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Joanna M 10/12/2008 2:34:00 PM
Thank You Jim for this great and informative article. Reading it makes me cringe, cry, angry, sad, you name it. I am a parent of a J L Long student. I am proud of my feeder high school Woodrow Wilson for speaking up against this RIF. The administrators, teachers, and parents at Woodrow should be commended for modeling to our students what responsible citizens do when confronted with a crisis this huge. I can understand the frustration for not being heard. The 650 employess being RIF were never heard. We heard Jack Lowe banged the gavel when the RIF was passed.
Sometimes the only solution is to get out of the problem. DISD will be in a bigger hole next year when tired teachers and administrators find work in other districts, when enrollment will drop because of the exodus to private and charter schools, and when another RIF will occur due to a budget mess. I am not going to take my child out because I know Woodrow will take care of him as best as they can. But what about those schools whose administrators are just so docile to Ross Avenue. I can see some schools going down like Spruce. Spruce went down because of years and years of neglect. This is a wake up call to all parents in DISD. If you want a better education for your child, get out and help your child's school and don't be afraid to speak up.
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Dillie Johnson 10/12/2008 5:01:00 AM
Highest respect to Journalist Jim S.
Your last article gave much needed insight
into an education system that is failing
the public school students of Dallas.
When you write it is "right"!
Contintue to speak TRUTH TO POWER!
Education is the most important social issue of our time.
Dillie Johnson
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InsideEdition 10/12/2008 12:24:00 AM
At least Woodrow submitted a plan to Hinojosa even if it was rejected. What about other schools? Did they do the same? What are we teaching our youth? That it is okay to be a conformist to the extent of having people get fired? Dallas ISD central administration is becoming narcissistic and must be stopped. I pray that the teachers and administrators at Woodrow will not be retaliated for speaking up. Justice will prevail. Hinojosa, his chiefs, and the board of trustess will soon be RIFfed. It is just a matter of time, a short time.The public outcry is now very very loud.
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WoodrowTeacher 10/11/2008 10:39:00 PM
To AngryParent: I am one of those Woodrow teachers with high PDAS evaluation with a low CEI. Yes, it is possible to get a low CEI even how good of a teacher you are. CEI is a measure of improvement. If my students are already in the upper bracket their improvement will be less compared to students who are really struggling. CEI for the most part has nothing to do with PDAS evaluation. Please don't be telling people that my administrators are bad-mouthing good teachers at Woodrow due to their low CEI. They were the ones who stood up for us and defended possible loss of many teachers to reconstitution last year. Please do not break the good relationship the teachers and administrators are now experiencing at Woodrow. Mrs. Vail and Miss Escanilla have worked so hard this year and last year to make our school a conducive academic environment. No doubt they are working hard to fight against this RIF. They are very creative to come up with a 10% reduction without affecting the core teachers. What did they get? A smirk from Jack Lowe and a refusal from Hinojosa to accept Woodrow's out-of the-box plan. Parents like you makes me sick. Know the facts first before you start rumors and gossips with other parents. Just because they don't bow down to all your whims for your spoiled little brats, like administrators in the past, doesn�t give you the right to make a judgment on MY administrators. Enough said.
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WoodrowTeacher 10/11/2008 10:33:00 PM
To AngryParent: I am one of those Woodrow teachers with high PDAS evaluation with a low CEI. Yes, it is possible to get a low CEI even how good of a teacher you are. CEI is a measure of improvement. If my students are already in the upper bracket their improvement will be less compared to students who are really struggling. CEI for the most part has nothing to do with PDAS evaluation. Please don't be telling people that my administrators are bad-mouthing good teachers at Woodrow due to their low CEI. They were the ones who stood up for us and defended possible loss of many teachers to reconstitution last year. Please do not break the good relationship the teachers and administrators are now experiencing at Woodrow. Mrs. Vail and Miss Escanilla have worked so hard this year and last year to make our school a conducive academic environment. No doubt they are working hard to fight against this RIF. They are very creative to come up with a 10% reduction without affecting the core teachers. What did they get? A smirk from Jack Lowe and a refusal from Hinojosa to accept Woodrow's out-of the-box plan. Parents like you makes me sick. Know the facts first before you start rumors and gossips with other parents. Just because they don't bow down to all your whims for your spoiled little brats, like administrators in the past, doesn�t give you the right to make a judgment on MY administrators. Enough said.
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Scott 10/11/2008 5:40:00 AM
This is great reporting of the doings of Dr. HiNOjosa and the missing money! This the best story I have ever read in the Observer--thank you! I lets us see the coverup to fool the public and get MORE of our TAX DOLLARS!
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Urban 10/11/2008 4:54:00 AM
Jim - I understand the Dallas Observer is working on a story about who was responsible for the 1995 Lake Lewisville Boating Collision that severely injured a young woman. Do you think your readers will like it? When are you publishing it?
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noteye 10/10/2008 6:06:00 AM
There was seemingly nothing stopping this �budget fix to nowhere.� The school board is still rubber stamping Superintendent Michael Hinojosa�s ad-hoc budget band-aids. Hard-working people and children are suffering.
Now there is a ray of hope:
Word of Dallas plan to use Title 1 funds for general operating expenses will reach the federal level and put Dallas on the national stage, highlighting the gross negligence of public funds by an educational institution. Sheer embarrassment will move to board to replace Hinojosa, where incompetence and mismanagement did not. If they do not, public embarrassment will move the public to act and replace the board and superintendent. Now is the time for the community and employees to act.
