At some point this evening, the Dallas Independent School District board of trustees will elect new officers. Among the front-runners for president is Lew Blackburn, which may explain why Carla Ranger took to her blog earlier today to throw Blackburn under the bus.You see, there’s no love lost between the…
As promised earlier today, on the other side you will find the entirety of the Dallas Independent School District’s proposed budget for the 2011-’12 school year, which was just released. And though it’s still rife with cuts (“Staff has been reduced by 1,679 employees in this budget. These reductions have…
After the jump you’ll find two things of note: the proposed 2011-’12 school year staffing formulas that could be voted on by the Dallas Independent School District trustees at their 5:30 p.m. board meeting today, and a music video featuring a young pianist and singer named Cameron Ordinario. He’s a…
Whoever set the table before last night’s DISD board meeting had to be kicking themselves once the trustees got started, with dead-serious Carla Ranger yet again calling for soon-to-be-ex-Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s immediate removal, saying an interim replacement would be a waste of money, and wondering in veiled terms about other…
Patrick Michels will be at that 5:30 p.m. meeting at 3700 Ross today, where the Dallas Independent School District’s board of trustees will discuss naming an interim superintendent now that Michael Hinojosa’s all but boarded that midnight train to Georgia. Or: You can always watch it live — no doubt…
Michael Hinojosa is in Georgia today for a 4:30 p.m. meet-n-greet with the citizenry of Cobb County, most of whom appear happy to be taking the Dallas Independent School District super’s off Dallas’s hands. Twenty-five hours later, the DISD board will meet for the first time since Hinojosa’s almost-adios for…
How about some good news for the Dallas Independent School District? That would come from today’s online edition of The Washington Post, where longtime education columnist Jay Mathews ranks more than 1,900 public high schools across the U.S. — the first time he’s done so for the paper, after 13…
Left a few messages for Dallas Independent School District board trustee Carla Ranger yesterday, but never heard back. No matter — she’s always got her blog. And there, this morning, she has posted a rather straight-forward item headlined “Trustees should remove Superintendent Hinojosa immediately for bad faith.” Because Ranger, like…
Moments ago, the Cobb County School District outside of Atlanta, Georgia, named Michael Hinojosa as its superintendent. He was, as expected, its sole finalist — but as per school district policy there, they will wait 14 days before officially naming him the superintendent.All seven members of its board of education…
It would now appear all but certain Dallas Independent School District Michael Hinojosa is out the door, joining his Fort Worth counterpart Melody Johnson, who surprised her board today with a resignation letter of her own. We’ll know for sure soon enough. Watch it live, after the jump. If you…
Down below, Dallas Independent School District trustee Bruce Parrott says he wants to know “how does the business community feel” about Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s more-than-likely departure for the top job in Cobb County, Georgia. (The Atlanta Journal Constitution is now reporting that “Dallas school chief Michael Hinojosa is reportedly going…
Shortly after The News broke the news that Dallas Independent School District Michael Hinojosa is a finalist — perhaps the sole finalist — for the top job at the Cobb County School District outside of Atlanta, I asked DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander if there would be a statement forthcoming. His…
Yesterday we took a look at the latest version of the Dallas Independent School District’s budget reduction plan, as necessitated by the state Legislature’s decision to gut public education in the wake of its $27-billion (give or take) shortfall. After the board briefing, Superintendent Michael Hinojosa went in front of…
Many good Friends of Unfair Park have forwarded me the clip you see above, which District 103’s state rep, Rafael Anchía, posted to YouTube last night. In it, the Haynes and Boone attorney and former Dallas ISD school board trustee argues against the passage of Carrollton state Rep. Burt Solomons’s…
It’s been a long, contentious meeting of the Dallas Independent School District board of trustees, and we just got to the latest budget update. First, Carla Ranger wanted to know why Bernadette Nutall, with Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s OK, halted construction at a handful of South Dallas schools. Nutall said it…
An oddly interesting scene unfolded on Inwood Road earlier today: NBA legend Bob Lanier and Key Coker, Executive Vice President of BBVA Compass Bank, chatting about banking globalization, financial diversification and the tightening of government regulations as they painted the walls of a Thomas J. Rusk Middle School classroom.Lanier was…
Like I said, the Dalai Lama’s at SMU at this very moment, speaking about democracy, education and his hopes for a free Tibet. Watch it live here. It wraps shortly. He’s presently taking questions from the audience, which includes lots of high school students. I see the Lama got more…
New Observer-er Leslie Minora was headed out to an interview moments ago when she got stuck waiting for a mini-motorcade passing in front of Unfair Park HQ on Maple Ave. She asked a Dallas Police officer what was going on. He told her: Why, that’s the Dalai Lama! Oh, right…
We’ve had this discussion on and off in recent months: With all the schools coming online courtesy the 2008 bond election, when oh when will Dallas Independent School District begin shuttering some of its existing campuses? Trustee Edwin Flores says perhaps as soon as the 2012-’13 school year; this morning,…
If you’d been in one particular basement in Arlington a little more than an hour ago, you would’ve stood square in the middle of a fairly strange scene: Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa standing around, cheerful and well-dressed in a light gray suit, a few feet from American League MVP…
Former First Lady Laura Bush announced this morning that her foundation, which has provided more than $14 million in grants intended to fill school libraries with more and better books, is dispersing more than a million dollars to some 241 schools this year. Bush made the announcement at Jack Lowe…
No, that photo above is not a scene from Morgan Spulock’s latest documentary. Turns out, Dallas County Schools has teamed up with ad agency Alpha Media to stick hundreds of vinyl advertisements on the sides of their buses, generating an expected $1 million this year. As next year’s budget cuts begin…
