Allen Gwinn  2008-05-09 06:10   

NBC's Today Show will today feature a Dallas area mom, Gwen Beauchamp as a semifinalist for America's Favorite Mom. The finalists will fly to Los Angeles where one will officially be crowned.

The event, sponsored by Teleflora, is timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Mother's Day (bet you didn't know that, guys!).

You can read more about Gwen here.

Then you can vote for Gwen here.

Allen Gwinn  2008-05-09 05:59  DISD (Schools)   

By KENT FISCHER / The Dallas Morning News

Dallas public school trustees and teacher representatives want to amend the district's student code of conduct to allow schools to punish students who falsely accuse teachers of inappropriate behavior.

Read Kent Fischer's story in the Dallas Morning News

Allen Gwinn  2008-05-08 17:20  DISD (Schools)   

UPDATE: Fox 4 News video on hall monitor's arrest here

UPDATE: Jordan posted bond in the assault case only to find he had warrant in Irving--so he's still in jail!

Dallas.Org has learned that two serious, but unrelated, events have happened this week at Robert T. Hill Middle School. The first (and most serious) involved several students manufacturing and passing counterfeit $10 bills at the school. The second involved an altercation between a DISD hall monitor and a student that resulted in the arrest of the 40-year old employee.

The counterfeit $10 bills began turning up Tuesday in the lunchroom of the school. By Wednesday, several more had been passed in the school.

Allen Gwinn  2008-05-07 14:32  DISD (Schools)   

We received reports that some faculty were having problems with a "motivational" speaker, a third party, invited by Spence Principal Mary Davies to address faculty at a recent meeting.

Cheryl Jackson was the speaker, and she has written a response to some of the issues brought up on this blog.

Allen Gwinn  2008-05-01 19:26  DISD (Schools)   

This was forwarded to us. It's author is, simply, "Paul." Thought we'd share it:

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) and an Oklaholma school system decided to have a canoe race on the Trinity River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Oklaholmans won by a mile.

Very discouraged and depressed, DISD decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat, forming a team of school principals to investigate. Their conclusion was the Oklaholmans had 8 teachers rowing and 1 administrator steering, while the DISD team had 8 administrators steering and 1 teacher rowing.

Allen Gwinn  2008-05-01 14:07  City of Dallas   

UPDATE: White Rock lighting project placed on hold by Sheffie Kadane! Meeting scheduled May 22, 7:30, Winfrey Point

For neighbors living around White Rock Lake, their nighttime view of the lake (as well as a quiet moonlit evening) may soon be history.

Dallas has begun installing security lights in parking lots and on the East side of the lake.

So, who pushed the new security lights to soon ring White Rock Lake? Turns out, it may be a slick sales job by a lighting contractor and may cost millions after new wiring is run to power the 90-100 lights planned for installation in the next couple of years.

According to Chip Northrup, this is basically "a case of a consultant to Parks writing themselves into a bond issue - as a vendor."

Allen Gwinn  2008-04-29 08:02  DISD (Schools)   

by Kelsey Gwinn, 5th grade, Hexter Elementary

[Background: Alex W. Spence is one of two Talented-And-Gifted (TAG) academies in the Dallas Independent School District. It has historically been very competitive, and consistently ranks high in TAKS scoring. This posting is from an 11-year-old who visited the school this Spring.]

In the mail I got a flyer for an Open House at Alex W. Spence TAG Academy at Spence Middle School. My dad really wanted to go there and see what it was like. He thought the magnet schools would be higher quality than private schools. We went to the Open House and first went to an orientation in the auditorium. They were telling how great their school was and showing off all their high test scores. They also bragged about the free breakfast that everyone got to have every day. They said they had very nice meals and it was a chance for the students to be with their friends.

Allen Gwinn  2008-04-25 08:31  DISD (Schools)   

Update: Texas Comptroller warned about trustees' conflicts in 2003 (read here)

Last night, at DISD's board meeting, DISD Carla Ranger made a speech calling for tighter ethics rules. It is clear that much attention is being paid to ethics in the District--and perhaps the need for reform.

Here is Carla's speech:

Sometimes we must speak inconvenient truth simply because it is the right thing to do. I believe this is such a time.

AimeeBolender  2008-04-23 18:37  DISD (Schools)   

Alliance/AFT is on the record as having reported and been present when individuals reported serious concerns with Spence Principal Davies. We have also been present during discussions with Principal Mary Davies where some of the complaints were laid out for her. We have been clear in communicating our claims with central administrators.Our reporting history spans two school years.

