DISD School Named for Adelpha Callejo

Lew Blackburn's vote for Adelpha Callejo was to get the votes against the naming of a school in Carla Ranger's district for John Hope Franklin. If you had attended the board meeting, you would have seen who was speaking for Lew Blackburn about the name of a school in the old Wilmer Hutchins School Distrit. It was Jerome Garza, Nancy Bingham, Edwin Flores and Jack Lowe, all of the slam dunk five except Ellis and she voted with them. It was obvious that a deal was cut before the meeting on how the voting would be.

Lew Blackburn was one of the trustees who was most vocal at the briefing about naming a school for Adelpha. God help us and pleace help the African American children that will enter that school. NO JUSTICE NO PEACE!

It is time to consider breaking up this district into smaller and more manageable districts. Each board meeting is a disaster. We need change now!!!

Adelpha Callejo Nominated for New School Name

I attended the DISD Board Briefing yesterday where Nancy Bingham nominated Adelpha Callejo's name for a new school in DISD. The most telling exchange between board members was when Dr. Lew Blackburn ask Nancy Bingham if she agreed with the racist statements made by Adelpha, and she did not denounce the statements.

I have served on several boards and commissions with Adelpha and always found her to be one-race oriented. She constantly spoke openly in a negative way about black people and always talked about it being the Hispanics time.

She made national news with her raciest comments about then Senator Obama, now President Obama. Even her candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton, had to denounce her racist remarks.

While I believe Adelpha has met many challenges in her personal life and I applaud her for overcoming those challenges and becoming a successful lawyer. I do not believe that naming a school after her, where all races of children will attend, is in the best interest of the school district or the community. My personal belief is that one can be a strong advocate for his/her race without constantly putting down another race.

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.

Thought of the Week

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Don't believe the lies about Souther Sector Votes on the Convention Center Hotel

You have some of the same " wanna be" people spreading lies about the outcome of the Vote Yes for the Convention Center Hotel in the Southern Sector. District 7, 5 and 8 all had the majority of votes for Vote Yes against the Convention Center Hotel. District 4 is the only council district represented by an African American that went Vote No by a slim margin. In fact, District 8 represented by Tennell Atkins lost the Vote No by 10%. That means that the councilman was for Vote No and the citizens were for Vote Yes by 10%. When all of the numbers were aggregated, VOTE YES won in the Southern Sector. That means, VOTE YES WON IN THE FOUR COUNCIL DISTRICTS REPRESENTED BY AFRICAN AMERICANS WHEN ALL OF THE VOTES WERE ADDED FOR THOSE 4 COUNCIL DISTRICTS.

That is what is wrong with our community, we have so many untruthful persons saying that they are working for the community and they are not. If you tell the truth, it will all come out okay whether you win or lose. WIN OR LOSE, DO IT FOR THE COMMUNITY.

Thank You State Rep. Yvonne Davis

Thank you to my State Rep. Yvonne Davis for introducing a bill to split up Dallas ISD. It is no secret that many people have become so disgusted with the way the Dallas ISD is ran that they have begun to contemplate how to dismantle the system and start anew. I applaud Rep. Davis for her courage to even bring up this idea and hope that she is able to get her colleagues to understand the current frustration and the need for change.

The schools that are predominately in the African American community are falling apart with little or no maintenance to the facility. Tenured teachers are being fired and are leaving the district in large numbers which directly affect the education of students. The quality of education for African American students has declined through the years. Parents, students and taxpayers deserve a better education for all children.

DART Fare Increase

DART had a fare increase about two years ago which brought the fare to the current $3.00 per day. DART now want to increase the fare to $4.00 dollars per day. So within 2 years the fare will almost double.
When I was on the DART Board, the financial plan showed a fare increase every five years and that seemed okay as long as it could be justified.
The fare box does not and will never pay for the service. All public transit (bus,rail and para-transit) is subsidized at different levels.
It would be okay to talk about a fare increase if DART had made sure that they looked at all alternatives to increasing the fares on transit dependent riders. DART has several hundred contract employees who ride the system for FREE. DART sells the most expensive passes ($800.00)to cities for $40.00 to pass on to their employees. DART pays over a million dollars a year to assist with shuttle service (SMU, T.I., UTD). DART spends over $500,000 per year on the McKinney Avenue Trolly. DART allows some college students to ride for free. DART runs what is called an "On-Call" service to areas that do not have enough ridership to justify a bus route. These are just some of the issues that need to be addressed before raising the fare.