LIVE BLOG: DISD Board Meeting
Submitted by Allen Gwinn on Thu, 08/23/2007 - 16:41.
It's Thursday, August 23, and it's board meeting Thursday.
First, the Board Room has been completely renovated. It looks like a Star Trek set. Very cool. Check out the new digs:
5:40 PM - Trustee Ron Price blurts out "I wish the Dallas Ly(ing)... Morning News were here to report on something positive in the District" as he handed out awards to various kids. What would have been impressive is if Ron had said it in Spanish!
5:49 PM - Speakers to agenda items. There was one. Topic: "Substitute Teacher Pay"
5:52 PM - Now we're into the agenda items themselves.
6:09 PM - Uh oh, the cat is out of the bag. Trustee Lew Blackburn brought it up: the staff reorganization. Attorney Jack Elrod is trying to shut him up.
"This is a matter of pretty high public interest," said Elrod.
Elrod is concerned that before this matter is discussed it really needed to be posted. Blackburn noted the objection.
"May I continue without further disruption," replied Blackburn.
Blackburn went on to outline his concerns about who is getting fired, and who is getting hired and asked Superintendent Michael Hinojosa to communicate with the Board during the process.
"There are employees in this district who are afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation," said Blackburn, "they sit in the audience silent for fear of losing their jobs."
6:18 PM - Trustee Carla Ranger echoes the sentiment after much verbosity. Price muttered something about being concerned, but admonished the rest of the Board to hold it until the Board retreat--tomorrow.
Quote of the moment: Ron Price on how people are getting his cell phone number, "they've been passing it around like free cheese."
[...]
6:43 PM - Time for speakers to non-agenda items. The first one: "wake up DISD." A woman is admonishing the Board and administrators to "educate our children." "Do you want the Warriors to be picketing the District," she warned, "...'No Justice No Peace'."
The (former) head of the Dallas Council on PTA's (who just had their charter revoked) got up to air concerns. She pledged to keep training parents regardless of what happened to them. Then it was on to asking for information some of which she claims is being withheld.
Another speaker from the "American Indian Community" in Dallas voiced concern over jobs being eliminated, to wit: the American Indian Education Program and its director James Eaglebull.
7:00 PM - It's a wrap!
Experience: Bilingual Program
How much money would be saved if the bilingual program did not exist? How much money is spent by DISD human resources to travel to other countries to recruit bilingual teachers? What is the return on this expenditure? What is the cost to recruit one bilingual teacher? What is the retention rate? Why did other states abandon the bilingual model?
It has been my experience that students of the bilingual program, even if they were born here, are barely able to read or write English by the 4th grade. The bilingual budget needs to be redirected to lower the teacher/student ratio in the classroom and an intensive effort put forth for the Spanish speaking students to learn English.
Forty years ago my husband was not allowed to speak Spanish at school, even though his family language was Spanish. He continued to speak Spanish at home, English at school and as a result is fluent in both languages.
Is the bilingual program really in the best interests of our children?
[Ed Note: Probably not, but it certainly seems to be in the best interest of some of our administrators!]
Bilingual For The "Elite"
Si, senor, bilingual is only for El Espanol.
If you come from East Africa, having lived in a refugee camp because your home, family and village were destroyed, well, you are on your own.
Yes, you endured years of waiting for the papers to come here.
You get 6 months of help by the refugee folks. Then, try to find help when you walk into the office, or go to a PTA meeting.
But if you come across a foot deep river illegally, then they will bend over backwards so you never have to learn English.
This website gets many, many readers. If one of them is a lawyer, consider filing a discrimination suit on behalf of the students who speak one of the over 60 different languages that are not Spanish.
Hmmm, maybe it could be a violation of equal treatment, or maybe, even, dare I say it? RACISM!
"Bilingual"?? Ingles?
Your question leads to a very intersting phenomenon. I taught in DISD as well as other large districts in the DFW area and guess what: students from those other countries learn the language of English!!!
I had students in other districts where Spanish-speaking students did not make up the largest group of immigrants.
Those students would move to the US in August and when I met with their parents they told me it was a matter of pride for them to learn English--and learn it well.
Most of those students were communicating in English by the middle of the year and quite fluent by the next August.
My husband went to Mexico for an immersion language program for Spanish.
He noticed there were no signs in English.
He was told by several natives there that they felt if my husband was in Mexico, then he should learn the language.
Imagine that!!!!
It makes you wonder about all the conflict over bilingual education, hiring people who speak Spanish, etc. This problem is created and fostered by us Americans. If we demand more, we'll get more!!
[Ed Note: Your observations hit on something very interesting. English is a universal trade languange. English skills are absolutely essential for success in this Country.
Based on the way we're educating our native Spanish-speaking students, we're not turning out fluent, English-speaking graduates.
Virtually every non-English-speaker I've talked to in this Country yearns to speak English. Everyone recognizes the value of learning the language.
