DISD Trustee Flores Lashes Out At Dallas Morning News
Submitted by Allen Gwinn on Mon, 04/21/2008 - 07:08.
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
The Dallas Morning News ran a story that, to be frank, is intent on slandering volunteers involved with our schools. It is interesting that the Dallas Business Journal (and not the DMN) ran a story that the DMN and WFAA recently fired a number of reporters and employees to cut costs. The DMN also reduced the column space of their newspaper by 14% to eliminate staff and reduce costs. The DMN may also be retaliating because the 2008 Bond Committee made a decision to not advertise in the DMN. This is yet another effort by the DMN to cast doubt on the 2008 Bond program to sell more newspapers.
It is, as you can see, all about the subscriptions, readership and advertising revenue, which are decreasing steadily at the DMN and WFAA. Who watches the media or to whom are they accountable? Shareholders of Belo who see dropping revenues.
If we thought the hatchet-job on our fellow Woodrow Wilson parents last Sunday was an isolated event, guess again.
I find it particularly interesting that the reporter did not bother contacting me about this story. It is interesting for three reason: (1) I am the only lawyer on the board (i.e., I deal with conflict issues all the time); (2) I proposed a comprehensive District Transparency Pol! icy that would put much of this information on the internet (which was NOT supported by Trustees Ranger, Price and Blackburn); and (3) no one has recused themselves from more votes than me although any conflict between my firm, its clients and the District is beyond tenuous. Unfortunately, the cost of my District Transparency Policy was estimated at 250K, which I would much rather use to hire 5 teachers for an entire year!
On the other hand, we have been trying to get the DMN to write about the 4.5 million in scholarship offers at Thomas Jefferson HS (and about 2M+ each at Carter, Hillcrest and Bryan Adams) and nothing! Award-winning reported Vanesa Salinas with Al Dia is working on a story about this program which may run this week in Al Dia.
The FACTS:
Every contract let in the 2002 bond had been vetted by a thorough and impartial state mandated procurement process. An appeals process exists for contractors that felt their bids were not evaluated fairly. In the cited cases, the company associated with the project was merely a subcontractor. The District hires a General Contractor to handle the project and pays the General Contract, which then pays its subcontractors. Therefore, the district has no direct relationship or say in the selection (or dismissal) of any particular subcontractor.At many board meeting at least one trustee recuses themselves from voting on an agenda item. For example, I have disclosed and recused myself from any contract between Dallas ISD and any of my firm's business clients, including, every major university in Texas. Each of my fellow trustee provides a list of potential conflicts based on their employment, for example: Medrano (City of Dallas), Blackburn (Texas Can!), Ranger (DCCCD), Flores (clients UT Southwestern, UNT, UTA), Lowe (TD Industries). I also serve on the Boards of the Museum of Nature & Science, the Tate Lecture Series, the Dallas Historical Society and the Boy Scouts (Circle 10), each of which are vendors or have a relationship with Dallas ISD.
The expertise and knowledge brought by our volunteer committee members are essential to having a 2002 bond that is on-time and on-budget. These volunteers have also spent countless hours working on behalf of the children of Dallas away from their businesses and families.
I am proud to serve with Trustee Lowe, a man of unquestionable honor and commitment to the children of Dallas ISD. I am also grateful and honored to have Bond Committee volunteers, such as Craig Reynolds, who bring a level of expertise and commitment to our community that is second to none.
Best regards,
Edwin Flores
Flores: Stand Up Like a Man
Dear Mr. Flores:
The Board of Trustees was established to give the school districts local control. As such the Federal Government and the State Boards (TEA) no longer have the locus of control. It was argued that these other parties were too far removed to resolve problems in an efficient manner and thus the duties were handed off the Board. By failing to do your job, you have gained the media's attention and well it should be. There are many, many, many problems with the district and instead of being pro-active, the board members act like ostriches.
I am actually shocked to find out that many of you are not stay at home mom and dads, but business people and attorneys. So shame on you. In fact, I would not brag about being an attorney for fear of being sued for failure to educate due to your own gross negligence of oversight.
If you want to improve the district, keep good records, build a good if not excellent curriculum, get discipline in line, stop dumping on the teachers and open your lines of communication. Last but least, put the best ethics package you can muster in place to gain back the trust of the taxpayers and learn how to read the district's financial statements on a monthly basis along with a scanner so you can post them online. $250,000 to post the financial statements on line is a crock of pure horse pucky.