While the principal can not touch me, the folks who work in her building know she can make their lives miserable. Hence, no one else is on the record.

Allen Gwinn  2008-04-22 20:09  DISD (Schools)   

Ranger calls Lowe on carpet over ethics! Bingham is trying to shut her up!!

It's 5:34 and we're ready to go! It has been a rather eventful week, and we have a bond election coming up. There are several speakers registered to speak regarding the bond--indirectly.

Right now, we're listening to the Superintendent's report. "Best urban district in America" stuff...

While we're listening, let's take a look at this article from the Dallas Morning News.

What happened here is that DISD's auditors handed out what they're calling a "working draft" of the Deloitte audit to board members at a public meeting. At the end of the meeting, they took them up.

But they wouldn't show the document to the public. Besides the obvious question: "what have they got to hide," according to the Texas Attorney General's office, this was illegal and violated the Texas Public Information Act.

You can bet we'll be looking into this, along with our friends at other local publications.

There is also, of course, the controversy surrounding (among others) Board President Jack Lowe's company and the amount of money paid to it and other DISD officials.

Now, back to the meeting... Dr. Hinojosa is still talking.

Allen Gwinn  2008-04-21 06:08  DISD (Schools)   

DISD Trustee Edwin Flores sent the following letter in response to the Dallas Morning News expose of potential conflicts of interest at the board level--and it's inability to obtain financial disclosure forms from board members.

April 20, 2008

A letter from Trustee Edwin Flores

Allen Gwinn  2008-04-17 17:41  DISD (Schools)   

The topics of this evening's DISD Finance Committee were: "the audit is being delayed 2 more months" but the good news is "there is no money missing."

Superintendent Michael Hinojosa made it clear that the reason the audit is being delayed is that District employees are having trouble with the District's Oracle-based accounting system. This, in turn, is causing problems providing the information to Deloitte and Touche--resulting in (now) 5 months of delays.

Our question would be: if the District can't run its own accounting system, and the claim is being made that there's no money missing, how can you tell?

Check out Jason Whitely's story at Channel 8

Allen Gwinn  2008-04-17 06:01  DISD (Schools)   

Channel 8's Jason Whitely, in 2 parts, exposes a $52 million dollar budget deficit that may impact teachers' salaries. District officials make all sorts of claims that the mistake may actually turn into a surplus (watch part 1, watch part 2).

And Brad Hawkins reports on boxes of confidential materials placed in a DISD recycling bin (view it here). This is reminiscent of an event where a file cabinet containing student records was previously found sitting outside a portable building behind Robert T. Hill Junior High school in 2006.

Today, trustees will get a sneak peek of the District audit--now several months overdue.

Allen Gwinn  2008-04-12 21:36  DISD (Schools)   

The widely-acclaimed Dallas Independent School District audit will not be made public until after the bond election. According to sources, the audit will show the District to be in "less-than-stellar" shape with the same senior managers making the same mistakes--repeatedly.

It is also reportedly critical of several departments and how these departments use district funds.

"If it were made public [now], [officials] are worried that it might impact the bond," said one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

So how did the District respond?

A little over a week ago, DISD called a press conference to introduce two new "co-chief financial officers" Steve Korby and Carolyn Jones. The two will be paid approximately $500,000.

Thanks to a meeting caught on tape, we can meet new "CFO" Carolyn Jones.

Allen Gwinn  2008-04-08 06:20   

Sorry, folks, but sometimes you just have to show 'em off!

This is newly-certified 11-year-old PADI Jr. Open Water Diver Kelsey with PADI Divemaster Dad! The picture was taken in Turtle Canyon off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.

Dale  2008-03-29 23:53  DISD (Schools)   

Keldric Hall, a senior at Molina High School, is competing this weekend in the NHSCA 2008 High School Senior Nationals Wrestling Championship in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Keldric wrestles in the 215 pound class and just won the 2008 UIL Class 5A State Championship in his weight division. He just happens to be the FIRST Dallas ISD wrestler to win a state title!

Allen Gwinn  2008-03-27 07:23  DISD (Schools)   

Top administrators have another year "grace period" to move into the District.

Ranger files complaint with Office of Professional Responsibility

It's 5:30 and the meeting is underway.

Looks like the first thing up is going to be Dallas Achieves. The Superintendent's report.

