Ed.Note:"He's actually trying to clean up messes."

I agree 100% with the aboved Statement from the Ed.

It took over 20 years to get in the "messes" we're in and, Dr. Hinojosa didn't do them.

Yes, Many in the District seem to have "Criminal Tendencies"
and would like the "Criminal Culture" to remain as it was and is.

I Congratulate Dr. Hinojosa for having the Honorable Character to Undertake such Enormous Challenge.

Yes, there are many who would like him to disappear and go away, so that thieves can continue Stealing from the Children.

I believe most "Honest Citizens" of our Great City of Dallas will Support Dr. Hinojosa Actions for the Good of the Dallas ISD District.

Lets don't for get...

Dr.Hinojosa is an Educators and, Not a Law Enforcement Officer. Nonetheless, he is Fighting for the Children.
For that!!

I will Stand Beside him and Say: I am with YOU, Dr. Hinojosa.

By the way: For the ones that would like to know what my Educational Philosophy is:

We need to Educate Children to be Pro-Active, Pro-Social and Productive Citizens.

We need to Teach by Good Character Examples, so that "Our Nation" can become Stronger and Not Weaker.

We need to Prepare the Children to be Ready for the Future; and Only a Good Education can Create that Future.

We need to Protect the Children from all Evil.

We cannot Not affort to let anyone that does Harm to the Children go "Un-Punish" for their "Evil Deeds"...

ARTURO

[Ed Note: As I have said, I'm not ready to cut Hinojosa loose just yet. He is really rough around the edges, but I think he really wants to make some positive changes. Anyone in his position, given the state of the District, is going to take flak.

We're still going to be critical where criticism is needed, but we're not going to condemn him for things that are not his fault.]

I am about 99% certain that Hinojosa has known about every scandal that has "suddenly" erupted during his reign. If you notice, you get a $140K spin doctor feeding the media rather than any info from the person in charge. Great use of your tax monies, or the best way to insulate a man whose comments when he does speak are rather insipid?

Get real. He was told about Preston Hollow's return to a Latin Jim Crow method of class assignment, and he was told of the P-card scandal. The man knew.

By the way, where are those indictments for all those P-card thieves?? Notice that just dropped off the radar, didn't it??

Well, until we know better, let's assume they are still providing the same level of corruption at the school level that they provided for the last few years when they were going on Walmart binges to cash in their gift cards for extra money.

Until the excuses stop, and the corruption stops, this district will never provide a return on our tax money. And let me reiterate: he knew.

[Ed Note: The problem is that there are so many things to do, things fall of the edge of the priority table. Until things become public issues, they're not really picked up by senior administration and addressed.

Which is how it should be.]

It is one thing to "err on the side of caution," but it is another to develop a bunker mentality, a la Nixon in 1974.

The DISD will have these problems as long as the foxes guard the hen house.

Funny, the DMN article on bringing people into the top ranks was all related to the Holy Grail: The Broad Prize. Who cares?

I have a bet with fellow teachers: after we win the prize--and we should, having hired people that are attached to it in some way, how long before they all jump ship? How long before they go into consultant jobs?

Oh, and notice the salaries. $182+K... absurd.

While teachers bust their butts to get off AYP or not get on it, what will they get if the prize is won? Oh yeah, their jobs! Yep, they just get to keep their jobs.

Almost makes you believe the old joke: Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, go into administration.

Tell me where then should DISD teachers get valuable staff development.

Everyone is focusing on what they ate but seem to ignore the fact that this was Staff Development.

Keep in mind that DISD teachers teach an INTERNATIONAL STUDENT POPULATION. This was an INTERNATIONAL READING CONFERENCE.

Do you critics have a viable solution for teaching reading to an international student population? I didn't think so!

No one has said what they THINK is a reasonable amount for dinner at a Canadian conference. Jack in the Box and McDonalds is not an answer either. Did anyone consider that 52.00 for Salmon just might be the AVERAGE price in Canada?
If the teachers had chicken at 35.00 would you holler then?

But again, what if that is the average price for dinner in Canada?

Should teachers just eat salad and then just go hungry for the time that they are there?

Better yet, let's not have them go anywhere and have limited knowledge and experience on how to teach an international population of students.

Again I state, Canada is expensive - PERIOD. You have two taxes to pay each meal - the PST and the GST.

The allowances given by DISD travel department are based on what the government gives its employees for travel and by the way, the allowances DISD gives are under what the government gives.

