Subject: Education Programs Administration

• Re: Lancaster ISD's Way Late With Audit...

  April 4, 2007

• Lancaster ISD's Way Late With Audit, And People Are Starting to Notice

  April 4, 2007

• A Broad Gap for DISD to Clear

  January 16, 2007

• Teachers Wanna Get Paid

  January 3, 2007

• Don't Be a Fool. Stay in School. Or Not.

  October 6, 2006

• The Price is Wrong

  April 28, 2006

• Go Down Moses

  March 3, 2006

• Feds Set to Announce Public Corruption Indictment in Moments...

  May 29, 2007

• The Mighty Quinn (Well, Mightier)

  November 19, 2007

• A Degree in Creationism? Could Happen.

  December 12, 2007

• Bible Schooled

  July 18, 2008

• Unfair Park Exclusive: TEA Appoints Monitor For DISD's "Academically Unacceptable" Schools

  August 19, 2008

• The Road to Broad Runs Through Texas, Just Not the Dallas ISD

  October 14, 2008

• Yet Again, DISD Hires Paul Coggins to Look Into Its Bad Bidness

  Paul Coggins After the jump, courtesy Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander, the district's announcement concerning the appointment of former U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins to look into the whole phony Social Security number mess. Coggins, now at Fish & Richardson, has a history of doing this kind of dirty work for the district: He also led the investigation into the procurement-card scandal, referring to it as "a car wreck waiting to happen" last year. Says superintendent

  November 19, 2008

• Studying the Dallas School Board and the "Theory of Action for Change"

  One of the more astounding discoveries I have made about the Dallas school board is that its recent behavior has been based on a so-called "theory of action for change" -- part of a program called The Reform Governance® Framework run by an outfit called the Center for Reform of School Systems (or CRSS). You can see the Framework's flow chart up above; click to expand, if you dare.This, by the way, is not a secret. It's one of the first things you find if you Google the DISD board of trustees.

  November 28, 2008

• Last in the Class

  October 3, 1996

• Rough waters

  January 16, 1997

• Buzz

  July 16, 1998

• Some Fly, Some Die

  September 10, 1998

• Gutless coup

  March 11, 1999

• No place like home

  March 18, 1999

• Pig in a poke

  May 6, 1999

• DISD's About to Get Very Stimulated

  Library of CongressBy now, perhaps, you've read that some $104,070,000 of the nearly $800 billion stimulus package will wind up in the pockets of the Dallas Independent School District. (If your kids aren't in the DISD, you can see how your district fared in the sweepstakes by checking out this site; Plano, $16 million should help, right?) When asked how that money will be spent, DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander told Unfair Park this evening via e-mail, "We're waiting on the regulations to come in f

  February 20, 2009

• Bully or Bodyguard? The WSJ Looks at Mayors Who Take Over Schools.

  Alexander FloresTill Mayor Tom Leppert decides to talk for himself about his thinking about maybe one day possibly taking over the Dallas Independent School District we'll see not sure for sure who knows, it's all one big guessing game. Which doesn't stop the Dallas mayor's name from appearing in this morning's Wall Street Journal story about cities taking over their school districts, a la New York, Boston, Chicago and D.C. Milwaukee's also thinking of taking charge of its district; but at least

  March 12, 2009

• State Rep. Yvonne Davis Proposes Bill That Would Bust-Up Dallas School District

  Till late last week, the formerly prolific Carla Ranger hadn't posted to her blog for most of 2009. But the Dallas Independent School District board member has returned, and today she points our attention to state Rep. Yvonne Davis's H.B. 3532 introduced late last week, which calls for "the abolition of existing school districts in certain counties" -- including Dallas -- "and the creation of new school districts." Dallas isn't named, but it fits the profile: It's "located in a county with a pop

  March 16, 2009

• Natural Selection Only a "Figure of Speech," Says State Education Board Chair

  Don McLeroyDon McLeroy, a Republican dentist from Bryan, is the chair of the Texas State Board of Education. He's also a book critic: Over the weekend, an indie book publisher posted his recommendation of Robert Bowie Johnson Jr.'s new book Sowing Atheism: The National Academy Of Sciences' Sinister Scheme To Teach Our Children They're Descended From Reptiles, which you can read in its entirety here because you know you need something to read over spring break. McLeroy writes, in part:In the curr

  March 18, 2009

• Big Man on Campus

  January 9, 2003

• DISD Trustees May Make Cutbacks in Democratic Process

  DISD trustees may try to cancel next year's school board election to preserve the status quo and the superintendent

  November 20, 2008

• Hitting Where It Hurts

  July 17, 2008

• Battle Against Teaching Evolution in Texas Begins

  Should creationism win out, textbooks throughout the country–not just Texas–will challenge the theory of evolution in science curricula

  March 20, 2008

• Evolution Sunday Especially Important in Texas

  February 7, 2008

• Suffer the Children

  Carcinogen samples from local schools are off the charts

  December 6, 2007

• A Miracle Waiting to Happen

  With a little luck and a wise school superintendent, Dallas could do what Houston did

  December 28, 2000

• Hope Chest

  Before DISD goes marrying Wilmer-Hutchins, let's get a look at the dowry

  July 21, 2005

• They Blinded Buzz with Science

  The Texas Freedom Network keeps a watch on the state's textbooks

  November 28, 2002

• Go Down, Moses

  When the new super gets to town, Dallas will decide whether it really wants accountability

  November 9, 2000

• Miracle Whipped

  Fifty gets you 70 in the mysterious world of TAAS

  November 2, 2000

• They Walk by Night

  Join us for a chilling tale of the (highly paid) un-dead at DISD headquarters

  September 28, 2000

• Flunking Out

  Charter school scandals are teaching Texas a tough lesson -- one the state should have known four years and $77 million ago.