Your actions, not words, will prove you are there for the community, students and teachers. Currently, your words only make you sound like a cry baby - whaa! DMN is picking on me; they are so mean. Sound familiar?
Birdwell to Flores
Mr. Flores
I sincerely invite you to come to MY classroom, room 139, at Bryan Adams, when the A/C is on. Make sure you bring a jacket. When the A/C is on it averages between 60-65 degrees in there. Try to teach-- try to learn-- in that. We have TAKS testing next week. Think about it.
Then go across to room 138. Hmmm, notice it is in the 80's there.
Now, go get someone to FIX IT. I can't. My custodian can't. My principal can't, and they have really tried.
You are a lawyer on the Board of Trustees. For weeks, I assume you have made time to read people blogging about A/C and other repair issues. Obviously, you and the other members of the board are doing a "Nyah, Nyah, Nyah," with fingers in your ears.
Whether or not a teacher is for a bond issue, we all want to see the previous bond issue dealt with completely. Don't you? As a T-R-U-S-T-E-E--- read that word--- wouldn't you want to instill trust in whom YOU and the board choose to do all this and any future work?
Mr. Flores, as a lawyer, would you accept one bedroom in your house at 65 degrees, and the other in the 80's?
Would you accept the tile work at Skyline? What about their A/C? How much did THAT cost the taxpayers?
Would you like to see something done about any of the complaints registered, logged and listed through maintenance of DISD in the last 2 years?
Please, bring this up at Thursday's meeting. An honest discussion of concerns would be appreciated. Inferring slander and conspiracies are fun to read about, but I still have a sweater on my chair at school.
Diane Birdwell
Executive Vice-President (Elect)
NEA-Dallas
Problem's with Dr. Flores's letter
Alright, there are a couple of issues I'd like to mention. First though, I'd like to mention one of my major pet peeves. This is the frequent shifting of subject to how news groups ignore how good schools are because they received x amount of scholarships. This is good; don't get me wrong, but there are a couple annoying and misleading things about this practice.
First, scholarships are just a distraction from other problems. To reuse an old saying, Mussolini got the trains to run on time, but that doesn’t mean that his reign was benevolent. No matter how much money in scholarships you are getting, it does not excuse unethical actions. I don’t know if there were any, but changing the subject to talk about scholarships seems like you are trying to duck the issue.
Second, scholarship amounts are misleading for several reasons. This is not fully a measure of academic success, because financial aid money is counted in this measure. That means it is a measure of both academic success and poverty. Because of this, it doesn’t necessarily say that a school is highly successful. The second misleading aspect to this practice is how scholarships are calculated. I know one girl who graduated a few years ago with almost $600,000 worth of scholarships. The amount she was actually able to use: $20,000. This is because she applied to 10-12 colleges, and each offered her something. Some of them offered her a lot, but she wanted to go to a better school that didn’t offer so much. This one student added over half a million dollars to the total scholarships for our school, but it didn’t really matter because she didn’t actually receive much of that money. If you want a better measure of the scholarships at one school, give the amount that is actually accepted and used by the students. I dislike using scholarships earned because it is a flashy statistic that means very little in reality.
Moving on to what Dr. Flores said. I have a bit of advice for him. Bringing up conspiracy theories does not lend credibility to what you say. If you can show me proof that the DMN is conspiring against you, then please go ahead. However, lacking that proof, you are unlikely to get people to support you. Yes, they are running a fairly steady stream of negative articles, and yes, the timing is slightly suspect. However, think about it like this. The current major news is the bond. Therefore, the reporters will be focusing on the financial side of DISD, which, from what I’ve seen, needs improvement. It’s just logical for the reporters to focus on things related to current events. However, bringing up conspiracies just makes it seem like you are arguing from a weak position. If you would like to stop people from digging up dirt about DISD, then clean up the problems in DISD’s finances. A clean house will not have dirt hiding in the corners to be brought forth. .
Dr. Flores brings up how all trustees have recused themselves multiple times, and that’s good. My biggest problem isn’t the money going to businesses that are associated with trustees, assuming that the contract only goes to the company after they are shown to be the best qualified and the contract goes through fair, open bidding. Of course, the trustee should also remain completely impartial from anything that could involve themselves, which Dr. Flores seems to have done admirably well. What I find to be the graver problem, is not that the money is going to these companies, but that DISD is unable to produce records related to these matters. Their inability to maintain basic record keeping practices is of greater concern to me than the question of the ethicality of their practices.
