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Matthew Barneby, USM
Anonymouse 02/14
Tim Dickey
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02/13/06 The children
need some sensible people on the DISD School Board.
There were four school board seats up for election in
May. Aafter Friday's passing of Joe May, there are now 5 DISD seats (out
of 9) for voters to consider this Spring.
Might as well address Joe May's death. I got an e-mail from a man named "Jay", and we
had the following exchange:
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JAY |
I hope the death of Joe May will
allow you to reevaluate your hateful political
rhetoric. |
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SB |
What has his death got to do with
the bad things he did? Just means that
it will stop. |
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JAY |
God bless you. |
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SB |
God has blessed me with the
courage to stand up for what I think is right, and the wit to express
myself in a way that most people understand.
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Years ago, I thought Joe was a
harmless goof ball. I was wrong.
Joe May was a racist who mailed out a letter to voters in my council
district saying the district should only be represented by someone who
speaks Spanish. Since few African-Americans speak Spanish, most
Whites don't speak Spanish and many Hispanics don't speak Spanish, he was
promoting the disenfranchisement of 40% or more of the district's voters.
He specifically named me in the letter, but there was also a Black guy
running in the race who did not speak Spanish.
When I went after Joe for violating campaign contribution limits
(NOT for what he said), he dishonestly tried to implicate Steve
Salazar and anyone else he could think to name.
Joe May had a myopic view of the world. To him, everyone was against
Mexicans and other Hispanics. My office
has a staff of 12, 9 of which I
personally recruited and hired (including myself). Of the 8 I hired, 3
are Hispanic (one is a LEGAL immigrant from Mexico). Just because
I differ with the likes of Joe May and Domingo Garcia does not make me
anti-Hispanic. It makes me selective in my friends and enemies.
Joe May also a low regard for women in general, Anglo women in particular.
I'm not going to say I will miss Joe May. I am not sorry he's gone, but I
would not have wished ill health or an early death on him or anyone else.
I have known Joe May since the 70's, and worked with him on several
campaigns and issues until I learned how he manipulated mail-in ballots to
win elections. I severed ties with him at that point.
So, yes, God has blessed me with an interesting life and interesting
friends and acquaintances. I can't ask for much more. |
There's just nothing else to
say on the subject. As a School Board member, Joe May proposed two
outlandish rules that absolutely were discriminatory toward non-Spanish-speaking
Dallas citizens.
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He said only a Spanish-speaking person should
represent Dallas city council District 6. |
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He said only a Spanish-speaking person should be
the principal of certain DISD schools. |
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He wanted to hire Spanish-speaking illegal aliens
to teach non-English speaking students, but he had no concern for children
of other nationalities who don't speak English at home. |
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May got the second proposal
passed with the help of Dr. Lois Parrott, Jerome Garza, Dr. Edwin Flores and Jack
Lowe. That's why we need new people to run for the School Board in May.
I don't know if Jack Lowe is up in May, but Dr. Flores will face the
voters again this year. After May drew my neighborhood out of his district (but kept
our school), Dr. Flores became our DISD representative. Really can't tell the
difference in having Flores than May, because we have been equally ignored by both. If no one
opposes Dr. Flores, I will vote for NONE OF THE ABOVE.
Joe Tave will run for Hollis Brashear's seat. He challenged Mr.
Brashear before and lost. Tave is a former teacher with Wilmer-Hutchins
ISD and currently teaches in Ft. Worth. I have reservations about an
employee of one school district serving on the DISD School Board. I had
the same concerns when Dr. Lew Blackburn left his position with Texas A&M
University-Commerce (formerly East Texas State University) for an administrative
job with Wilmer-Hutchins ISD. I don't expect DISD to merge with FWISD, but
there seems to be an inherent conflict of interest. That said, Joe Tave
already has the support of some prominent community activists. He probably
will have support from DallasArena.com. |
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02/13/06 Chip
Northrup:
It will slow, but not stop the
Mexicanization of the district.
The fact that
May's initiatives were not denounced as wholly counter-productive on
the spot - while he was alive - will tend to make him iconic in the barrio.
