DISD College Readiness Program

The staff did not answer most of the questions that the board ask. The purchasing dept. was the most shocking. They only put the bid out for 2 weeks, no pre-bid conference, no interviews of the companies that submitted bids,score cards from the panel that left additional questions, and on and on.

From the staffs comments, ASP did not really give a good accounting of their work. It was noted that the 82 Million in scholarships that they reported were awarded had grants in the calculations and they would have to recalculate. The staff also noted that they were not sure how many students really accepted the scholarships.

When the staff was asked if DISD counselors could do this work, they replied that DISD counselors do not have relationships with the colleges therefore it would be better to have contracts with an outside source for college readiness.

When Lew Blackburn ask the question about the shift from Title I to general funds, I thought the staff was going to fall out of their chairs. It was a lot of I don't know why, but I will find out from TEA. Larry Thorn is always answering the budget questions in a snappy way to the board, but he did not say a word.

I think for half the money they could hire a counselor for all 22 schools. Silly me, they have got to hire the people from Teach For America.

Learning Centers and Magnet Schools Teacher and Support Personnel CUTS by DISD Trustees

For those voting YES; Flores, Lowe, Ellis, Bingham and Garza: Lost a total of 7 teachers.

For those voting NO; Medrano, Price, Ranger and Blackburn: Lost a total of 228.

Price - 100

Blackburn - 74.5

Medrano - 37.5

Ranger - 16

Lowe - 8 (all at KB Polk)

Garza - 0.5

Ellis and Bingham - 0

Flores gets a gain at Dealey Montessori with an addition of 1.5

Something is not right with this picture. If looks like a duck, quacks like a duck
and walks like a duck. It is a duck.

The U.S. Department of Education has turned down Dallas ISD's request to move about $15 million in salaries to the Title 1 federal grant program. These salaries are primarily associated with paying coaches for teachers in the district and to reduce class sizes in middle and high schools, which is a part of Superintendent Hinojosa's Dallas Achieves initiative.

When the district's budget came up short last fall (84 million), administrators proposed paying those salaries with Title 1 money which the district receives to improve the educations of low-income kids. There is a process for using those funds and the district did not follow it. Federal money comes through the state to local school districts and can only be used to "supplement" local efforts.

While the district says it is done with the fight, I do not believe them. They will come back another ways as they always do. They seem to be baffled that they were turned down by the feds. They say that they consulted several experts on Title I who advised them that the move was allowable.

I guess now they will just take that money out of the fund balance and leave the district crippled with about 30 million left in that fund. When Hinojosa got here there was about 120 million. I hope nothing bad happens because the district will be in a pickle.

Re-constituting 5 DISD Schools

We continue to try to educate the community on the serious educational problems that are taking place at DISD. There are 4 comprehensive high schools, Kimball, Pinkston, Roosevelt and Seagoville that are struggling to become academically acceptable along with one elementary school Tatum elementary.

We also have to watch out for Birdie Alexander and see what improvements the district has for that school. The district will attend a hearing Friday at the Texas Education Agency to discuss the four high schools and Birdie Alexander. All five schools have been rated "academically unacceptable" for three consecutive years.

Update: DISD gave the wrong list of schools. They just can not get the real story out.

We Love You Carla Ranger

This board has been so busy trying to muzzle Trustee Carla Ranger that they have now stifled their own oppotunity to speak at the meetings. With their actions,they have only sent her from her board seat to open forums that address the problems at the board level and the administraton. She clearly understands that the leadership of Dallas ISD (the board) is in trouble. How can you lead when you are worried about your own personal gains? You can't.



Thank you Adam Medrano for being brave enough to second some of Mrs. Rangers motions.

NAACP Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Andrea Clark (214)394-7779 or (214)741-1809
DALLAS NAACP PRESS CONFERENCE TO DEMAND DISD BOARD TRUSTEE PRESIDENT TO CALL A SPECIAL MEETING

Dallas, Texas - November 24, 2008 - The Dallas NAACP, along with several other community organizations including ACCION America, African-American Pastors Coalition and Interdenomination Ministerial Alliance, will hold a press conference on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 4:00 p.m., in front of the Dallas Independent School District ("DISD") Administration Building, 3700 Ross Ave, Dallas, Texas 75204, to demand Board President Jack Lowe to call a special meeting to take a vote of confidence for Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa by Monday, December 1st. All members of the Dallas NAACP, community members, parents, children and concerned citizens are requested to be present. "We can no longer stand on the sidelines. DISD Board President Jack Lowe lied to us and now we demand that he set the meeting for a vote of confidence as policy states" stated Pres. Casey Thomas. People are asked to be at the DISD Administration Building by 3:30PM. For more information, contact Pres. Casey Thomas at presidentdallasnaacp@yahoo.com or Andrea Clark at (214)394-7779.