I would like you to tell us, your constituents, what your concerns are about the bond that you would be willing to validate. If you want people to vote for it, you need to say more than, “Everything’s wonderful, everything’s wonderful. Oh, look at our scholarships!” If it seems less like the problems are being whitewashed, than you are more likely to garner the trust of the voters. Unfortunately, I will be unable to vote in the coming up bond election, because I won’t be 18 until after the election, but as a person who is dramatically affected by actions involving DISD, I would like to get my concerns addressed.
2002 Bond
It's heartwarming to know that the Bond came on budget and none of the Board Members voted for contracts for their own companies. It pains me though that to keep these projects on budget, the Board couldn't afford Project Managers to verify the work of these Architects and Contractors. As usual, DISD Maintenance is left with unfinished installations and shoddy work to contend with, along with less skilled Craftsmen than we had in 1998, when we paid Honeywell and Johnson 21 million to go away.
Oh well, I seen in the article that TD has a Maintenance Dept ready and able to come in and fix what the Maintenance Dept cannot do, since they have been set up to fail for over 10 years. SWEET!
Bond work did have project
Bond work did have project managers. And they had/have an answer/excuse for every problem brought to their attention. Maybe that's where someone should look for the reasons the windows are fogged, the HVAC doesn't work, etc.
[Ed Note: Sounds like a wrongly sized HVAC unit doesn't it? But, hey, I'm a computer geek. What do I know?]
The Board didn't hire
The Board didn't hire PROJECT MANAGERS, the Board hired PROGRAM MANAGERS to administer the last SUCCESSFUL bond program. The program managers kept everybody in line. DISD maintenance wasn't left with unfinished business. I not sure DISD maintenance could find their way out of a tool box.
[Ed Note: I didn't know they officed in tool boxes :) ]
Bond? Successful? Wildcat?
Funny you say the Bond was successful and you're a Wildcat? Contractors didnt install smoke detectors in some new air handlers at all, and others were installed but not wired up. They also used the 39 year old outside air dampers in the big courtyard air handler that was wore out when another contractor tried to make them work instead of replacing them around 1990.
But I do like the passion displayed in defending the SUCCESSFUL BOND WORK.... Sorry, but the Program Managers may have had them stand in line, but they missed a ton of stuff in the last Bond. Maybe they should hire someone with working knowledge of the stuff installed the next time to check the work as it's being done, then they can take all the credit like they always do, but the work would actually be done right.
Please define what you mean
Please define what you mean by "missed a ton of stuff." Yes, trying to tie today's techonology with old isn't always successful and especially if the old wasn't maintained properly. However, there are scopes of work for each project and budgets to be kept. It isn't perfect. I'm not sure what you mean by who is taking credit.
Overall, the last Bond Program was successful, I wasn't just referring to Woodrow. My mistake for not clarifying. I doubt that you will see any story like that in the DMN.
Bond
Wildcat; What I mean by missing a ton of stuff on the last Bond, includes but not limited to replacing the room air units and controls at Rangel that there wasnt anything wrong with, yet leaving rooftop air handlers at Hood that were worn out 20 years ago. Taking out central ahu's that cooled at T.J., and replacing them with maintenance intensive and inefficient floor mounted units.
You are correct that the old equipment wasnt maintained correctly, since many skilled craftsmen have been gone, and replaced by bus drivers. Guess thats the workers fault also? How about allowing contractors that has no service dept. install their products, knowing full well that there will be no warranty repairs they will do?
I'm not saying that the last Bond was a total failure, but if this stuff was done in the real world, heads would roll. Usually in a debate, the truth falls somewhere in the middle, but I truly hope that if the Bond passes, they will hire COMPETENT Project Managers that will hire competent folks to review proposed work BEFORE its done to see if it truly makes sense, then follow up to verify that it is actually done right and that someone at the school has a phone number that someone answers and will actually care enough to send someone to handle up on a warranty isuue.
Finally, the DMN might write a positive piece if the District ever learns from their past mistakes and quit paying companies to go away because of poor jobs, then hire them a few years later as if they cant remember betting jobbed the last time. I sincerely hope at some time they remember history. Go Wildcats!
DMN No Different Than Other Print Media
That the DMN print media is having revenue issues is not debatable, but so is EVERY other print newspaper in the nation, so Mr. Flores is making a very specious argument on that point.
Most of us thank the DMN for uncovering relationships such as these because it is needed info when voting on school board members.