DISD does NOT pay for alcohol - no reports stated that. That is a given. If one turns in a receipt with an alcoholic beverage on it, it does not get paid for - PERIOD. That amount is deducted from the receipt - PERIOD.

I am a teacher and the only appreciation I ever received was from the Japanese government when I toured their country with the Fulbright Teacher program.

That government wined and dined American teachers the whole time we were there. They gave us a per diem and asked for no receipts.

We were housed at the most expensive hotels New Otani hotel depending on exchange rates about 276.00 per night and resorts. We were treated like professionals. Actually, we were treated like dignitaries. The cost to the Japanese government? Roughly about 35,000.00 - 40,000.00 per teacher or administrator.

They spent this on TEACHERS, not politicians!

Yes, it was at the expense of the Japanese taxpayer and they can do as they please with their money - but I don't want the point to be missed here.

They INVESTED in us. Their only requirement was that each teacher/administrator submits a follow on plan to their government by a certain date.

Me? I taught a 4 month long lesson on Japan to my 4th-5th graders. My students were taken on a virtual field trip to Japan via my pictures and the internet.

My students experienced Japanese culture through food tastings, music I purchased while I was there, and other elements of Japanese culture.

My students learned about Pearl Harbor, the causes and the casualties.

My students were required to do reports to show the commonalities between American and Japanese culture.

My students became pen pals with students from a class I visited.
My students read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Several students cried at the end of the book. They thought of a great project. They made origami cranes and sent them to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima as a commitment of peace.

Some teachers simply did web pages or did a one day report. I fully immersed my students in learning about Japan and the Japanese culture.

I have continued to teach this lesson each and every year since I have been back from that trip.

The Japanese government got back their investment ten-fold.

If I was willing to do this much for Japan, then I would do the same and then some for my own school district.

In my initial application, I stated that because I am a teacher, I know that there is a probability that the next President of the United States and/or various other leaders are in my classroom. These leaders will be in a position to converse and create alliances with other Asian leaders, including the leader of Japan.

If because of my lesson, this child walks away with deeper understanding of Asian culture that positively impacts their relations with other Asian leaders and Asian people, then I have had done something greater than teach about where Japan is on the map.

Japan took a risk and investing in THIS American teacher. I was treated well and they received their money back from the lessons I continue to teach each year.

Am I wasting DISD taxpayers’ money? No Asian Heritage month is RECOGNIZED by DISD and teachers are encouraged to do activities to celebrate Asian Heritage month.

What is sad here is that a country on the other side of the world has shown more appreciation for me as a teacher than my own school system and they were willing to show it at a cost of $35,000.00.

[Ed Note: You know, if you are aware that such good job opportunities exist overseas, one has to question what you are still doing here!

Also, why did DISD send more people single-handedly than most other states sent to this particular conference? It seems to me that if a reading development conference is as critical as this, for the $340,000 we spent sending a handful of teachers there, we could afford to bring the conference here--and serve a much broader base!]

Okay, so you got lucky and got ot go to Japan. I agree, it is great for you and all the kids you will teach until retirement.

But you should also remember, that they were there to learn how to teach the skill of reading, NOT absorb Canadian culture.

And by the way, food does NOT have to be expensive! Go to toronto.com. You can look on a link that is called, "Cheap Eats." There you will find, BBQ, Middle Eastern fare, healthy fresh food and a place that serves goulash. All the meals mentioned are less than $10 each.

Also, I am waiting to see how those 166 will spread what they learned in future staff developments.

Finally, if the Japanese taxpayers want you to stay in an expensive hotel, great. But in the USA, we have per diems and budgets. TDY military personnel have to live with them, as do other government employees. Only a few DISD people went overboard, but don't we teach children that the actions of one or only a few can affect the whole group?

We live in a culture that does not value teachers, and teachers who squander money do not help alleviate the reluctance to fund them.There is a strong group of people in this country who would love to privatize public education. They use any scandal as proof that the DISD cannot be trusted. Until the DISD employees get a grip and care about what they do in the public domain, they will continue to be disrespected.

This was Title 1 money, so how does moving away from the DISD crime syndicate solve the problem? This was federal money, so moving away from the district does nothing in terms of our tax monies being used for entertainment. And entertainment is exactly what I would call this. Otherwise, it would have been scheduled during the summer and locally. Then the fun would have been gone, and the attendance would have plumeted.

Why should my tax money or my mom's (who no longer has school age children) pay for their wining and dining?

I agree that teachers don't get paid enough, but that doesn't give them the right to take advantage of the system.

Why do we have PTAs and fund-raisers to raise money for books with this going on?