First bi-lingual principals, then
illegals as teachers = the logical extension of
this would be compulsory Spanish classes.
Better to learn Chinese.
The best use of bilingual education
is full-immersion instruction in English; meaning everybody starts speaking
English in class in order to learn it.
Not math in Spanish.
MexAm pupils have the lowest
graduation rates of any ethnic group in the US.
Their high drop-out rate presents a major quality control problem for
any school system, because before they
drop-out, they underachieve.
If under achievement is the norm,
quality is harder to maintain.
It is axiomatic that any family
who can afford it will opt out of
a chronically underachieving system. The proof is that they do - to
parochial schools, private schools or suburban districts.
Large urban school districts with a
majority MexAm population must provide higher
quality alternatives if they are going to retain college track students.
For those families wanting
a disciplined, quality, safe education - in a
parochial or private school, TAG only addresses a
small minority of the ISD's population. Whereas universal
vouchers are open to all.
The TAG programs are shuttled to Town
View and herded in with the rest like cattle.
Arts Magnet stuffed into Nolan Estes.
Give families vouchers and empower
them to make the same decision that anyone
well-off enough makes with their children. |
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We should have real concerns
about who replaces Joe May in District 8. If it is someone like Pete Vaca,
God help us all. District 8 spans East Dallas and Oak Lawn (more of Joe
May's gerrymandering skills). The area has an influx of new, young couples
and professionals who may think DISD doings have no impact on them, particularly
if they are renters and not stakeholders, or have no children. They could
not be more wrong.
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What goes on
at the DISD is a direct reason why many businesses reject Dallas when
looking to relocate their companies. |
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What goes on
What goes on at the DISD is a direct reason why many Dallas businesses are
moving out of town. |
If the young professionals in
Uptown and Downtown lofts and in the new condos in East Dallas want to keep the
jobs they need to pay their rent and mortgages, they better start paying
attention to the foolishness and misdeeds of the DISD administration and School
Board. If their employees will not live in Dallas because of our
deplorable school system, businesses will take those jobs elsewhere.
It would be great if we could
ever get a straight story from The
Dallas Managed News. There will
be 5 seats up for election in May on the School Board, but who knows which
district they
are from reading:
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Death adds to uncertainty at DISD;
With 5 of 9 trustee seats up for
election, some fear reform at risk
February 12,
2006 by KENT
FISCHER / The Dallas Morning News |
Last week's surprise resignation of
trustee Hollis Brashear and untimely death of colleague Joe May have left
the Dallas school board with two gaping holes and an uncertain future.
... Couple those two losses with the
three trustees whose terms expire this year,
and more than half of the board's nine seats will be up for election May 13.
That has some observers fearful that changes on the board could jeopardize
the ambitious reform efforts put forth by Superintendent Michael Hinojosa,
who's been on the job only since May.
... Recently, Dr. Hinojosa has laid out a
framework for reinventing DISD with hopes that it will be recognized as one
of the nation's best urban school districts by 2010. He has said he will
need more than $20 million to do it, money he intends to find in the
district's budget.
... the superintendent has said he wants to reduce
the district's central administration and close some small, expensive
learning center schools.
... observers say those changes could grind to a
halt if voters elect enough new faces with different ideas.
... "It's an opportunity for Dr. Hinojosa to get a
board that fully supports his efforts to reform the district," said trustee
Edwin Flores, who joined the board in May and is up
for re-election. ... |
The only mention Fischer makes
of the 5 seats up for grabs are Brashear's departure, May's death and Flores
being up for re-election. Who are the other two board members up for
re-election? This so typical of what we get these days from
The Dallas Managed News.
Of course, we have to make exceptions for Emily Ramshaw and Dave Levinthal, both
are as good as it gets. Unfortunately, they can't be everywhere or cover
every story.
The comments lauding Joe May are as concerning as anything he proposed.
There are people who seem intent on pushing for DISD to hire illegals to teach
our children. I'm telling you Lois Parrott is a certified idiot.