Every roofer or day-laborer I've talked to, who has kids, wants "the American dream" for his kids--as opposed to a life of roofing or day-laboring.
So why don't they learn it? Why isn't it taught? Why don't we help these guys learn the skills necessary to pursue "the American dream?"
Good question, eh?]
DISD Job Eliminations
I still find it unbelievable that the DISD Visual Arts Specialist has been fired by the same person who has publicly championed her as the architect of all that is successful in the Fine and Performing Arts.
DISD would be hard pressed to find a more selfless, hard-working, knowledgeable, and dedicated professional in the ranks of DISD.
I fear the Arts will never be the same without this advocate of the arts and of all of our children.
Art teachers, already fighting for their programs in their schools are just finding out about this firing, and definitely fear retaliation should they be too vocal.
Art Specialist
This is an example of the Peter Principle. The competent person is being let go and someone else is promoted to their level of incompetence.
Art, hmmm. Isn't that making hand puppets out of paper bags? Oh wait, I forgot about Picasso and Guernica and Velazquez and Las Meninas. Hmmm, art which is simply humankind's answer to the creation of any object that humans can see.
Geez, someone had to make that first pot.
Did they have to pass a test in science first?
Golly, someone had to make the first woven piece of clothing.
Did they have to write a competent essay? WAIT, writing hadn't been invented yet!
I wonder who invented writing? It had to be someone thinking out of the box.
Without art, thinking dies.
Best Art Specialist Gone
Once again we see how the alleged intelligencia of Dallas ISD decides to make a move that is as bone-headed as can be.
This wonderful and dedicated servant of the education of the children of this city was let go out of what appears to be a power play.
When will education finally be free of such politics and greed?
I am so tired of hearing this same sort of shenanigan in the name of "improving" education!
Hill
Too bad that you can't ask why all of Hill's students will sit in the auditorium all day Monday because their schedules are messed up. Not a positive way to start out the school year.
[Ed Note: Yeah, Leigh Ann Ellis pointed out that the District Administrators were working hard on getting the portables open--as well as a more permanent solution next year.
I just want to know why we're opening some schools without principals.]
Hill Principal
Hill just got new principal.
Mr. Evans, the highly qualified, well liked vice principal at Hill was NOT chosen .
Just like all recent high level hires it went to close a personal friend of of the current superintindent.
Hinojosa will surely run out friends to hire and maybe truly qualified people will again be chosen.
How much longer can DISD stand the abuse in hiring?
[Ed Note: Actually, I've heard good things about the new guy. A handful of parents attended his presentation and everyone came away impressed. I don't think he's a particularly good friend of Hinojosa. In the long run, though, Hill will be his testimonial. Bring him up again in 6 months.
Mr. Evans is a tremendous individual. Though I regret somewhat that he was not chosen, I'm still rather upbeat. I think you (and Mr. Evans) will be too.]
Principals not in position
The DISD can find plenty of new teachers, because they need a job, an income. However, principals know that the DISD eats its own young. They treat the staff like crud. Well, unless you are a member of their own family or close friend at church!
Until a severe nepotism policy is passed in DISD, this stuff will continue. Seriously, you can be at a party, and you better be careful. The teacher you talk to may have as many as five other relatives in the district.
There is a perceived power shift going on in the district. For decades, it was a white district, so of course, the admin was white. Then, as whites fled to the suburbs, the black admin brotherhood moved in. Now, as Hispanics become the majority, they are now --from the top on down-- trying to turn the district into their own. It doesn't matter if you can actually do the job, it is all about race and who you know.--At least that is how it seems to be.....
While teachers at schools must pull together to get off AYP lists, "downtown" is a virtual mental WWE. Trust is out the window.
[Ed Note: I don't know if I agree with your "racial makeover" philosophy. The proof will be in the reports I pull from the District in the next 3 weeks. I, however, subscribe to the philosophy that I don't care what the color of your skin is--I care what kind of job you're going to do.]
Skin=Language?
What kind of district has to go to SPAIN, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Ecuador to find more Spanish speakers?
DISD, of course!
What a joke! Hispanic activists complain that the district doesn't do enough for them. Think about it. We have over 300,000 people who speak Spanish in Dallas. And we have to "import" teachers to teach their kids?
It is a common--and very real-feeling in DISD, that if you are not a Spanish speaker (meaning: Hispanic) you will NOT get picked as a principal.
So, the old guard network in the black community is fighting for every school it can get control of.
It is funny to watch the black leadership on the board, the council and everywhere else get on the receiving end what they dished out 30 years ago.
[Ed Note: If you base your hiring practices solely on skin color, without respect to competence, then you will receive those of a particular color running the gamut of competence.
I'd like to note that, even though there seems to be a definite preference for Hispanic educators, they don't seem to be sacrificing competence in new hires. They are also getting the parents involved more with the hiring process. Somebody show me where I'm wrong here.]