I can't believe you would think it's ok to spend taxpayers money. I am not a teacher either, but my mom has been one for over 30 years in the public school system.

She goes to many seminars like this and she tells me how much she is "allotted."

And guess what, she never spends over that amount.

Why?

Because she, like 99% of the teachers, is honest and has only the children's best interest at heart. There is that 1% that brings down the rest of the profession. Shame on them for making the rest of the teaching profession look slimy. By the way, that 1% are not too hard to find.

This blow-up has been coming. A couple of years ago a legitimate SpEd conference was in Vegas, and the district really made a teacher provide a lot of documentation regarding the trip. I would never even try to go overseas, see what happens?

I agree that we need to conserve money. I need to thank the Redeemer Bible Church and community member Marvin Ray Burt for arranging for the donation of 5 projector screens to the school over the Memorial Day weekend. They saved us about $500 that we can spend on technology we desperately need at Hill.

We need to be way more conservative with our money than we are. that being said, at some point, don't we need to visit some of these overseas schools with whom we keep being compared. We need to see, in person, what they do differently. I, by no means think I'm the person to go, but someone needs to - at least as long as the critical comparisons are being made.

Who should be the one's to go, anyway? Area Superintendents? Dr. Hinojosa? That seems to be asking alot of them, it's harder than you think to relay ideas through a system this big. So, do you then send not only them, but, all CILT team members (dept. chairs + the principals) at each campus? It would REALLY be too expensive to do that, but would be the easiest way for the schools to implement the changes.

We have to decide what we're going to do. It's really stressful down here in teacherland.

Maybe someone should bust out a P-Card and pay for all of these trips across sea's to learn how they teach subjects.

Heck, I could do one better than that. I say we ask Mr. Price how to run the ESL program since he has done such a great job learning English after speaking Spanish for all of those years.

The truth is, we have what we need right here in DISD. Look at yourself Toni, we have seen parents take the time to come and compliment you on making a difference. We have teachers who care, and want to see their students succeed. Those teachers who are willing to go the extra mile.

At some point, we have to realize that there are students who are not willing to be taught, or incapable and should offer other programs for them to get them off the campus and into the real world. We all noticed the Dr. H has changed his little sign off on the weekly emails from Graduating every student college ready to graduating every student college or workforce ready.

I was impressed that Dr. H realized that not every student, in fact most of the students we deal with either won't, can't, or have no desire to go to college. Lets modify our focus just a bit and concentrate on making those students productive citizens rather than spending millions of dollars trying to be like Japan and realizing that it just doesn't work for us.

Can you show Dallas.Org the CPG (Curriculum Planning Guide) and the out of date books you speak of? He can scan them into this website and show us what you are talking about.

See, you hit the nail on the head. TEACHERS NEVER SEE THE BUDGET! They are just told what they can or cannot do....implying funding is there or not.

Transparency starts with complete fiscal transparency because you can't row a leaky boat, and DISD is the leakiest. All of this information should be posted online along with all receipts. These high-spending principals and teachers who took a trip during the school year (??)should post what they learned and how they intend to incorporate it into their classrooms. How about some lesson plans?

There are many conferences held during the summer with minimal expense that would provide excellent training. This was a boondoggle paid for with federal funds, a little vacation break during the school year on someone else's dime.

How about using a webcast or podcast next time? And how do we know they even attended the seminars?

[Ed Note: Good question! We know some attended the belly dancing!]

There may be more watching but not much is happening in the way of action.

Many people at the top are taking care of their own.

Look back at the p-card and see who was permitted to pay back while someone who spent far less was fired.

Look at the new district structure to those who were unfairly demoted or while less competent individuals were promoted.

There are more injustices going on that just a belly dancing outing.

You often make the comment that things are changing, but I fail to see what has or is changing? Please provide evidence that anything has changed that has had a positive, immediate effect on our children.

[Ed Note: Procurement cards are gone. Senior administrators are being more frugal. There have been some very good hires in top spots. Give it a year, and see if you're not a bit more pleased.]

I am so burning mad right now, I can barely write this. I am so disappointed in the DISD and administrators for even allowing any teachers to go on such an extravagant trip.

There are so many seminars held regularly in the states that these teachers could have participated in.

Here I am with 3 children in the DISD.

One didn't have any books in science because the district didn't get them to school on time, one has 25 children in her kindergarten class (while the ESL class has 4 students), and one is in a broken down portable.

What is wrong with these people? We as parents are breaking our backs to raise money for the school to purchase items for the teachers so they can be productive in the class (the school district doesn't have enough money to fund these items) and they up and go to Canada.

