Thursday, November 8, 2012

Great report on the dedication of Zan Wesley Holmes, Jr. Middle School

DISD Trustee Carla Ranger wrote a wonderful report about the official dedication for the new Zan Wesley Holmes, Jr. Middle School.  It was one of those rare moments when students could meet living history - Rev. Zan Wesley Holmes, Jr. himself!

Click here to see Ms. Ranger's report and pictures.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Student Accountability vs. Teacher Accountability

As adults, we see it pretty clearly.  We get it.  Kids need to value their education.  They need to take responsibility for it.  They need to be held accountable for their actions when they create big problems that get in the way of other kids getting to learn.

We get it because we as adults can see the value of owning your own education.  The flip side of that is people who aren't adults just don't always see it.

 An impassioned speaker at September's Board Meeting pointed out that in all the debate about teacher accountability, discussion about student accountability was being lost.  (You can see the Board Meeting and all of the speakers at this link.   The speaker reminded the audience that the famous 1989 movie "Lean on Me" was based on a true story, and that the story had at its heart student accountability.  So why isn't student accountability being talked about more today?

That's a good question.  I suspect it's not due to a lack of desire for it.  I think it's because it's hard to tackle from a policy standpoint. 

You can kick a kid out of school for certain felonies.  But you can’t kick a kid out of school for being a bad student.  In 2012, the law doesn’t let you.

(Well... you can't if you are a public school; you can if you are a charter school or private school.  But that's a discussion for a different post!)

Bottom line, we want to educate our kids.  We want them to succeed.  We try to craft our laws to reflect that.  We are still working out how to do that.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Everybody wants change, but nobody trusts it - especially if a big salary is attached

The faces at 3700 Ross have come and gone over the years, but the people in the community who watch DISD tend to stay the same. I point this out because it helps explain the chronic suspicion around the place. What looks like a new idea to a new superintendent looks like a repackaged old idea to community members. It's neither fair nor unfair. It's just the way it is.

So, it was no surprise to me when a friend asked, "Why is DISD bringing in a Communications Director at twice the salary of her prior position?" I don't know anything about that hire or about that particular situation at all. I can say that there's been countless variations on that question asked at Board Briefings and Board Meetings over the last few years.

The Dallas "public" is always suspicious of large DISD admin salaries. This is because, in part, the high profile faces come and go, and yet the school system keeps chugging along "just the same". The average voter doesn't know what the specific impacts of the highly paid individuals are.  How can the voter measure the value of what they don't know?  Easy.  They don't.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Gracious response from Trustee, more thoughts on communication with parents

I got a very nice phone call from DISD Trustee Ms. Bernadette Nutall in response a letter I wrote to the Board.   She reminded me that she has been calling attention to the possible school closings in her district since March 2011.  In fact, she had her first community meeting with constituents in her district that month.  She had more in Fall 2011, and had community members coming to one of the Fall Board meetings to speak against the school closing because of them.  (I remember this, but don't remember which one it was.  I can look that up if anyone wants to know.)

She went on to remind me (I remember this, too) that she asked that all bond projects in District 9 (her district) be put on hold until the school closing issue was decided.  She did not want to spend money on schools that were ultimately going to be shuttered, even if the money came from the bond budget and not the General Operating fund budget (the one the cuts are having to come from).

She is right.  The issue of schools closing is not new, and both her and Mr. Cowan (District 7) have brought up the topic in Board Briefings on multiple occasions.  I am glad she reminded me of that, and that is why I am posting her response here.  This needs to be acknowledged.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Speakers at the January School Board meeting

Dallas ISD is very good about webcasting all the Board Meetings and Board Briefings, even the ones that are controversial.  This meeting is no exception.  My thanks to DISD for being very faithful in that.

Below are highlight clips from the Speakers at that meeting.  I went through the webcast and pulled at least a snippet from every speaker speaking to the agenda item of closing the 11 schools.  Considering the vote outcome, the silver lining in the whole evening was the first speaker, Vince Murchinson.  Mr. Murchinson has been a dedicated supporter of J.L. Long Middle School for a few years now.  He leads a very active SBDM committee there (SBDM = Site Based Decision Making).  They are a fantastic example of effective community support that makes a measurable difference in a public school.

Here is the first set of speakers, with some of Mr. Murchinson's very nice speech.



This set starts out with the events that led to the School Board President stopping the public speaking, tossing out a speaker, and moving the meeting to the private Board Briefing room.   His decision is being brought under scrutiny.  I don't know much about that, but for those who are interested, it's in this clip.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Blue Ribbon School Tragedy

I am so heartsick over the fate of Bonham Elementary, one of DISD's few Blue Ribbon Schools.  For those who don't know, last Thursday the Dallas School Board voted to close and consolidate 11 schools.  Among them was James B. Bonham Elementary. Here is a report on Bonham's award by the Dallas Morning News.  I guess this means the National Title I Distinguished Schools award isn't going to come through.  I mean, if there's no school to give it to...

For the last few months, there has been a big campaign from the communities of many of the 11 schools to oppose the school closings.   Many petitions with hundreds of signatures were turned into the Board last Thursday for many of the schools. 

But Bonham and its community was the leader of them all.  With it's national recognition, academic  successes, and consistent community support, surely the Board would look at other options?  As one Trustee says often, our outdated public school system is not designed to teach poor children how to succeed.  To that I say - my friend, Bonham did that very well.  And you closed it.

It is heartbreaking to me to see this decision for another reason.  Now we know beyond a doubt that in DISD a school cannot be "good enough" to have its program saved.  It takes a lot more than mere academics and student success to stay alive in a WADA based system.

And another bad thing - the Bonham community got zero compromise or guarantees.  That is especially shocking to me.  They came on "long and strong," as another Trustee is known to say.  They started speaking at Board Meetings and Board Briefings in the Fall.  (Speakers at Board Briefings are not that common.)  They offered alternatives that made sense based on the information given them.  They had Trustees at their community meetings.  They were even willing to discuss compromises they didn't like, such as moving but keeping the teaching and leadership staff largely intact (as one parent suggested, per this article) . 

After all, isn't it the team and not the building that really makes a program thrive?  "Copy it, don't kill it!" is a paradigm shift the magnet communities have been preaching for years.  Bonham supporters urged it, too.

We'll have to keep preaching.  The Board hasn't seen the light yet.  Despite their many assertions that the building doesn't make the school, the Board didn't give an inch on Thursday.  They gave no promises whatsoever that even one teacher would follow the children to the new school, much less all of them.  So much for preserving what works. 

DISD shot one of their prize horses for glue, but he's not quite dead yet.  Bonham is open through the end of this semester.  Between now and then, Bonham parents and neighbors need to press hard to get as much of their program and staff transplanted with the children as possible.  And, if the Robert E. Lee Elementary parents want their school to be a Blue Ribbon School, too, they'll help!

Parents have to keep preaching, or at the end of the day it will still be just all about the money.