January DISD Board Meeting - Live Blog

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!

5:53 PM - The Superintendent's report. Topics: Keys to success for students and clear expectations. Lots of mention of "academic rigor"--a frequent and recurring theme in many of Superintendent Hinojosa's reports.

5:58 PM - Education briefing courtesy of Ron Price.

Dwaine Caraway and Larry Duncan just walked in and Jack Lowe introduced them. Caraway is scheduled to speak toward the end of the meeting.

6:01 PM - Business Briefing courtesy of Edwin Flores.

6:02 PM - Policy Briefing courtesy of Leigh Ann Ellis.

6:03 PM - Now it's the time we've all been waiting for--speakers to agenda items.

"I know we have alot of people from Skyline," Board President Jack Lowe said. Then he dropped a bomb on them. "When we have a major item, we can limit speakers to 15 minutes."

Tonight, however, Lowe is limiting Skyline speeches to 30 minutes. Guess he wants to get home in time to watch the sunrise tomorrow too.

However, this may not sit well with the Skyline crowd--and may, unfortunately, be viewed as a School District that doesn't want to "hear anything about it."

We'll see...

Right now, Ron Price is getting accolades (and tee shirts) from several of his constituents.

Next up... Aimee Bolender speaking about the devaluation of grading methods used to compute teachers CEIs. She asked that the proposal (before the board) be pulled.

Bolender also addressed the Skyline and Roosevelt issues.

"A successful bond election begins with happy voters at Skyline and Roosevelt."

Next up Stephanie Clark speaking on a "budget" item--and it quickly turned into a Skyline speech. Jack Lowe protested.

"I'm a proud parent at Skyline," said Clark.

Then she got back to the budget and what it has to do with Skyline. "Will the money be taken away from Skyline and going to Conrad?"

Pretty sneaky Stephanie!

Next up, Candace McAfee, speaking to the "budget" as it relates to Conrad calling the move of the clusters from Skyline to Conrad a "colossal mistake."

She complained that the parents, students and educators at Skyline "did not come first." "They do not seem to be top priority."

6:19 PM

Next up is Shalonda Jernigan speaking about the elevators at Skyline. She is asking whether the money to be used for the elevators will be put on hold given the move of the clusters to Skyline.

Next up a student who said "the elevators are the only thing broken" at Skyline to which a large portion of the audience broke out in applause.

Several people are deferring to the end of the program since Lowe made it known that no debate on Skyline/Conrad would happen in the portion of the program devoted to speakers on agenda items.

Cheryl Landman is up talking about "feeder patterns" and it quickly turns into a "moving clusters" speech. Lowe interrupted a couple of times telling Landman it was sounding like a Skyline issue--which is being postponed until the end of the meeting.

The golden 30 minutes!

Next up is Dale Kaiser speaking on grade inflation. This is the mandate that no grade lower than 50 be awarded to any student in any grading period.

Kaiser also brings up the problem with allowing students to retake tests to get higher scores. He believes it is a bad idea because, perhaps, students won't come to class knowing they can retake an exam later.

Kaiser then slammed the policy limiting speakers to 15 minutes--or the 30 minutes tonight.

"Each one should be given the courtesy of being heard."

And as far as Skyline (lots of people are sneaking in Skyline pieces), Kaiser said: "leave Skyline alone."

6:28 PM

George Rangel talking about high school redesign.

At Skyline (which surprised us!).

Rangel directed his comments toward Hinojosa and reminded him he was quoted as saying, "I won't tinker with Magnets." "I read the article again, and I didn't see 'except Skyline.'"

Ooh, Rangel's stepping across the line.

"I don't find you trustworthy," Rangel said to Hinojosa--who doesn't look happy right now.

At the close of his speech, the audience broke into applause.

Shannon O'Donnell is up speaking about the "Skyline Elevator." Quickly it turns into a "the District has allowed Skyline to become overcrowded and fall into disrepair."

"Skyline works despite the District's efforts to destroy it."

"Don't just cull us without consulting us."

"Skyline is super fantastic."

More mass applause.

6:34 - This concludes our speakers.

Lowe said he appreciated those who decided to wait. But wait...

A young lady approached the microphone protesting the Board's position of shutting down debate. "Can't you just let us all speak?" Lowe replied: "No"

Now there's debate over the policy that limits speakers.

Carla Ranger jumped in and called the policy into question.