I guess that's where my $15,000 a year in school taxes is going. I hope they enjoyed themselves in Canada. I would like a full written report due tomorrow indicating exactly what they learned and how they are going to implement it throughout the district so the children and other teachers can benefit from what they learned.

[Ed Note: To the folks who have defended the trip: does this explain it a little better? Good luck on getting a report! But if someone would like to write one, we'll be happy to publish it!]

Ok...this is out of control...not the spending..the report!!

You know what, no one is questioning Plano ISD or Richardson ISD's principals and scrutinizing what they eat when they go to conferences. I wonder why?

What is the big deal? You want people to turn in receipts and then ream them about what they eat? When does the madness end?

What was the per diem allotment? Did that principal stay within the allotment...if she did, then, leave her alone.

I don't care if she ate caviar and Peking Duck - was it within the allotment.

This has gotten out of control. Is anyone looking into how Chris Salas spent his/her 12,191.00? What about Dionico Garcia and the 21,060. he/she spent? This information came straight off of the database.

If you are going to target one person Brett, look at them ALL!

Incidentally, here is a recommended allowance federal employees get for travel.

DISD educators don't get close to this for conferences they attend.

http://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem_action.asp?MenuHide=1&CountryCode=1079

[Ed Note: Excellent link! To your other points: though many educators were responsible in their choices, many were not. Now I want you to listen carefully to what I am about to say:

Hope you enjoyed your lobster.]

I must agree with this poster. DISD allows a per diem. The educators attending this trip did not negotiate this per diem, that's how much was allotted.

If the per diem is $100 per day and the traveler spends $450 on his/her meal then it's only the business of the public if they were reimbursed MORE than the $100 per diem.

It's only common sense to figure that the principal that dined on that sinful lobster is picking-up the tab for the rest of the meal. The real crime is the traveler that doesn't attend the conference, NOT the traveler that over-spends their own money for a night out on the town after a day in professional development workshops. So what, if the traveler dined while belly dancers danced. Are the educators supposed to have a cheese sandwich and hit the sack early to watch the Discovery channel. This is such hypocrisy.

The per diem is an average amount allotted for food and the amount depends on the city. Food in big cities is expensive, most especially when staying in downtown areas. Have I traveled before on a per diem? Yes, I have but I didn't go to Canada. I didn't even request to go. However it disturbed me to see Brent Shipp bully a principal that let herself be extravagant on her own dime. Getting back to traveling, let me tell you my sin. I never share a room. I prefer to pay the difference. Whatever is alloted, I pick-up the rest. Do you think that DISD picks-up the tab? Hell no. The travel department denies these over-expenditures. Now really, did anyone ask DISD if the principal featured on the news was reimbursed for her huge tab? No! Because she only asked for reimbursement of the per deim.

These witchhunts are getting out of control. Today in the DMN I read about the "guidelines" for using title monies. It states that Title I funds may not be used for teacher meals. This is correct! However, Title I does allow for teacher/administrator travel. The guidelines also state how much can be alloted for food--apparently the traveler is allowed to eat. The per diem is a set guide line. So if you eat lobster (which is not an evil sin) it's considered okay, if you stay within the guidelines. Go over the guideline--then you pay.

Last thing...the principal is only one approver. From the principal it must be approved by the executive director. There actually is a process.

Okay, one more last thing...I'm always disappointed that ole Mike never stands-up for his teachers. I would like to have heard him say something in defense of the conference his executive crew approved. Oh no, now they are changing the guidelines. It's time for Mike to go find another job. We don't want him.

[Ed Note: Do you really think we needed to send that many educators to this one conference? Maybe there's a bigger question than just "belly dancing," "cheese sandwiches," and per-diems.]

We are hearing in the schools that it wasn't tax money spent in Canada. It was grant money. True?

[Ed Note: True.]

I've heard about free flowing grant money for a while now. It'd be great to see some more of the accounting for all our grant programs. With the Wallace grant touted in the DMN as the savior of the arts in education, I'd like to know how much of our grant money paid for the increased staffing and new building at Big Thought as well. It's sure done nothing in my classroom.

Well, there you go. Title I money, FEDERAL tax dollars, are wasted.

Again, please publish the entire list of the people who went. we need to track their CEI's and TALS scores this next summer.

So, the next time anybody has a grant, and then they see the name DISD, well---just imagine what they think the money will go?

Thanks to the few who make a mockery of an honorable profession. I hope you don't go to church soon. Lightening might strike you!