We're past the committee reports and it is on to the speakers on agenda items. The first speaker: Betty Culbreath Lister!

Dale  2008-03-25 22:28  DISD (Schools)   

The Dallas ISD seemingly is becoming more and more the Dallas INCENTIVE pay School District. GEEG, TEEG, DATE and TIF incentive pay plans.

Principal's Incentive Pay, Teacher's Incentive Pay, High Needs Incentive Pay. On and on and on. The Teacher's Incentive Pay Plan piloted this year in fifty-nine schools is supposedly going district-wide next year.

Dale  2008-03-25 22:11   

Much has been said of late of DISD Trustee Jerome Garza's attempt to recruit someone to run against sitting District 6 Trustee Carla Ranger. He supposedly wants someone who will be in favor of the progressive change that the Superintendent and he feels needs to occur in the Dallas ISD. And, someone who will not ask any questions and just go along and get along.

Allen Gwinn  2008-03-21 21:10   

Update: Sliter drops out of mayor's race

Just when you think you've heard it all, 42-year old registered sex offender James Brian Sliter (his criminal mugshot on the right) has decided to "make up his debt to society" by running for mayor of the town of Wilmer--a suburb just South of Dallas.

According to Dallas County court records, Sliter was arrested for a felony charge of sexual assault of a minor on August 27, 2004.

The State's sex offender registry lists his victim as a 15 year old girl. 

But Sliter's intended victim wasn't who he thought it was.  In actuality, Sliter was chatting with a police officer posing as a 15-year old child.

When Sliter went to meet who he thought was a child for sex, he was met by police and arrested.

Allen Gwinn  2008-03-07 22:48  DISD (Schools)   

With thanks to Michael Davis at Dallas Progress, we have a copy of the residency waivers filed by DISD's executive staff.

DISD Policy requires senior staff members to live inside the DISD boundaries. These requests for waivers, plainly put, are from those senior staffers who don't want to live in the District (as per policy) and are asking DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa to grant them exceptions.

Read on to view the waivers and discuss the issue.

Allen Gwinn  2008-03-03 10:10  DISD (Schools)   

The website http://www.disdbondelection2008.com/ was short-lived and the record needs to be set straight as to why.

Nobody "threatened" the website's owners. They chose to take the site down versus bringing it into compliance with Texas Election laws regarding political advertising.

Plainly put, if the primary purpose of your site is express advocacy for an issue (i.e. a call to action such as: "vote no"), then you are required to put the phrase: "political advertising paid for by [the name of whoever paid for it]." Failure to do so opens you up to all sorts of unpleasantries--all of which cost money.

The genesis of the law is good: to prevent anonymous, big-named donors from unduly influencing elections simply by throwing lots of money at an issue. Unfortunately, it bites the "little guy" as well.

You'll note that, around election season (on advice of our lawyers), this website bears similar language--even though (since our sole purpose is not express advocacy) we could probably get away with not doing it. It's just a risk we chose not to take--and it is easy to avoid taking it.

After careful consideration I chose to make all sides aware of the issue to avoid an "October" (make that "April") surprise. I also tried to talk the owners of disdbondelection2008.com into simply putting their name on it and leaving it up (as well as talking about options like starting an SPAC, etc.).

The owners of disdbondelection2008.com had very valid reasons for wanting to remain anonymous; so they chose to take the site down rather than reveal their identities.

Even so, they had some extremely good points that were worthy of discussion and consideration. I hope they'll consider options to bring the site back--and will let readers of Dallas.Org know if the situation changes.

Anyway, I hope this sets the record straight.

Allen Gwinn  2008-02-28 17:56  DISD (Schools)   

Ron Kirk to pitch the bond for the District!

It's 5:38 and we're off. The superintendent's report is first. The topic: the "learning block." Subtopics: "leading and improving instruction" and the "learning walk." Everybody get ready. There will be a quiz in your Tuesday folders!

Ahh, but on tap tonight: pitching the bond package. Are we ready for it? Better yet, is the administration ready to deal with it?

Did we waste bond money in 2002, or did we save so (and spend so well) that we could afford to build schools we hadn't planned for?

It will all, likely, be on tap tonight. But read on...

Dale  2008-02-16 00:30  DISD (Schools)   

I watched Channel 8's report tonight on the substitute teacher that was beaten by a student in the middle of class and am just sickened by what is going on in our schools. At 5:00, Channel 8 had a report about fights at Seagoville High School that required the use of pepper spray to break up. Guess we had a really bad day in the DISD.

