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Thoughts
on the DISD
8/21/09 |
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David Tuthill |
One would think the primary goal of the Dallas Independent School District is to
provide an education to the students of this city. If you believe
that, you have swallowed a long list of lies of public education. This is partly
the fault of the Legislature, as well as the DISD administration in a strange
1984 double speak world where they try to hide their actions from public
accountability.
Here are several myths and double speaks to support my position:
The biggest lie purported by the Legislature is that the state lottery funds
public education. When the lottery was proposed, the funds were to
exclusively go to education. Much like the tobacco settlements were
supposed to go to programs to prevent smoking. The funds from both of
programs were too good to be true to a Legislature in constant need of funds.
So, only a part of the revenues go to the proposed programs they were to serve.
The rest funds other projects. If you ask the average taxpayer on the
street about lottery funds and tobacco settlement funds, you would likely get a
response that they are totally dedicated to these programs. |
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8/25/9 Linus Spiller:
David's analysis is right on target. What really jumped out
at me was your statement "Their creative interpretation of state law is
another example of the trustees' failure to comprehend simple rules."
The issue is not whether they comprehend state law or board policy:
the majority chooses not to.
A Pleasant Grove parent recently directed me to a taped meeting
online in which the naming of schools and the process for doing so was
debated. Board policy is clear, but certain trustees chose to
circumvent those policies for their own gain, and did so publicly by
enlisting the support of DISD legal counsel with taxpayers present.
Reform is definitely needed, but expect more of the same if
taxpaying voters do not participate in the upcoming special election in
November. |
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Expecting the DISD to educate our students is a fallacy in that you can't
educate someone when the trustees and administrators can't comprehend everyday
statements or laws. You can't construct a sound building on a bad
foundation.
The most recent example can be found in The Dallas Morning News in
regards to the legislative mandate that allows teachers to give students a
failing grade lower than 50 points. Presently, the controversial
guidelines of the DISD prevent a teacher from giving lower grades than 50, 60,
or even 70 (what would be a grade of C). This impacts the value of a DISD
diploma in that it cheapens the overall student body that actually have
performed well to benefit those who would have and should have failed. We
have seen multiple articles regarding the failure of public education to prepare
students for college, where many find themselves floundering in college after
good performances in high school.
DISD trustees believe the legislation allowing teachers to give failing grades
does not apply to the DISD. They describe un-natural lengths they
are going through to convince themselves the law must not apply to DISD and
certainly not to the final report card. If their graduation rate (due to
all those failing 50 grades rounded up to passing) is high, then they must be
doing something right.
The Trustees' attempt to change their terms from 3 years to 4 years is another
example of their arrogance. This was an attempt to avoid accountability
for the delay in the district audit report until after the 2008 election for a
$1.32 Billion bond proposal. Remember, the delayed report painted the
trustees as incompetent, at best. If the report were published before the
bond election, the bond proposal would have failed. The law that
allowed the change of trustee terms from 3 to 4 years expired long before the
DISD trustees came up with their scheme to escape a May election for 3 trustees.
Their creative interpretation of state law is another example of the trustees'
failure to comprehend simple rules.
In my 3rd grade, the class had stories a child would read, and the teacher asked
questions to see how well the child comprehended the writer's message. If
a child did well on one level (signified by a color), they got to go to the next
level (signified by another color). This is a basic skill that has been
cheapened by the media, advertising and marketing firms. It is also a
skill the trustees have failed to master as evidenced by the two examples cited
above.
The third example, I sent the DISD Trustees a note to express concern about a
public hearing on the proposed tax rate increase for this year. While many
governmental entities are struggling not to raise taxes in a poor economic
times, the DISD?s plan to raise taxes was inappropriate. Home foreclosures
and personal bankruptcies in an economy that has been compared to the 1930 by
some. As the Trustees are about as responsive as a brick, I did not expect
a response, but I did receive a response from one trustee stating he was not
aware of any tax increase. When I responded that I had seen it in the DMN
article, he said of the two tax rates the DISD employs to figure your tax bill
one would not be raised but the one governing the $1.32 Billion bonds would
indeed be raised.
It troubles me that he does not feel this is a tax increase and he feels voters
approved higher taxes when they approved the bonds last year. Something to
keep in mind the next time you vote on a bond proposal, as your elected official
will not mention this when selling the merits of those bonds to you.
My school tax dollars are not being spent well as indicated by continuing bad
trends, recent scandals and never ending problems that are the focal points of
DISD trustees and their administration.
Their actions are not to benefit the student body but to maintain their power
and benefit
the empire they have created. We need accountability and reform of the
DISD.
David W. Tuthill
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