As far as the idea that volunteer hours equate to access to business contracts, that logic is extremely faulty. No one wants board members tainted by potential conflicts with lucrative contracts, and volunteer hours shouldn't be viewed in this fashion.
In regard to scholarship money being news, it isn't. Sorry, but that is the USUAL outcome of even a mediocre high school education, and it's not newsworthy. Mr.Flores subscribes to the notion that Belo should serve as a cheerleading squad for a bunch of board members who don't do their jobs. Of course, Mr. Flores is looking down the road at a political career and wants all the good press he can muster.
This board seems asleep at the wheel. If the news regarding their choice of superintendent continues to get worse, more fingers will be pointed in their direction since they are the fools who extended his contract.
If even Hinojosa is the biggest loser on the earth, he will walk away with millions due to their neglect in renewing his contract. Why can't everyone (including teachers) be on a one-year contract??
DMN revenue issues
Actually, among the 30 or so largest daily papers in the country, the DMN's rate of profit margin and/or revenue decline has been at or near the bottom the last 2-3 years.
Interestingly, two other openly conservative papers, the Orange County Register and San Diego Union-Tribune, have joined them there.
And, the NY Post and Washington Times both continue to lose money year after year.
[Ed Note: Actually, all the dailies are losing money.]
DMN VONSERVATIVE ?
Gadfly,
I have pros and cons to offer about the DMN, BUT ! The only thing conservative about the DMN is its Education reporters. If you had lived in Dallas long enough, you would know that the DMN mother company bought out the conservative newspaper, Dallas Times Herald, years ago and put it out of business so there would be no conservative view point expressed in Dallas.
Never try to fool a real conservative sir or madam! Haven't seen a conservative editorial from a newspaper in Dallas since I dont know when ?
Makes me wonder what the editors of the old Times Herald would have to say about this shoddy School Bond proposal too!
Another Perspective on DMN Story
http://backtalkeastdallas.typepad.com/back_talk/2008/04/craig-reynolds.h...
Let Me Get This Straight Dr. Flores
With a little over three weeks to go before the Bond Election, With no Public statements from any board members, with INFORMATIONAL Town Hall Meetings scheduled the week before the election, THE BOARD REFUSES TO GET ITS INFORMATION OUT TO THE PUBLIC by advertising in the largest daily rag, and YOU come on this site with this BS ?
If you are so naive as to supply the free nails to place this bond in the coffin, allow me to supply the FREE HAMMERS to BANG THEM IN !
Thats the best you got ?
Flores
Flores likes to run his mouth. He is going to end up hurting the future political career he wants by writing things on all of these websites.
He does not want you to get in a word in edge wise, and is still not understanding the main problem with the DISD! Everything!
[Ed Note: Actually, he'll improve his career if he defends his position. But you're right, he'll hurt it if he just tosses random pitches and doesn't stay around for the inning. I think you haven't heard the last from Edwin.]
McShan = McSham?
DISD has done a wonderful job of chopping up school zones the way they want and "according to demographic studies" that nobody can seem to get their hands on or explain. Our neighborhood school just lost half of the nicest part(50%)of our zone. We were told that a small part of our zone would go to the new school Lee McShan Elementary or Preston Hollow. None of it did. Well between McShan and Preston Hollow,there are 400 empty seats-400!!!Wow and ours is overcrowded by 20%. And you need more money?? Your illogical zoning doesn't even fill a new school that was built!! And everyone just transfers and goes wherever they want. And nobody at DISD cares about the landowners that pay them lots of money. Except all of the young families in our neighborhood that are moving now. Good job DISD board. You just told us this would happen so we would vote the last bond in and get McShan built. What a waste-no more neighborhood schools. It was a McSham. VOTE NO
Jim: I am not sure that the
Jim: I am not sure that the Board of Trustees can legally promote the Bond package. Go to www.ourstudentsourfuture.com for info. It is dirty pool for the DMN to publish all these articles before the vote. Maybe they are just mad that the marketing people for the bond program (which is a private company which has received donations) decided to spend their advertising dollars elsewhere.
[Ed Note: I'm intrigued with this concept of "dirty pool." I think much of this cuts to the core of the management issue and asks the question: "are they ready to handle this kind of money?" Would you suggest that the DMN sit on these stories and publish them after the bond has passed? What about the "pro-bond" flyers? Does the same philosophy apply to political advertising?
No, I don't have a problem with facts being presented. I think that, too often, voters vote without being able to consider everything. I'm interested if you believe things should be a little more one-sided?]