Allen Gwinn  2008-02-15 16:02  City of Dallas   

UPDATE 2/18/08: Dallas Morning News is asking questions too!
ANOTHER UPDATE: Date on arrest warrant affidavit is wrong!

Former DART Board Chair Lynn Flint Shaw was arrested earlier this week for allegedly forging a letter from Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins to keep from paying a debt.

The Texas Penal Code says about forgery that a "person commits an offense if he forges a writing with intent to defraud or harm another."

It goes on to say that to do so "is a felony of the third degree if the writing is or purports to be [...] part of an issue of money."

So our question is: why wasn't Lynn Flint Shaw charged with felony forgery?

Better yet, according to records obtained by Dallas.Org (links, below, in the story), why wasn't Shaw charged with a felony at all?

Dale  2008-02-13 22:52  DISD (Schools)   

At the last month's DISD Board of Trustees meeting, these public servants, decided to enact two board policies further reducing the public's opportunity to speak to them.

The first specifically states that Board Briefings are a time for the Board to hear from the Administration about issues. This puts in writing what I've experienced over the last four years as President of NEA-Dallas. Every briefing, with the exception of one, has just been a "dog and pony" show for the Administration to tell the Board what it is that they, the Administration, wants them to hear.

Allen Gwinn  2008-01-31 16:45  DISD (Schools)   

Board passes a 15-minute limit on total speakers on a single topic. Board President Jack Lowe walks out before the, now, 15-minute limited Skyline/Conrad speakers--but Hinojosa unlimits them!

Hinojosa stays after the meeting and is talking to parents/students (that, folks, is leadership). Lowe walked out because he was sick--meant no disrespect.

Tonight is going to be a night full of fireworks. All the media is here. Television trucks litter the parking lot (hey, it's an attempt at prose--give me a break!) and the auditorium is packed.

On the agenda tonight: Skyline/Conrad and Roosevelt.

There are 51 speakers to both agenda and non-agenda items. Virtually all of them are speaking about the Skyline cluster move we've been deep into on this website.

Promises to be an interesting meeting.

5:41 PM - It's Board Appreciation Month. Each trustee got a piece of artwork from students througout the District. Next is the reading of a resolution from Mayor Tom Leppert.

Next up a choir. The choir is excellent. You aren't here? You should be!

AimeeBolender  2008-01-30 16:54  DISD (Schools)   

Alliance/AFT is not happy with the progress made at Roosevelt. The teachers on the ground tell us there was no change after the visit from Leslie Williams.

Although I asked for Mr. Williams' timeline--in writing--I did not get one. He said he was taking all issues seriously, but would not give me a timeline. It seems to be taking too long to address serious issues which are erroding the school.

AimeeBolender  2008-01-30 12:47  DISD (Schools)   

UPDATE: January 30, 2007 - Principal Myrtle Dixon at center of grade changing allegations (Read the story here) 

On December 20, 2007, at the request of more than 20 Roosevelt staff members, 98% of who are teachers, Alliance/AFT made a public school board presentation. The presentation was the first time we had gone "public" regarding the issues at Roosevelt. However, we deemed the concerns to be serious--enough to warrant a public statement. Below is the full text of the presentation made.

Following the meeting Leslie Williams, the administrator in charge of Roosevelt, made a commitment to us that, following the winter break, he would personally go to Roosevelt. At that time he said he would talk to the teachers and school employees, without the presence of the principal.

Additionally, at the actual school board meeting, Lew Blackburn, Trustee for the geographical area which includes Roosevelt, made it abundantly clear that he did not want to hear of retaliation against the employees for coming forward.

I personally was very proud of the individuals who attended the meeting and were willing to stand up for their school. We need more courageous, passionate people like these. I am optimistic that the issues will be addressed.

Allen Gwinn  2008-01-14 08:49   

Steve Jobs is currently giving the keynote address at Macworld 2008 in San Francisco.

First thing he announced was a new wirelss backup device to make copies of your data. Very cool.

Then its on to the iPhone and a bunch of new applications available now.

Online content

Then a biggie. Movie rentals on iTunes. Starting at 2.99 for older releases and 3.99 for new releases. You can rent a movie and have 24 hours to watch it as many times as you can.

iTunes movie rentals are available with a free upgrade you download from www.apple.com