Ranger points out that the policy limiting speakers on hot topics to 15 minutes (or 30 minutes). "Is there a policy that limits participation to a number of minutes?"

Blackburn points out that the policy being used to limit the Skyline speakers has not been adopted yet!

It is up for a vote tonight! It's pulled for a separate vote.

We'll see if it passes.

6:41 PM - The consent agenda. It passes. Next, are the items pulled for separate vote.

Next up: approval of a policy amending an item related to academic achievement--the one Dale Kaiser opposed earlier.

Blackburn: "Are we manipulating the official data?" "If the teacher's gradebook is the official record, I want to make sure we're not violating the law by changing the grade to 50."

Blackburn proposes a change allowing a principal to allow for extenuating circumstances--giving students who score low one semester to pick it up the next semester.

A lot of people are really opposed to cutting requirements. Several are saying "rigor"--a reference to "academic rigor" that the Superintendent embraces.

Leigh Ann Ellis protested that this policy was somewhat sprung on the board and asked for time to review this.

Denise Collier explained that this approval was needed tonight because the District is preparing the Spring registration procedures.

For 2009.

Blackburn's motion passes 7-2.

Carla Ranger is up. "I'm troubled," she said about the policy.

"What is the difference between taking a state championship from a school because a teacher changed the grade of a student?" "Giving the student a grade that the student did not earn?"

Ahh how things are intertwined. Ranger's comments refer to the recent issues involving Myrtle Dixon, Principal of Roosevelt High School, and the flap over grade changing.

Ron Price summed up the other side of the issue saying that students might not be able to recover from a 30.

Hinojosa noted that the greatest predictor of student success is the ability to pass the first 6 weeks. "Even with a 50, they have to score a 78 twice... and they still have to pass the course progress [test] at the end of the class."

Ranger is back in asking for any data correlating low dropout rates to those who get a grade of 50.

"These kids need a chance," said Nancy Bingham.

"You still fail with a 50," she noted.

Blackburn makes a motion to strike the paragraph placing 50 as a minimum for a 6 weeks grade. The vote: Blackburn and Ranger voted to strike it. Everyone else voted to leave it in.

Vote on the original policy to make 50 the lowest score a student can earn in any 6 weeks. The policy passes 8-1 with Ranger voting against.

Carolyn Davis, Dallas City Council member just arrived.

Nancy Bingham then picked on her husband, the Great Jimmy Bingham (in the words of another trustee)! We'll embarrass him a little more here too!

It's 7:30 PM. It's cold outside. 40 degrees with the wind blowing. Oh, thanks for the elbow. There's a board meeting going on.

More items on the agenda pulled for separate vote. However, we predict at least an hour debate on item number 5: limiting public participation and I quote:

"When large numbers (five or more) of individuals sign up to address a single topic the total time allocated will be a maximum of 15 minutes to make a presentation."

Likely to spark debate. Bet Carla Ranger votes against it!

7:54 PM - Here's we go! The "Golden 15" minute policy.

As predicted, Carla Ranger moves to strike the 15-minute provision. The audience breaks into applause.

"When the public comes to us with concerns," she said, "we should not put a time limit on what they have to say."

Blackburn: "If people take time to come to our meetings, we should listen to what our constituents have to say."

"It almost looks like we don't want to take time to listen to the public."

"Over the weekend," Ron Price said, "I really thought about what America stands for."

What we're saying, according to Price, is "we want the tax money but we don't want to hear from you."

"People are going to remember this around election time," said Price. To that, the audience erupted in applause.

"I take an affront to the accusation of being un-American," said Lowe.

With that, the vote to strike the 15-minute rule was put to a vote. It failed 5-4. People in the crowd said "we're going to remember that at election time."

It's a long night. Kent pointed out that the dallasisd.beloblog.com has pictures of the signs (at the top of this article) being developed. See them here.

8:17 PM - Told you it would be a long night.

8:37 PM - Now we're to the speakers on non-agenda items.

The crowd breaks out into boos as Jack Lowe walks out.

The meeting continues with Adam Medrano at the helm.

First speaker talks about how kids at her elementary school are getting sexually assaulted??? Huh?

Sorry, we'll be back to this planet in a moment.

8:50 PM - Now on to the Skyline clusters and, presumably, the 15-minute limit.

We're off...Aileen Mokuria

"What makes you believe that in one month you can destroy one program and make another that is just as successful?"

"Removing the clusters... will rally opposition to the May bond."

