wonderful neighborhood with plenty of professionals. Best of luck in your move to Tulsa and I hope you family will be happy with whichever school you choose.

Too bad it will be our spring break as well and you won't be able to get into the schools! In Jenks you will find that Elm St. (the main street that connects to most of the new neighborhoods) is under construction right now. I don't know when they will be finished but they seem to be moving pretty quickly. It backs up during rush hour right now but will be great when they get it done. Don't let that deter you if you find something you like down this way. I do know that 169 S. from Owasso to Tulsa can be quite a mess during rush hour as well. Don't know if there are plans to do something about that. Oh, and you might not know that you can live in parts of southwest Tulsa and still be in the Jenks school district. Have a safe trip and I hope you find something that you all like!

Hi again, I went to the site you mentioned. The Jenks kids scored higher on their ACTs. In 2006 there were quite a few more kids in highschool than at Owasso. Test scores for Owasso weren't posted, but Jenks posted higher than average for the state. Thanks for giving me that site. Great Schools does have a lot of info., but not everything. Maybe I worry too much! What good parent doesn't - ha! We are coming for a visit to Tulsa next week for spring break and to check out some homes for sale. Thanks for everything.

My daughter is in the Freshman Academy which is on the high school campus but they are separate except for extracurricular activities. I don't hear anything about gang activity but that certainly doesn't mean there isn't any. I tried to look for some stats for you but had no luck. Have you checked schoolreportcard.org? They have lots of info and you can compare the 2 schools as well as the communities. GreatSchools probably has all of the same info, though. Let me know if you find out anything interesting!

With the economy the way it is, it surprises me that they are still building so many houses! What interested me about the Jenks High School are how many different clubs are offered there. I was reading about one called the "adventure club" which sounded interesting. I think Owasso, Jenks, and Union are all highly competitive in their athletic programs which doesn't really interest me so much, although, I'd like Elizabeth (my daughter) to participate in tennis. We talked to a realtor who is from Owasso and she was once a teacher and has friends who teach in Union and said it was still a good school, but they were having a little more problem with gangs. Is there anything like that in Jenks?

I have a freshman and an 8th grader. We moved from a school about 1/2 the size of Jenks, so the whole experience has been tough for my girls. Jenks is well known for its sports accomplishments which my husband and I thought would be great to be a part of but we didn't consider how hard it would be to "qualify" with so many gifted athletes. A lot of families move here for that very reason which is something that we did not think about. However, it may very well be the same in Owasso, I just don't know. I really don't know anything about the tennis program but we have had great coaching experiences with softball and volleyball. Have you visited both communities? It may come down to what "feels" best to you. I know that there are a lot of new neighborhoods going up in Jenks to chose from.

Dear Sunnysue, thanks for replying to my question. We can live in Owasso or Jenks as far as my husband's job is concerned. How old are your daughters? My daughter will be a Junior in High School and likes to play tennis although I don't know if she would qualify to play in a bigger school. I think it is intimidating for her, although she is looking forward to the move surprisingly. I've heard good things about both schools and areas, but I think Jenks has a better rating than Owasso. If you have any other thoughts, I would appreciate hearing them. Thank you.

I think that you need to consider your job location and your interests. We moved to Jenks a year ago and have only been near Owasso for sporting events, so I don't know a lot about it. There are so many new things coming to the Jenks area with the next phase of the Riverfront underway. However, for the most part, it is a "bedroom" community, so to do most any chain shopping, you have to cross the river into Tulsa. Also, I have 2 teen daughters that have had a hard time finding their niche, but that could just be because of their age.