Mike. I’m talking to you. Your whole story now, your profile, is all about the Miles-high salaries. “DALLAS ISD SUPERINTENDENT DEFENDS HIGH SALARIES…” “DISD’S NEW COMMUNICATIONS CHIEF WILL MAKE $185,000…” Wrong. So wrong. One hundred and eighty degrees wrong. Think in terms of sack-cloth and begging bowls. That’s what you…
For more than two decades now, SMU’s men’s basketball program has languished in mediocrity. It saw moderate regular-season success during the Mike Dement era of the late ’90s and early ’00s but made the postseason only once, and that was a berth in the lowly NIT. Its last trip to…
Way back in January, over the objections of just about everyone affected, the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees tacked a mandatory 45 minutes onto every teacher’s workday. How the teachers used the time would be up to principals. Not surprisingly, the decision sparked considerable resentment among teachers who felt the…
There has been a lot of ink devoted over the past few days to Dallas ISD being named a finalist for $40 million in federal Race to the Top funds, which built to a crescendo yesterday when Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to town. That all sounds fantastic, but what…
Luther Campbell’s days as a member of 2 Live Crew, cutting wildly misogynistic tracks that shocked and appalled Tipper Gore and led to a famous Supreme Court victory for free speech, are behind him. He’s a father now, married to a lawyer, and he has a respectable job as a…
Earlier this year it came to light that DeVry, the Illinois-based tech school giant, wanted some students from its Caribbean medical school to complete their training in Texas. The plan was modest, a maximum of 20 students from DeVry’s American University of the Caribbean placed in Texas hospitals for third-…
Donna Pulkrabek’s job with UT Southwestern Medical Center was to ensure that the dogs, goats, pigs, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs, frogs, rats and mice researchers use for medical experiments were treated humanely and in compliance with federal guidelines. When she allegedly discovered that wasn’t happening, she complained. According to her…
That guy you see up there is J.C. Drake, the police chief at North Lake College in Irving. Chief Drake is real worried about all the school shootings, so he decided to do something about it. He decided to offer a course, apparently to students and also staff, in how…
John Ellis Price, the man who has guided UNT-Dallas through its transformation from a tiny satellite campus into an accredited, standalone university, won’t be officially retired for another nine months. The school has been preparing for his departure for a while now, but only now has the search for a…
John Wiley Price is not a fan of DISD superintendent Mike Miles. He made that much clear when he appeared before the yesterday’s board briefing to chide Miles on his first few months with the district. “My problem is, this district seems to be in terror, and this is no…
It wasn’t so long ago that it seemed the relationship between DISD teachers and superintendent Mike Miles had gone sour. They bristled at Miles’ reformist rhetoric, with its implication that steering the district in the right direction will require the heads of a lot of long-time educators. They didn’t like…
Right now, the only way to get your kid into pre-K at DISD is to not speak English, not have a home, or be poor enough to qualify him for free or reduced lunch. This year, 8,991 students fitting those criteria have enrolled in DISD pre-K free of charge, a…
Last spring on the steps of the State Capitol, it was possible to buy a highly metaphorical cupcake, one that would cost you just $100 million. The “Billion Dollar Bake Sale” was put together by an outfit called Save Texas Schools, and it was meant to draw attention to the…
A bizarre and still murky series of events ended yesterday when longtime DISD administrator Shirley Ison-Newsome officially stepped aside, just four days after she announced, then promptly rescinded, her resignation in favor of retirement. Ison-Newsome has been a powerful, polarizing figure during 37 years with the district, and her departure…
Thanks to Sandy, Deadspin is a shadow of its normal self right now, but it’s functioning well enough to direct our attention to a piece reported last week at TCU 360. It seems there is a controversy simmering at the school over a bronze statue unveiled earlier this month at…
Shirley Ison-Newsome is a survivor. The longtime DISD administrator, currently assistant superintendent, has managed to stay afloat at the district even as administration after boss after boss, administration after administration, have sunk to the watery depths. That she has managed emerge unharmed even as she has been caught up in…
We touched yesterday on what has been a bit of a rough start to the school year for Dallas ISD, and today’s news won’t help: Alan King, who led the district in the aftermath of former Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s departure last year, has resigned from the district. King served as…
Dallas ISD’s teachers are feeling beaten down, their union rep told me this morning: “Physically, emotionally and financially.” The latest blow, she said: no longer getting paid for time they spend at after-school conferences with parents. The News’ Matthew Haag had the story last night: DISD teachers used to get…
Houston Republican Dan Patrick — a conservative radio shock jock and founder of the Tea Party Caucus in the Texas Senate — is vowing to lead the charge in the next session of the Texas Legislature for a school voucher system that would give away tax money to private and…
With the school year underway and Mike Miles’ graphically detailed list of all the ways that DISD fails, it’s been easy to forget about communication chief Jennifer Sprague’s short resume, outlandish salary, and her cringe-worthy performance at her first board meeting this summer. But lest you forget about Sprague entirely,…
You already knew that Mike Miles, DISD’s new superintendent, isn’t one to mince words. That was, after all, part of the thinking in hiring him: that a straight-talking, pull-no-punches leader could transform DISD from an improving but still struggling urban district into one of the country’s finest. So far, Miles’…
The ACLU of Texas released its annual compendium of books that school districts have pulled from their shelves for being too coarse, profane, sexual, or otherwise too interesting for our precious children, despite every Mom in America having a copy of 50 Shades of Gray by her nightstand. There’s good…
