Michael Hinojosa, You're So Great. What Makes You, Michael Hinojosa, So Great?

Over the weekend, The Marietta Daily Journal pointed out that somewhere on the Cobb County School District's website is an interview with Michael Hinojosa that's supposed to be distributed district-wide on Wednesday. The chitchat, shot with Cobb County's spokesman during the outgoing Dallas ISD super's visit to Georgia last week,...

By Robert Wilonsky

May 30, 2011

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Over the weekend, The Marietta Daily Journal pointed out that somewhere on the Cobb County School District's website is an interview with Michael Hinojosa that's supposed to be distributed district-wide on Wednesday. The chitchat, shot with Cobb County's spokesman during the outgoing Dallas ISD super's visit to Georgia last week, is an 11-minute getting-to-know-you ... or exit interview, I guess, depending on your perspective.

It's not terribly hard-hitting, more like The Chris Farley Show of public-ed web videos. Still, as The Man Known as "Coach" begins his not-too-long goodbye from the district in which he was educated, Hinojosa touches upon what he believes are his successes in Dallas ... and the challenges facing the next lucky son of a gun who gets to be DISD superintendent.

Says Hinojosa, the thing he's "most proud of" as he leaves here is the rising number of diplomas being doled out this spring: "We have 7,000 students graduating -- the most since the early 1980s." But there are plenty of challenges, he acknowledges, among them "a lot of issues with poverty ... demographics ... and a very political environment."

Hunh. I wonder if now would be a good time to post my interview with Mike Rawlings about DISD. Could be. Regardless, Hinojosa's interview follows.

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