On this (overhyped?) National Letter of Intent Signing Day, high schoolers all over the country chose which school they’d be suiting up for next. For some, it was as simple as faxing in a signed letter (a mighty challenge in its own right), but for the Dallas Independent School District’s…
A Friend of Unfair Park and fellow Dallas Independent School District parent directed my attention to the Web site of DISD trustee Lew Blackburn, which isn’t nearly as provocative as Carla Ranger’s — though, of late, she’s been sadly absent from the Internets save for mention of the 10th Anniversary…
Yesterday was the deadline for “interested parties” to send to the Office of the Attorney General of Texas briefs concerning the Dallas Independent School District board of trustee’s vote to extend their term limits from three to four years. Carla Ranger, of course, is the only trustee against the extension,…
A Friend of Unfair Park sends a heads-up for those with an hour to kill this morning: Dallas Independent Superintendent Michael Hinojosa will sit for a chitchat beginning at 9 a.m. with Fernando Romano of Dallas iMedia Network. If you’ve got any questions for the super, you can send ’em…
Sure University of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy had to settle for the Heisman Trophy runner-up. Sure his Longhorns – despite last night’s thrilling Fiesta Bowl victory – are getting screwed out of a possible National Championship. And sure, as one of my alcohol-soaked relatives put it over the holidays, “Something…
DISD school board trustee Carla Ranger End of January’s shaping up to be busy, busy, busy for the Dallas Independent School District. Says school board trustee Carla Ranger on her blog this a.m., Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has set a January 19 deadline for the DISD, the Texas Education…
A glance at the Dallas Independent School District board of trustees’ meeting agenda for this evening reveals a few items of interest. Among them: The Stonewall Jackson PTA is trying to revive its beloved Outdoor Science Lab & Garden nearly done in during the district’s RIF in October. Which is…
Earlier today our downstairs neighbors at Big Thought sent the image above, which you’ve no doubt seen if you’ve window-shopped at NorthPark Center during this most wonderful (enh) time of the year. It’s the storefront at Barney’s New York, where the theme’s “Have a Hippie Holiday,” which, I’ll assume, involves…
OK, you know the drill by now: Collect ’em all! Today, it’s Edwin Flores’s turn.First, a disclaimer: I’ve always liked Flores, who’s pictured at right; he’s affable and accessible. And you get the sense that he loves being a trustee and is able to shrug off the criticism that comes…
Last month, while reporting last week’s cover story on Dallas Independent Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, I had two long interviews with school board trustee Leigh Ann Ellis, pictured at right. Most people consider the soft-spoken Ellis one of Hinojosa’s most reliable supporters on the board, but I found her more ambivalent…
Last month, while working on this profile of Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, I met DISD board of trustees president Jack Lowe for coffee at the La Madeline by SMU. Lowe, as you may recall, said upon the revelation of the district’s initial $64-million budget shortfall in September…
DISD school board trustee Carla Ranger The day before Halloween, three Dallas Independent School District board members — Ron Price, Lew Blackburn and Carla Ranger — told board president Jack Lowe, in writing, that they were calling for a “no-confidence vote” against superintendent Michael Hinojosa. Lowe repeatedly ignored the request,…
During today’s closed-door meeting of the Dallas Independent School District board, the trustees will tell superintendent Michael Hinojosa whether or not they, ya know, trust the dude. As in: The board will “deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee; including evaluation…
That’s what BusinessWeek wanted to know, which is why it interviewed Director of Admissions Patti Cudney for a Q&A that runs more than 2,400 words. No doubt you’ll read the entire thing, but toward the end, there’s a question concerning the university’s image worth noting, if nothing else. Jump for…
Well, as it turns out, Dallas Independent School District superintendent Michael Hinojosa was far more engaged than we all thought. We just received the superintendent’s annual evaluation of Eric Anderson, the district’s former chief operating officer who has been widely blamed for DISD’s epic financial crisis. Long story short: Hinojosa…
Texas State Board of Education member Mavis Knight, a Democrat whose District 13 includes part of Dallas and Tarrant Counties, had no idea till reached by Unfair Park this afternoon that her fellow board member Cynthia Dunbar has published a book. But, sure enough, there it is on Amazon: One…
Schutze has already mentioned what a big fan he is of the Raptor scanner recently installed at Dallas Independent School District HQ on Ross Ave., along with a handful of other district campuses. The point of the device, which scans a person’s driver’s license before they’re allowed in the building,…
I don’t love Texas. I don’t hate Oklahoma. But what transpired yesterday in the Big 12 is absolute bullshit. I know life ain’t fair, but college football should be. Or at least it should use common sense trying. Let me apologize to Texas. I posted some of the best…
DISD school board trustee Carla Ranger Took her a few days for her to respond, but, at last, Dallas Independent School District trustee Carla Ranger has posted a lengthy essay concerning the school board’s Thursday-night vote to extend the trustees’ terms from three to four years. Ranger, who’s already called…
Jack Lowe, DISD school board president Blacks were hissing rudely at Hispanics. Hispanics were yelling at other Hispanics. And just about everyone was taunting distraught school board trustees, themselves appearing to teeter on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Ladies and gentleman, this is your Dallas Independent School District. Last…
Edwin Flores Northwest Dallas residents with kids in the Dallas Independent School District and some spare time Saturday might want to duck into Thomas C. Marsh Middle School, where, as you will see, board trustee Edwin Flores will be hosting a District 1 Summit. The full flier that came home…
The Texas State Board of Education’s meeting in Austin about, among other things, whether the board ought to revise the state’s science curriculum to allow for, ya know, the teaching of creationism alongside evolution. Which is why three rabbis, two from ’round these parts and one of whom hails from…