Business leaders will come around, after the bond money begins being issued. They will move to have the superintendent and board replaced. The pending lawsuit will cut the value of the bond, but new administration will ensure that bond dollars are maximized and not wasted.
By 2010, ironically the same time that current Dallas ISD administration expected to be the best urban district in the country and winner of the Broad Prize, will be the time that Dallas ISD is just recovering from this fiasco and starting over.
Maybe then the school board will not be so racially charged.
Maybe then the school board and senior administration will be good stewards of the public trust.
Maybe then Dallas ISD will have solid leadership.
Maybe then the budget will be balanced.
Maybe then district employees will have some sense of security.
Maybe then people will obtain and retain jobs based on their merits.
Maybe then more students will be successful.
Maybe then we can be proud of Dallas ISD.
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louise 10/10/2008 4:46:00 AM
"willfully misinterpreting teacher's comments just to create the perception of a problem'... This about sums up the administrators in general. Is there some kind of 'special' management class one can attend to learn how to do these kinds of things, or, are they all just really this mean-spirited and hateful? This kind of behavior is rampant at my school. I didn't see so much of this at the other school where I worked and when I moved, I was SHOCKED to find this to be the norm! It's been very difficult for me to feel safe or comfortable in this kind of harsh work environment, and it's a constant daily thing.
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S K Snowton 10/10/2008 2:05:00 AM
This was a very interesting article. I truly enjoyed reading it. I too am a Dallas ISD teacher waiting to hear.
Thank you for keeping us updated and giving correct information in the article. (I appreciate your newspaper following what is going on.)
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Veeekojo 10/09/2008 11:50:00 PM
Fred, instead of dividing DISD into pieces, why don't we simply "abolish" the old DISD, redraw the boundary so that the entire city of Dallas, the city of Addison, the city of Wilmer, the city of Hutchins, and the city of Seagoville are within DISD and that all of Highland Park and University Park are in HPISD? Then outside forces will create a power structure of the new DISD that *prevents* corruption and fraud. Checks and balances. Think of the day when the founding fathers replaced the Articles of Confederation with the U.S. Constitution.
Also, the new district should not be allowed to force any one dress code on any school; each and every school gets to choose its own dress code, or have no dress code.
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Fred 10/09/2008 9:28:00 PM
What is the procedure to break up DISD? I believe Austin passed the enabling legislation some years ago.
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J. Martinez 10/09/2008 6:46:00 PM
As an ex- DISD teacher... I saw first hand the nonsense described in this article, and that's just the tip of the iceberg! The administrators are overpaid and uncooperative with teacher, there are too many of them per campus to begin with! and there is no real respect or regard for the hard work and dedication that ALL teachers exshibit on a daily basis against all odds.. Teachers do the job because they love it, we want to educate. But it appears that all other employees of the district feel its their jobs to squander money and make life difficult for the teachers... Its a shame no one is held accountable, and that there isn't greater outrage from the community. But, I guess its just like the national scene ($700 billion bailout), no one is accountable in America anymore. God help us all, what are we teaching the future generations through our example!
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10/09/2008 5:32:00 PM
Aimee, listen to you teachers! Call for an immediate NO CONFIDENCE VOTE on Dr. Road to Broke!!
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Alfredo 10/09/2008 5:03:00 PM
As one of the 46% who voted no on the bonds last year, I told you so. This wouldn't be so painful except for the large check I write each year for property taxes for all the good that money does I might as well burn it. However, I'm sure the current board members will all be reelected and it will be business as usual at 3700 Ross, Chavez or whatever
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mikey 10/09/2008 4:00:00 PM
It boggles the mind that Hinojosa, having joined the pantheon of screw-up DISD superintendents, is going to get a walk on this deal. An honorable man would have submitted his resignation when the news broke, but honor and DISD aren't on the same planet.
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Angry Parent 10/09/2008 4:35:00 AM
I believe your article is right on target about the administration knowing there was a problem early last year. That was about the time that, at Woodrow Wilson at least, the principal and dean were telling exemplary teachers (according to the old PDAS evaluation system) that they were suddenly sorely deficient, based on CEIs - and, it appears in light of recent events, laying the groundwork for getting rid of the most experienced (read: highest paid) teachers this year. What a mess.
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Darryl 10/09/2008 4:19:00 AM
My God! I left DISD a year and a half ago to work for a district in the suburbs and I have never looked back. The waste and outright fraud I witnessed was sickening. When I worked for one department with offices on Carroll Avenue, the basement of the building was packed full of undelivered supplies and textbooks, some items rotting, other boxes full of rat droppings and roaches. Huge allotments of paper, reems and reems of it, much of it water damaged. The "specialists" of this department hung out in their cramped offices, selling things on ebay, taking two hour lunches and bitching about how much their supervisors were getting paid. As a teacher, I was subjected to tedious "staff development" sessions held by overpaid consultants. The worst offender besides Hinojosa has to be Dr. Collier, superintendent of staff development and curriculum. When told that some subordinates were complaining about excessive work hours, she responded, "They could be driving a bus." People just don't understand the level of incompetence within the mid and upper management of DISD. They simply don't know what they are doing. Keep the teachers and principals. FIRE EVERYONE AT ROSS AVENUE. Do it today.