James Dante Kings

Dallas ISD's board meeting was as interesting as usual,but two speakers really got my attention. They were the parents of a now diciest DISD student James Dante Kings. James was a student at BTW for the Preforming and Visual Arts school. He along with other classmates in March of 2008 went on a field trip to Austin where James was struck by a car on Interstate 35.

Mr. and Mrs. Kings addressed the board about their son, and made a plea for Dallas ISD to award his diploma. This was a shock to me. Maybe I am just naive, but that is like pouring salt into a wound. The parents have lost their child and the Dallas isd is so insensitive that they will not give them a diploma for their son who was a graduating senior and had completed all of the necessary requirements for graduation.

The administration at Dallas ISD is unbelievable.

UPDATE: November 25, 2008 - Dallas ISD has agreed to award the earned Diploma of James Dante Kings to his parents. Praise God.

Dallas ISD's Rush to Cancel May,2009 Elections

DISD is rushing to vote tonight to preserve the "Slam Dunk" gang which votes together to keep the status quo. It is so unfortunate that there is only one trustee who is speaking up against the extended terms and the cancellation of elections in May, 2009. This board does not seem to have any interest in the education of the children, but the interest of keeping themselves in office to spread the money around to the usual suspects.

Trustee Ron Price continues to talk about not being payed to serve and how much work they are doing as trustee. Since he is the longest tenured board member, you would think that he knows the job description and compensation. If it is such a burden, do not run again in May, 2009.

Trustee Carla Ranger makes excellent points on her blog asking the question, why this rush to vote? http://carlaranger.blogspot.com/2008/11/ruthless-board-politics-is-behind-rush.html

Lets see how this " Slam Dunk" gang will handle this vote.

DISD Throws Away School Books

Can you believe that anyone would put books in the dumpster? That makes absolutely no sense. Even if DISD was not going to use these books, what about donating them to after school programs, learning centers,shelters,church schools,small school districts or even third world countries. I have also heard that DISD has a practice of picking up books that are not being used and burning them. Forgive me, but it is not their money,so they do as they please by throwing the taxpayers money away.

To say that the janitor made a mistake in throwing the books out is the same old excuses that we continue to hear from DISD. No one takes responsibility for their actions, its always someone else who made the mistake.

This ship is sinking fast and the new business community committee had better be careful or they might sink with it.

Hearing and Community Meeting

Dallas NAACP

Hearing/Community Meeting
>
>
> The Bond Program’s ramifications and the Displacement of
> Employees of The Dallas Independent School District
>
> Inviting all Parents, Employees, Teachers, Students and
> Stakeholders
>
> Tuesday Nov. 11, 2008
> 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
> Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center
> 5150 Mark Trail Way
> Dallas , Texas 75232
>
> For Information call 214/749-0266

Booker T. Washington for the Performing and Visual Arts School

Once again the public was mislead by the DISD Board. It was the communities understanding that the clarification of the name of the Booker T. Washington for the Performing and Visual Arts school would be on today's board agenda. No such luck. Therefore the supporters of keeping the school's current name will be back at the board meeting today with their protest. It just seems like this board is so bad that they can not get it right. It is so simple to get past this issue.

ARTS Magnet

Mrs. Hamon is a very generous person, and I am sure that the students, teachers, parents and community appreciate her contribution to the school. In fact, I have not heard one person say anything different.

The question is the visual that is presented when you are on Routh Street. The only name on the building is Hamon Arts Magnet. Voting to put that wording on the building was incorrect and should never have happened. It has caused an outcry from people who have seen DISD make numerous mistakes in the past.

I believe that there is a reasonable way to honor Mrs. Hamon and insure that Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts name is the only prominent name on the building.

Teachers at Spruce

How could the district be so insensitive to the teachers? Remember that this school has been low-preforming for 4 years and Dr. Hinojosa has been with the district for 3 years. Should he go also?

This is not in defense of bad teachers, because we all know they should be gone from the classrooms, but I still question if these teachers had all of the tools needed to move the students forward. You have to ask yourself why Samuel and Comstock improved but not Spruce. Should the DISD Administration get off the hook and not be held accountable?

It is not said openly, but I have heard that out of 23 high schools they are all low-performing but 5. We need a change in leadership at DISD. Bringing in all of these corporate honchos is not the answer to educating these young people.

Spruce High School

At the school board meeting last night, I was moved to tears as I listened to the parents and students speak about dismantling their school. What I ascertained from the speakers was that the DISD Administration had not done all that it could do to make the learning environment better. They had not put in the resources to make the students have added help to improve. They stated that in a 4 year period, the school had 3 different principals. Now just tell me how that makes since when the school was struggling to start with?

Dr. Hinojosa would have to take responsibility because he has been with the district for three years. No one wants to acknowledge that the district failed these children.

While the district can find money to pay high salaries to some administrators, they have failed to realize the high salaries should be going to the people who work directly with the children. There is a reason why students are leaving the district yearly, bad leadership.

Dallas Achieves is not working.