  July 22, 1999

• Do You Have a Face Mask and Some Tamiflu I Can Borrow? Give 'Em Back, Swear.

  An out-of-state colleague wondered late yesterday, "Is it true that the state of Texas has canceled all sports events till May 11? Does that include Astros and Rangers?" Um ... no. Alas, such was his reading of a breathless, since-vanished New York Times story concerning the University Interscholastic League's decision to postpone all events till May 11 due to the swine flu. Another Friend of Unfair Park sent an e-mail pointing out the irony of the UIL's decision:Three weeks ago, the Texas Educa

  April 30, 2009

• As DISD Shuts Down its First Campus Due to Swine Flu, What Happens After That?

  Just got off the phone with Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander, who, moments ago, announced that the district is closing Daniel Webster Elementary from tomorrow till May 11 due to one confirmed case of the swine flu at that campus. (It will remain open throughout today to accomodate working parents who may not be able to pick up their kids.) As a DISD parent myself, I was curious how the district's handling all this -- which is to say, does DISD have any intention of foll

  April 30, 2009

• Magnet Mayhem: DISD Trustees Seem Hell-Bent on Gutting the Crown Jewels of the District, and for No Good Reason

  Allied Works ArchitectureThe Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual ArtsThe Dallas Independent School District is about to do massive damage to its magnet school and learning center programs. The magnets represent the best of the district's academic efforts. The learning centers are the last remaining legacy of a successful decades-long court battle to cleanse the district of apartheid.  The administration, a majority of the school board and the district's lawyers ar

  May 8, 2009

• Eddie Bernice Johnson, Others Taking a Keen Interest In DISD Trustees' Efforts to Gut Magnet Schools and Learning Centers

  Congresswoman Eddie Bernice JohnsonThings are popping a bit today on the Dallas Independent School District magnet schools front.Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson's office confirms that Johnson is talking to the U.S. Department of Education seeking "clarification" of its current position on Title I money and school funding. Dallas school headquarters has been insisting it must slash budgets for learning centers and magnet schools because of new federal guidelines. Apparently, Johnson is aski

  May 11, 2009

• Sooner Than Later, DISD Trustees Will Run Out of Legal Excuses They Can Hide Behind

  Ben BarlowI spoke this morning with Ben Barlow, the Fort Worth attorney for the Dallas Independent School District system who had informed me yesterday that no waivers were available under existing law for Dallas's magnet schools facing severe budget cuts under federal Title I funding rules. The thing was, an hour after Barlow had given me a lecture on this theme, the Texas Education Agency called DISD and granted waivers to seven magnet schools.The TEA said the waivers, exempting the schools

  May 12, 2009

• Go Ahead DISD Trustees. Gut the Magnet Schools. If You Want a City That Aspires to Mediocrity.

  May 14, 2009

• Eddie Bernice Johnson Asks DISD Board to Delay Tonight's Staffing Vote

  Eddie Bernice JohnsonThe headline says it all. But this missive, which we just received from Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson's office concerning the fight over funding at Dallas Independent School District's magnet schools and learning centers, says it better. Certainly, longer.Update at 5:15 p.m.: As the DISD board of trustees is due to begin its called meeting shortly, I asked district spokesman Jon Dahlander whether or not the board will heed Johnson's request to delay tonight's vote. At

  May 14, 2009

• DISD's Attempt to Gut Magnets, Learning Centers Gets Uglier With Every Misstep

  Patrick MichelsThe scene outside 3700 Ross Avenue last nightLast night's decision by the Dallas Independent School District's board of trustees to delay voting on budget cuts for the district's enhanced schools was more than just a stall. The debate leading up to that decision shed a little more light on the question most people watching all this have been asking for the last several weeks:What the hell?Why in the world would the Dallas Independent School District want to screw up its magnet sc

  May 15, 2009

• Wherein the DO and the DISD Have a Math-Off Concerning Per-Pupil Expenditures

  On Tuesday of this week Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander responded to questions I had asked him last week for my column this week about per-pupil expenditures at high school campuses. Unfortunately, his response by e-mail reached me several days after my deadline had passed. Mr. Dahlander is a busy man these days and has a lot more to do in this world than answer questions for me, so I won't hold it against him that he replied after my deadline.I only regret that I wasn

  May 20, 2009

• The TEA Hands DISD Its Report Card

  Loose in the Lab​Here's a fun weekend activity: Scroll through the Texas Education Agency's accountability ratings for the Dallas Independent School District, which were released this afternoon. (You can go here for the full statewide breakdown by district, region, etc., while KTVT-Channel 11's Steve Pickett offers a ratings ranking for area's school districts.) But for the sake of the Friends of Unfair Park with kiddos still in the DISD, the highlights: Of the 231 schools in the district, 46

  July 31, 2009

• At Last, the Complete Audit of the Dallas ISD's Adult Basic Education Department!

  ​Just got back to my desk to find a copy of the highly critical Adult Basic Education Department Audit about which we wrote yesterday. So, as always, the full document follows after the jump. And while there are a whole mess of figures to sort through, per the auditor's concerns that the Dallas Independent School District wasn't properly administering $3.7 million in federal funds, this revelation included in the executive summary also stands out:During the audit, it was brought to our attenti

  August 26, 2009