"Do not remove any clusters from Skyline" brought the audience to applause.

Next up: George Rangel.

And we're back to the Skyline "elevator" issue.

"We're not only having an up-and-down elevator problem, we have a move from one side of town to the other problem."

Lee Alcorn: "We're going to have to take our struggle to the streets and to the courts."

Applause erupts as another speaker says "I'm here to speak on behalf of Skyline." Lots of applause tonight.

Dwaine Caraway: "I'm sorry that Jack Lowe had to leave." Caraway pointed out that he is a graduate of Roosevelt.

"I stand here in stone support of Skyline."

"I'm here because of the community and the kids and parents of Skyline."

"When I saw this baby right here start crying when Jack Lowe walked out..."

"Listen to these people... don't treat them like cattle."

Caraway's time has expired but he insists on talking!

Who's going to stop him? Will they?

Someone in the crowd yells "heck no we won't go."

Ron Price to the rescue. He yields more time to Dwaine Caraway.

Caraway promises to take the "battle" to city hall.

The citizens of Dallas have been "totally disrespected" says Caraway.

Ron Price is interrupting--asking speakers to respect the rules of the Board.

Jerome Garza leaves.

Caroline Davis is up: "We're not working around this horseshoe right now."

"Parents you have to get involved and get down here."

Another parent is up:

"You gave up on Skyline, and I think that's a shame."

9:17 PM - and Dr. Hinojosa wants to stay here, after the meeting, and hear all the speakers. "If I have to go to Skyline tomorrow and talk to some other people... I will listen."

Hinojosa asks everyone to be respectful and adhere to the time limits.

Many speakers. Hinojosa is listening to them all.

The recurring themes: "the administration didn't listen to us." "These things were sprung on us without any discussion or participation."

9:45 PM - Another recurring theme: Jack Lowe walking out.

It is our understanding that Lowe actually had a good reason for walking out--and that it wasn't his intent to disrespect the Skyline stakeholders. Still, it's a shame he didn't explain his actions--and just walked out.

It looks very very bad.

Wow it's late.

9:50 PM - The speakers are done and Ron Price is up. He admonishes some of the adult speakers and praises the kids for their behavior.

Price says there is more than one way to address the Skyline issues.

"Destroying the first Magnet School in the nation is not the solution."

Price went back to behavior.

"I don't like the way my colleagues were disrespected here tonight," said Price.

"Don't be disrespectful to our superintendent."

Price asked the Superintendent to meet with the parents. Then he assailed proposals to bus the neighborhood kids to North Dallas.

"Please leave my family members from Skyline... at Skyline."

9:57 PM - Carla Ranger is on.

10:05 PM - Lew Blackburn tells the crowd that when "this board will not listen" you "come to me" and "I will show you how to get [your point] over." Still, obviously, on the topic of limiting speaking time--the big story of the night.

Blackburn turned his comments to Roosevelt. "Dr. Hinojosa, we must fix Roosevelt really soon."

Blackburn urged the administration to listen to the stakeholders.

"Thank you for teaching us a lesson tonight... on Board Appreciation Month."

10:11 PM - Meeting adjourned.

Hinojosa continues with the crowd

Hinojosa takes the mic and begins to explain why he did what he did at Skyline and Conrad.

"It's always been about safety at Skyline," said Hinojosa.

The second issue that led to the decision was crowding. "There were classes in the auditorium."

"Jack Lowe is a good man...I apologize for Jack...He was sick as a dog over here and that's why he left."

The fire marshal was also concerned about the overcrowding.

"I don't yield to mob mentality... but we want to listen to solutions that are viable," said Hinojosa.

"I am starting to hear viable solutions [here, tonight]... but mob rule won't work."

"If I need to come out tomorrow sometime, I'll come out and talk to Mr. Wright and members of the staff... but please don't threaten to withhold support for the bond."

Hinojosa commended the students for their behavior in front of the TV cameras and criticized the adults.

"I am ashamed of what is going to be on TV tonight."

"It's late, it's 10:30, and I'll take 2 or 3 questions."

One of the adults, a parent, thanked Dr. H for standing up and taking responsibility for the decision.

10:25 PM - Diane Birdwell is speaking. "The problem is... you see me blog... the reason I blog so much is because of the lack of communication."

"I want to talk about solutions," said Hinojosa.

A couple more questions and then it's out for the evening.

"It's late, thank you for staying, keep in touch."