The Texas Freedom Network sends word that, at this very moment, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Committee on Academic Excellence and Research in Austin is discussing and considering a request from the Institute for Creation Research in Dallas for a certificate of authority to grant degrees in Texas. And…
Texas may suck at a lot of things relating to children — worst in teen birth rate, most uninsured kids in the nation, million-dollar high school football stadiums — but at least we feed our children. So says the Center for Public Policy Priorities, usually the bearer of gloom and…
Inside the hallways of the School for the Talented and Gifted at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center, which is either the best or 14th-best high school in the nation, depending Thomas Jefferson High School’s the highest-ranked high school in the land, says the issue of U.S News and World Report…
Paul Quinn College president Michael Sorrell “We are embarking upon a journey to become one of America’s elite small colleges,” writes Paul Quinn College’s newly installed president, Michael J. Sorrell, on the school’s Web site. And he has a long, long way to go: As the Associated Press noted yesterday…
Tom Sawyer’s not terribly suitable for Richardson’s middle-school kids. Rush’s or Mark Twain’s, we’re guessing. The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas just released its 11th Annual Banned Books Report, titled Free People Read Freely. (That’s the slogan of the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week, which lasts from…
We probably post too many press releases dumped on Unfair Park’s door step — it’s not like Sprinkles is sending us cupcakes. But here’s one we feel comfortable passing along. Because, like, it’s for the kids, man. Or their parents. Both, sounds like. Almost sounds too good to be true,…
Do you like to dress up in costume and dance around for kids? If so, and you’re not currently enrolled in an educational institution at which the top grade level is “12” or lower, you may be creepy. (Birthday party clowns are no exception, as anyone who, like me, is…
Kim Olson’s the new DISD human resources boss, which may be the least interesting job on her résumé — by far. The DISD board met last night in the Emmett J. Conrad High School auditorium, and our pal Allen Gwinn live-blogged the shindig — because, look, that’s how he rolls…
School’s out for summer! Unless you live in McKinney. Or you just like high school girls. Lots of reasons to be proud of living in McKinney these days. Cute little town square. Big green Wal-Mart. One school ranked among Newsweek’s best. Or is it two? But down at the McKinney…
Last week, almost 50 local high school and college students piled into a bus and headed out of town. This was no spring break beach vacation or field trip, though: The goals were purely political. The teenagers went to Austin to oppose proposals to repeal a law that allows qualified…
The following comes from a July 31, 2006, story in The Dallas Morning News, shortly after the paper published a series of stories revealing that some Dallas Independent School District employees had used district-issued credit cards to run up more than $6 million in purchases that either violated district policies…
Steve Snyder, the former editor of Lancaster Today till he was “downsized” out of that gig earlier this year, sends word that he’s got plenty to offer at his Web site concerning the state of the Lancaster Independent School District and, more to the point, its superintendent, Larry Lewis. And,…
Lancaster ISD Larry Lewis insists his district’s audit is more than two months late for legit reasons. When Dallas’ Only Daily recently mentioned the upcoming $142-million school-bond package vote in Lancaster, it said only that it will “alleviate overcrowding and address future growth.” Two days later, The Dallas Morning News…
From left, Michelle Berger, Matthew Dempsky and Jack Lindamood were among the competitors at a computer-programming competition in Tokyo. Us, we can’t even get our computers to adjust for Daylight Savings Time. This probably doesn’t make for a great spectator sport. Nonetheless, a team of three computer-science students from UT-Dallas…
If you’re interested in what life’s like at James Madison High School, you need go no further than YouTube: Today, whilst doing our usual browsing for items of local interest, we stumbled across the work of one “bryanrotge,” who clearly digs bringing a video camera to school in order to…
Lew Blackburn, at right, doesn’t seem to quite know the meaning of the word “impressive.” If you want to know why the Dallas Independent School District seems to have a spending scandal more often than the Dallas Mavericks lose a game, well, maybe part of the answer lies with trustees…
Last night, while I was down in Waco, a Friend of Unfair Park called my cell to ask if I was, at that very moment, listening to KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket). Well, usually, around 6:09 p.m., I am, but, ya know, not always. “No,” says I, “why?” My Friend tells…
Celso Martinez told Sarah Dodd he has the God-given right to live wherever he wanted. Yeah, tell it to the boss, Celso. Celso Martinez was kind enough to call and give me the news personally. Superintendent Michael Hinojosa has denied the DISD spokesperson and associate superintendent’s waiver request to continue…
Last week we outed Celso Martinez. Now, as evidenced by Channel 11’s report and a DMN piece, he’s become quite the media sensation — like Carrot Top. Really, we’d be done with Celso Martinez by now were it not for his recurring issues with the truth. On Tuesday, four days…
This may seem like we’re being petty here, but bear with us: Celso Martinez, the DISD flak who said I may have broken the law when I toured a public school with a parent, is himself in violation of school policy. Martinez, hired by the DISD in June, lives in…
Uh, note to DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa: You’d best tell your spokesperson the definition of “legal” before this gets ugly. Oh, wait. Too late. Our bad. Breaking news: The Dallas Independent School District is investigating whether a crime was committed at Preston Hollow Elementary School in the wake of a…
Teresa Parker: the (former?) principal at Preston Hollow Elementary You remember Teresa Parker, right? She was the principal at Preston Hollow Elementary School — the one U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay said in his November 16 ruling had “unlawfully segregated [students] at Preston Hollow based on race and national origin”…
