I see the Dallas Independent School District board has pulled from its Thursday meeting to-do list the following consent agenda item: “Consider and Take Possible Action to Approve the 2011-12 Campus Staffing Formulas, Non-Position Campus Formulas, and Non-Campus Staffing Guidelines.” Which, for those who need a refresher, the Dallas Friends…
Brother Bill Holston directed our attention yesterday to the Facebook page of former state Rep. and movie star Allen Vaught, who writes of “organizing a grassroots program focusing on the legislature and DISD to not gut our schools.” I called Vaught at his office at Baron & Budd for more…
The editor of our sister paper in Houston just forwarded along a press release sent out moments ago by the Houston Independent School District: “Arnold Viramontes, the Dallas ISD chief of staff, is coming to HISD to oversee the district’s technology operations.” The entire release follows, but Viramontes, of course,…
What you see above is a video presently making the rounds amongst those of us who live in the T.C. Marsh-W.T. White feeder pattern: Marsh eighth-grade U.S. history teacher Miguel Solis speaking a few days ago at Teach for America’s 20th Anniversary Summit in Washington, D.C. And when I say…
In this morning’s New York Times, James C. McKinley looks at how Texas’s $27-billion budget shortfall is about to devastate districts statewide — while using the same word as Dallas Independent School District Michael Hinojosa only a few days ago to describe the coming cuts: “draconian.” McKinley’s piece comes but…
Dallas Independent School District trustee Eric Cowan’s first blog entry of 2011 is a sobering follow-up to Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s budget-gutting presentation to the board on Thursday: “The Economics of Public Education.” There’s no easy way to sum it up, as Cowan take a look at how wound up in…
During Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s budget-gutting presentation to the school board yesterday, when he warned that the state’s $27-billion budget shortfall could result in as many as 3,900 layoffs and secondary school classrooms filled with at least 35 students per teacher, the district posted to its Facebook page an…
For those who weren’t fortunate enough to sit through Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s budget-gutting presentation this afternoon, what you’ll find below is the complete PowerPoint presentation given to the board of trustees. In it, you’ll find what the super likes to call “the new reality,” which could…
Shame the Dallas Independent School District’s board of trustees couldn’t meet yesterday, when all the teachers and students were iced in and needed something to watch — like, say, this afternoon’s board briefing, during which trustees will get their first look at Superintendent Michael Hinojosa’s proposed $260 million worth of…
As we were eating dinner, about half an hour ago, the 7-year-old who lives in my house asked me to check Dallas Independent School District’s Facebook page to see if there’d been an announcement about school tomorrow. So I did. I read this aloud:Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Dallas ISD schools…
Way back in September, Laura Bush stopped by North Dallas High School to introduce the George W. Bush Institute’s education initiative intended to change “the way America’s public school principals are identified, recruited, selected, prepared, evaluated, and empowered.” Well, now that that’s been taken care of comes Initiative No. 2…
Here’s something else that got lost in the snowdrift: Earlier today, the Dallas Independent School District send word that come Sunday …Drill teams from Thomas Jefferson and W.T. White high schools will perform during the Super Bowl XLV halftime show, which will feature the Black Eyed Peas as the headlining…
I brought the boy into the office today. We had no choice — even he was getting cabin fever, and better Unfair Park HQ than another day staring down his LEGOs. But now this from 3700 Ross:Breaking news: Dallas ISD schools will be closed on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011. Administrative…
This just in from the Dallas Independent School District, which, apparently, no longer adheres to its 6 a.m.-morning-of policy when it comes to announcing closings:Continuing weather-related issues will keep Dallas ISD schools and administrative offices closed on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. Continue to seek warm shelter and stay off those…
This just in from 3700 Ross, via the Facebook:Because of icy road conditions that are not expected to improve overnight, Dallas ISD schools and administrative offices will be closed on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011.I have not yet told the 7-year-old who lives in my house, who, at this very moment,…
Nothing short of the End of Days gets the Dallas Independent School District to close its doors. But well before 5 a.m., the district made up its mind and told the kiddos to stay at home. Or: “Debido al mal tiempo, las escuelas del Dallas ISD están cerradas hoy.” Which…
Last night, WFAA reported that some 300 Dallas Independent School District employees will not return next year — not because of the state’s $25-billion shortfall, but because the $104 million in federal stimulus money that funded their positions beginning in 2009 has gone away. As DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander tells…
While the Plano Independent School District is already preparing for a worst-case scenario and eliminating top-tier administrative positions, the Dallas Independent School District’s board of trustees is not scheduled to address the state’s $25-billion shortfall at its meeting on Thursday — save for that resolution to which we directed your…
Earlier this afternoon, over on the DISD Blog, Matthew Haag posted a memo Dallas Independent School District sent to district employees Friday, in which the super warned: The state’s mammoth budget shortfall could result in “a staggering $180-$200 million” being excised from the district’s budget during the next two years…
Yesterday ESPN and Texas agree to a 20-year, $300 million deal to launch a 24-hour Longhorn network in September. Planned programming includes sports, original series, studio shows, historical programming and academic and cultural events. More precisely ESPN/UT hopes to televise at least one exclusive football game, eight men’s basketball games,…
Something I thought I’d never write in 2011: Todd Dodge is the new quarterbacks coach at Pitt. By now I figured Dodge — who ascended from historic success at Southlake Carroll High School to a gig at North Texas — would be choosing from primo Division I jobs in the wake of…
This morning, the D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center released a report — School Breakfast in America’s Big Cities 2011 — that takes a look at the free-breakfast programs in 29 of the nation’s largest school districts, including the Dallas Independent School District. Says the study, during the ’09-’10 school…
