WP Article: "The education-reform movement is too white to do any good"

Not a politically correct title.  Read it anyway. 

Excellent essay that explains clearly why we should partner with communities BEFORE planning changes.  Positive long-term change comes from partnering with a community instead of doing unto a community.

"The education-reform movement is too white to do any good" from The Washington Post.
http://wapo.st/T879Pz

Reminds me of this empassioned plea from Trustee Nutall when the bond plan was being presented at the Board Meeting on June 25, 2015.

[After listing a lot of school and community groups that have been actively meeting about how to address needs at their schools. Video time-stamp 139:25]

“The community has been meeting… So when you say you are going to go back to the community and see what the community wants, there are already [groups]… that are meeting with parents.. that are talking about solutions… I don’t see that in this plan. I see us putting here, like you keep saying ‘We’re gonna go to the community,’ and I’m telling you – meet with the people that are meeting now. And they will tell you the vision that they have for their children.

Include them in this. I’m asking you that as a Trustee… this ‘parental leadership’ style is killing me, telling us what’s best for us when we can tell you solutions to our problems. Include us in that solution! [Lists schools and groups in South Dallas and Pleasant Grove.]

I’m just asking the administration to sit with them, and talk and listen. Don’t come and bring something and say ‘This is what’s best for you.’ And we can work together on a solution, for our children.”

Enlightening read on DMN about what the DISD bond is and is not

Dallas Morning News reporter Tawnell D. Hobbs did an article 10/17 titled "Dallas ISD bond proposal pits needed repairs against new schools".

My comments on four points:

1) Quote from Wanda Paul, DISD Operation Chief:
"At the end of the day, it should be about what's best for the kids"

Yes, it should.  So... whose kids and how many is she talking about?  I have yet to find where the FFTF looked at hard numbers about how many kids will benefit from their current plan versus fixing the top needs on the Parsons facility condition report.

Same for school choice:  how many kids does the current plans serve vs how many kids could be served by expanding current choice programs with the same amount of money?  Keep in mind, new programs will start with just one grade level, where as expanding a current program can mean opening slots at multiple grade levels.

Who knows?  Not in the FFTF meeting notes because there aren't any.  :(

2) Regarding Rosemont, one of the nine new schools on the list:
One of the Rosemont Elementary buildings would be replaced even though it’s listed in “good” condition in a district report.

Literally, over half the schools in DISD are in worse shape than this one.  In the June 25th Board meeting, everyone is surprised to see Rosemont on the list.  Trustee Cowan asked, "Why Rosemont?"*  FFTF Co-Chair Craig Reynolds cited 2002 facility condition info, totally ignoring the 2013 info from the Parsons report.  What?!  

I've been told by an FFTF member that the committee as a whole never discussed Rosemont or voted on it.  For that matter, the FFTF committee never voted on any part of the FFTF plan.  

I've made an open records request about docs supporting Mr. Reynolds' statements, so will post it here and at my DISD Bond Info blog when I get it.

3)  Quote from Trustee Cowan: “But I ask those people who are just focused on ‘choice’ to look at other things — the additions, the HVAC, the roofs, the cafeteria expansions, the CTE [career and technical education] program. It’s not just the past regime."

Would be nice, but what he just listed is NOT what the bulk of the money is going toward.  Only $500M of the $1.6B is earmarked for that, and there is need of $2B just for existing facilities (as noted in the article.)

4) Quote from Trustee Bingham:
“If we don’t do the bond election in November, then those needs are just going to keep multiplying.”

Has she read the bond proposal?!  The majority of funds are going to new things, not existing needs. A lot of existing needs will still keep multiplying under the existing plan!  :(  :(  :(

* See the video from Board of Trustees meeting, time-stamp 145:13

Best statement yet about why to vote NO for the DISD Bond in November.

I love this quote from Bill Betzen, webmaster at http://www.dallasisd2016bond.com/

There is no doubt whatsoever that a bond election of $1.6 billion is urgently needed. The problem with this 2015 Bond Plan is that too much of the money is being spent on low-priority needs that then leave much more urgent needs unmet. More students should be benefiting from this plan without spending more money. That is not happening. This plan came from a void, meetings with no minutes, ideas with no named source for the ideas. Transparency & public involvement is missing!

Bill Betzen, via DMN comment 10/18/15 (emphasis mine)

Sum up: We need a bond.  This ain't it.  Vote NO and tell them to bring a better plan back in May.

What the 2015 bond is & is not

The more I learn about the Dallas ISD bond proposal, the more uncomfortable I become with it.  The process and final product are very different than the last bond in 2008.  What this bond is not:

• This is not a bond whose priority is to bring the facility experience for all students up to an acceptable level (a goal of the 2008 bond.)  
• This is not a bond that prioritizes fixing what we already have (it does not align with the district-wide Facility Condition Index report done by the Parsons engineering firm in 2013).  
• This is not a bond that had any meaningful input in the planning process from community groups that I can find - or for that matter, really any group outside the Administration.  It looks like the Future Facilities Task Force got 100% of their info from the administration, and community meetings didn't start happening until the Administration was done with the plan.  (No minutes were kept for the FFTF, and the committee never voted on the plan that was presented to the Board in June.)

So if that is what the bond is not... what IS the bond?

This bond is a check for $1.7B handed to DISD with no strings attached other than what the state requires for bonds.

• The list of new schools and improvements is marked Proposed and is 100% subject to change.  
• The Board has not voted on any plan associated with the bond.

If you think handing DISD a check with no strings attached is a good idea, then by all means vote for the bond.  But if you don't, then vote NO.  Tell them to do it right and bring it back in May!

(And about that "it will not raise our taxes" claim... there are strings attached to that one.  More on that later...)