DISD Ethic's Ad Hoc Committee

I was surprised yesterday when I attended the D.I.S.D. Ethic Ad Hoc Committee meeting and took a look at the agenda. The question was raised by Board Member Carla Ranger about the way that the agenda was prepared with little information to let the public know what Ad Hoc Committee would be meeting. It was like they were trying to hide the fact that the Ethic's meeting was taking place.

I was not surprised to hear all of the tongue wagging about the very simple issue of a trustee being able to contract with the Dallas Independent School District. That is very straight forward and should not be hard to address. Trustee Bingham wanted to talk about fellow Trustees Medrano and Ranger who work for the City of Dallas and DCCCD receptively. She wanted to know if they should be able to stay in the room when there is discussion about those two institutions. I never could understand what that had to do with them making a profit from the district. Guess I'm just not as smart as Trustee Bingham.

Trustee Jerome Garza wanted to discuss the fact that the City of Dallas Councilpersons leave the room when they have a conflict and maybe the district should have the same policy, but he never elaborated on the fact that the Dallas City Councilpersons conflicts are not related to them having a contract with the city. Councilpersons nor Board Appointees can contract with the city at their time of service or for one year after serving. Usually the Councilpersons conflict are real estate related or they have stock in some large company.

Trustee Blackburn was concerned that whatever they decide should be within the law. He wanted public input but was advised by the superintendent that their should be parameters as to what the public could respond to. He also wanted a timeline that would allow them to bring discussion to the board in a couple of months. That did not seem reasonable since he wanted to call in experts also.

Trustee Flores, who is chairing the committee, was all over the place. I really thought his main function was to keep Trustee Ranger from pushing forward with her drafted ethics policy. It seems so elementary to me. If fellow trustees do not agree with Trustee Ranger's suggestion then at the appropriate time vote against it. Being disrespectful is unacceptable behavior.

To me the committee wanted to cast a wide net and comeback with nothing that will be in the best interest of the district and its stakeholders. I do not know of any other public agency in Dallas Texas where elected officials of the entity can profit directly from that entity by having a contract.

In Dallas its all about the money!!!!!!!!

DISD - Spruce High School

Spruce High School is expected to receive the state's lowest rating- academically unacceptable- for the fourth consecutive year when the state releases school rating this summer. This is an indication of how long this district will let the children continue to fail. Dr. Hinojosa has been the superintendent for 3 years and this means that during his tenure nothing has changed even though his staff has tried to implement change .

There were three options presented to the school board, but the one that might be recommended by the superintendent is to move some of the students from the low-performing school to Lincoln High School and Madison High School. What will this do to the ratings of those schools in the years to come? What resources will the district give to help these students? What will it cost to transport these students to the new schools?

I hope that the public will began to start paying closer attention to DISD. In the new bond package there will be approximately 8 new schools in the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas and now we are considering moving students out of that area for academic reasons. In the last bond package Emmett Conrad and Jack Lowe, Sr. were built in the Vickery Meadows area. In the immediate area there are too few students and now the district is moving some magnet programs and other student shifts to have enough students in the new schools. It has also been reported that last year the district lost over 1,000 student therefore the student population is on the decline in DISD.

Dallas Independent School District (DISD) 2008 Bond

While we are contemplating the question of voting Yes or No on the May 10, 2008 Bond Election, we should be asking ourselves very tough questions about the way our taxes are continuing to rise supporting Bond Programs for all public agencies and specifically DISD.

For DISD there are still many questions that are unanswered:

1. Why is the school district not maximizing the the use of the buildings they currently have? There are several schools that are underutilized.
2. As of this date the financial audit report has not been completed.
3, No full accounting of the 2002 bond expenditures or project c completions to the public. This bond was also 1.3 billion.
4. The attempt to educate or inform the public about the elements of the proposed bond have been Less than acceptable.
5. There are continuing report of ineffective management of internal financial systems.
6. The report that there is a shortage of 52 million dollar in the budget for teachers salaries.
7. The cost of education continues to rise for the taxpayers with little improvement in student performance. Remember a national report shows the DISD with a 44% graduation rate.

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO VOTE. LIVES WERE LOST FOR YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE.

DISD BOND

The Bond Program for DISD is not revealing many details to the public. This is the same trick that was used by DISD on the budget for this year. The school board had very few details on the budget when it was adopted, and that allowed the superintendent to use his discretion in some areas.

I believe the district has a reason for holding information from the voters. I you give the taxpayers very few details, they will not be interested and stay at home. This would give the bond supporters an opportunity to get out their voters and win the approval of the bond program with a very small number of voters.

I am always for improving public education, and there is no doubt that the classroom environment plays a very important roll in student learning and student achievement, but I am not sure the last bond projects were handled in the most prudent way and I am not sure that this bond program will be handled adequately because of the many element of secrecy that are taking place.

I am a firm believer in giving the voters the information and letting them make an intelligent decision.