Earth To Wildcat Parent
Wildcat: The Trustees are holding INFORMATIONAL Town Hall Meetings. Do you know what that means? The only questions they will answer are contained in the outline of the Bond Proposal. They will read us that info and then sit like bumps on a log for 5 more minutes before closing the meeting because they can say nothing else. There will be no answers given as to Why, How Come, What If, Why Didn't You, Woulda, Coulda, or even Shoulda. Best to bring a highball and at least enjoy an outing into a warm spring evening!
Now lets discuss DIRTY POOL. DMN reduced overhead 14 per cent. And it is still putting out a daily paper AND still producing a profit. Mr. Flores convienently left out in his response that DISD this year DEFLOWERED from 7 layers of management down to 5. Thats 28.57 per cent in reduction. So how much money , OF THE STOCKHOLDERS OF DISD, has been spent on something that wasn't needed. And which entity acted in an appropiate manner, DISD or DMN?
You don't Think it is DIRTY POOL when the bond Proponents hide behind half baked truths contained in their brochure and then hide the facts by not running an add in the largest DAILY Newspaper in town to inform the public of the needs of our children? Its not Dirty Pool to rush a Bond proposal
before the public 2 months before the scheduled vote with out any public debate, Pro or Con, no trade offs, or even discussion of how the committee came to its conclusions? Absolutely NO PUBLIC INPUT on whether these people got it right? 22 people know whats the best use of yours and my tax money and they couldn't even fake a kiss in our direction?
I sincerely hope that Dallas hasn't turned into a city of LEMMINGS that goes scurrying off into the night following some one who says I KNOW THE RIGHT WAY, FOLLOW ME, and don't ask any questions, you'll know when we get there, where ever there is when we get there!
And this comment for all you LEMMINGS out there. The Bond report that this Vote was based on really wasn't based so much on future needs as it was on needs of yesterday and today. Of course almost all the maintenance issues that need to be addressed now so that we dont have to keep rebuilding existing schools in the future were axed. The fact that the District needs all $2.65 Billion in scenario IV NOW, and even more in another 6 yrs. has fallen by the wayside in this discussion on THIS BOND PACKAGE! And since our Trustees didn't do their job and present us with the truth of the facts today, It is entirely fair to ask how much more their indecision will wind up costing the taxpayer in the near future! And its also fair to ask how they determined which kid gets helped now and which don't and the effect of their decision on those kids future.
The term, DERELICTION OF DUTY, comes to my mind every time I hear the word TRUSTEE!
No Problem With Facts
I don't have a problem with facts being presented, if they're facts. I just think it's biased that the DMN "sits" on obviously anti-bond stories until the few weeks leading up to the vote. How much more one-sided can the DMN be?
I don't know anything about "pro-bond" flyers. I have a VOTE YES sign in my yard.
In his editorial two Sundays ago, Rod Dreher called white folks who send their kids to Woodrow racists. He didn't bother to visit Woodrow, interview the principal, talk with parents or students. I call that bias. How can we rebut statements other than the blogs. I don't have the large platform like DMN, although they did overstate that awhile back.
[Ed Note: So they should really be "pro-bond" facts this close to the election?]
Wildcat Parent: There is a
Wildcat Parent: There is a place to rebut our stories: On our DISD Blog, where we publish all comments, criticisms and deep thoughts submitted regarding every one of our Dallas ISD stories. That web address is http://dallasisdblog.dallasnews.com/ and it's visited by about 15,000 people a week. That's a pretty big platform, no? I invite to join in the many robust discussions going on over there right now.
If you want to comment specifically on the Jack Lowe story, you can go here:
http://dallasisdblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/04/sunday-tease-contra...
I only ask that you use the name Wildcat Parent, so that I'll know you found your way over to our site.
I'd be interested to know more about what makes our coverage so "obviously anti-bond." Can you please provide three specific examples of bias? Just cut and paste them from the original text of the stories.
While you contend that our stories have been "sat" on until the run-up to the bond vote -- you realize, of course, that trustees set the date for the bond election only a little more than seven weeks ago? The timeline is compressed because the district made it such.
Also, it's worth noting that much of our related coverage -- the late audit, the financial reform questions, budget errors, etc. -- has been driven by district meetings, press conferences, etc. Naturally, those events are scheduled and hosted by the district, not the Morning News.
Kent Fischer
Dallas Morning News
P.S.: The Dreher piece -- which was an opinion column, BTW, not a news story -- had nothing to do with the bond, and didn't even have the word "bond" in it, if I recall correctly.