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!!!!!!!!