Stray dogs and bites are keeping kids in north Tulsa from getting to school and walking in their neighborhoods.
Bill White highlighted the issue during a November community conversation hosted by Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols.
“Since 2020 animal control officers have responded to 199 animal bite incidents involving children under 18,” said White, director of economic development and culture for the Terence Crutcher Foundation. “That’s not just data. That’s 199 families whose lives were impacted.”
Ana Barros with Impact Tulsa — a nonprofit organization focused on improving student outcomes — said stray dogs have also become a barrier to school attendance, leading to chronic absenteeism. That’s defined as missing 10% of the school year. Tulsa Public Schools reported 30% of students were chronically absent in the first 40 days of the fall semester.
“When we talk to families, they mention stray dogs are a part of the problem,” Barros said.
In response, the Crutcher Foundation is partnering with Impact Tulsa, Tulsa Dream Center and Antioch Baptist Church to organize a “walking school bus” for students at John Hope Franklin Elementary School.
The program pairs adult chaperones with kids to use pre-planned routes to get to school safely. It’s something that Barros said they saw success with on the south side.
“We started at Marshall Elementary,” she said. “We did a pilot and students who were previously chronically absent before the walking school bus ended the year with an average daily attendance of 93%.”Barros and White hope to see that success repeated for students at John Hope Franklin.
For now, the Crutcher Foundation has created a map using city data to highlight where dog bites have occurred since 2020. Bites are concentrated in the north and east sides, with high numbers near downtown as well.