"Fire them up, don't fire them"
Principals are not in place, which will result in more chaos, but qualified teachers are not in place either.
Another great quote from Hinojosa's talk on KERA was that because of a shortage of teachers, he instructed his principals in regard to teachers to, "Fire them up, don't fire them."
While motivation is a characteristic of all great leaders, Hinojosa stated that there wasn't a long line of teachers who want to work in urban districts. Therefore, principals need to make do with the staff they have even though many of them are substandard.
Motivating the staff is great, but it won't turn a teacher who is lacking knowledge of content or instructional skills or classroom management skills into anything but a motivated, mediocre teacher.
As to why there might be a shortage of teachers: maybe the continual corruption in the district, which Hinojosa is not really addressing, is not a great help in recruiting talent.
Maybe the fact that really sharp teachers want colleagues who are functioning on their level keeps teachers away from a district where nepotism runs rampant. Maybe the salary structure, where the starting pay looks good, but the ramp is only $20K after 20 years is a joke, or is the game to churn inexperienced teachers through the system?
Part of Hinojosa's job as an educational leader is to find ways of creating a bigger teacher pool, not to send the message over the airways or to "his" principals that they need to just work with the staff they have in place, even those who need to be fired.
The most important variable in creating educated citizens is the classroom teacher. Hinojosa's comments indicate he does not really understand that the quality of teacher in the classroom is the biggest predictor of success for DISD's children.
As far as volunteering to assist those in the classroom? I taught in DISD for almost 2 decades, and I never needed volunteers to assist me in doing my job.
Local and federal taxpayers are handing DISD $1.6 billion dollars to create an equitable school system for urban children.
Instead of playing at volunteering, we need to organize parents and citizens to figure out how much money per child is available on campus (and which principals are stealing it), and then hold the board and Hinojosa accountable for the quality of education we have already paid for.
If there are not sufficient resources on campus, we can certainly follow the money trail and find out where our tax dollars went.
Then we can assess whether paying top dollars to some downtown administrative dullards brought in from the private sector makes sense when the core business is education.
We can certainly conclude that paying $140K for some mouthpiece for the superintendent does NOT really affect the core business of the education of children in ANY way.
Who is actually interested in messaging or branding for the district? You can't sell the public on DISD until you clean up the corruption and produce educated children. Spending money on spin doctors does neither.
If Hinojosa wants to play CEO, we can hold him and his team accountable on performance measures used in the private sector.
If the resources (human and capital) are not being allocated to the only important interaction going on--the teacher and student--the output is not going to be acceptable.
If Hinojosa refuses to do what it takes to put a qualified teacher in the classroom of every student in the district, the taxpayers will unwillingly continue to pay for substandard performance.
And all the volunteers in the world won't change this by intervening with cookies and milk at the classroom level.
[Ed Note: Change comes slowly. I think Hinojosa is as frustrated as you are. Remember, as I commented to another, DISD is coming out from under decades of abuse/neglect. It takes time to turn that around.
Thanks for the commitment and contribution you made (make) to DISD.]
Principals
The two schools in Buckner Terrace (I30 /Jim Miller area) are without principals.
Lisa DeVeaux at Edna Rowe has been promoted, but the principal at Frank Guzick was pulled from the campus and placed on administrative leave a week before classes were to start.
Skyline finally got a principal, but is bursting at the seams to the point that it could be dangerous.
[Ed Note: The procedure to hire new principals was changed, drastically (for the better), this year. Unfortunately, most principals tend to wait until well after the School year finishes to announce retirement. This leaves a very short period of time for posting, screening, interviewing, tossing out the whole list, reposting, re-screening, re-interviewing... well, you get the idea.
I didn't understand why it was taking so long until I went in and looked at the process.
Perhaps, the best solution is to get a contractual commitment from principals in January or February as to any change in their employment status for the following year.]
Buckner Terrace/East Dallas
It isn't the process, it is the "system" at work here.
Skyline was once the the crowning glory of Dallas.
When Mr. Williams was promoted to supervise the failing schools, they did not have a replacement in the wings, so to speak--a bad business move, I might add.
Hint: NEVER remove the principal of a 5,000 student school without someone ready to take over.
They couldn't find anyone willing to take on the behemoth of a problem that school has become.
I wish the new guy a lot of luck. He will need it.
Edna Rowe came late, so they are working on it.
Guzick was done at the last second. Still not sure why.
Hill
To bad Leigh Ann Ellis couldn't find a public voice before today and support the neighbors who had worked out an inexpensive solution for this year.
After ten years of abusing the next door neighbors behind the school what could one more year matter?
Especially since she cant see or hear the all day long problem from HER house!
[Ed Note: I think you'll be pleased with what DISD is working out for next year. I'm just sorry they weren't forward-thinking enough to salvage the situation before it turned into something bad. But, hey, that's what a big bureaucracy is all about! One thing for certain: we'll be watching the situation. I think Leigh Ann will be as well.]