She's a big time liberal Democrat who thinks she will have some sway with the
Dallas Congressional Delegation to promote May's plan to change federal law.
Do you really think a Republican is going to give her the time of day? She
has even less of chance of getting help from Congresswoman Eddie Bernice
Johnson.
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Joe May: 1944-2006;
DISD trustee
strived to help Hispanic students, no matter the criticism
Sunday, February
12, 2006
by TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News |
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As a school board trustee, he'd successfully fought
off critics to get a controversial proposal passed requiring some principals
to be bilingual. More recently, he wanted the district to look into hiring
illegal immigrants as bilingual teachers.
His voice was silenced by his
unexpected death late Friday night. His colleagues and supporters said
Saturday that they won't allow his fight to help Hispanic students to
languish.
... "I'm very saddened," Dallas school board
President Lois Parrott said Saturday. "Joe always fought for everybody's
rights, and we're going to continue that."
... Mr. May was featured on national newscasts
last week for proposing to have federal law changed so the Dallas
Independent School District could hire illegal immigrants to ease the
district's shortage of bilingual teachers.
Some Hispanics fear the proposal will
fade without Mr. May's determination for change.
DISD
Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said at a news conference Saturday that he
would talk with trustees about where to go from here on the issue.
"Obviously our hands are tied on how much
we can do," Dr. Hinojosa said. "But Joe left me with that. It's an issue
we've got to talk about as a board."
Dr. Parrott said the board would keep
the issue on the table.
"We're going to look at every angle,"
she said. "We're going to talk to the congressmen,
the federal government."
... Mr. May's ongoing goal was to correct
inequalities in spending among schools across the district. But Thursday he
said his current focus had to be the effort to hire illegal immigrants to
teach. He said he wanted to help college graduates who as children entered
the U.S. with their parents illegally. Their teaching credentials, he said,
could help DISD fill hundreds of bilingual positions while addressing their
need to work.
... Adelfa Callejo, a lawyer and community
activist, who, ... said Saturday that she told Mr.
May how proud she was of him. She said his dream to change the law to hire
illegal immigrants to teach would not die.
"That will be his legacy, and the
Hispanic community will make it happen," she said.
... Mr. Hinojosa said the death has hit him hard.
He called Mr. May a champion for the poor and someone
always focused on ethics. ...
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Boy, Dr. Hinojosa is beginning
to scare me. If he truly believes Joe May was "someone always focused on
ethics", I question his understanding of the concept of ethical behavior. Was
Dr. Hinojosa hired just to educate the children of immigrants as Joe May once said was the DISD's primary responsibility?
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DISD open to W-H merger;
Dallas: Trustees amenable to
plan – as long as it doesn't cost them
Thursday,
7/07/05 by JOSHUA BENTON / The
Dallas Morning News |
Dallas schools
officials seem ready to take on the students of Wilmer-Hutchins – as long as
it doesn't cost the district any money.
... Wilmer-Hutchins is in financial crisis, and
its state-appointed board of managers has determined that the district
cannot afford to operate its schools this fall. The district has been trying
to hand off its students to someone else. Lancaster schools rejected the
offer last week.
Although no formal decision was made at
Thursday's meeting, Dallas leaders said they were more willing to help.
... Dallas is being asked to accept the transfer
of Wilmer-Hutchins' 2,650 or so students. Wilmer-Hutchins would remain open
as a shell of a district.
... Wilmer-Hutchins High School – whose leaky roof
delayed its opening last fall – would remain open for one more year, serving
only grades 10 through 12. Everyone else would be bused to Dallas.
... A merger would help Dallas financially in a
number of ways. It would boost student enrollment, which has been stagnant
or declining in recent years. It would also help lower Dallas' property
wealth per pupil, which has been creeping higher in the last decade. If it
goes too high, Dallas could be forced to send local property tax revenue to
the state.
...
One voice of criticism was Dallas trustee Joe
May, who said he was concerned that adding Wilmer-Hutchins students might
divert Dallas from its primary task, the education of
Spanish-speaking recent immigrants. He said students transferring in
from Wilmer-Hutchins would have access to more resources than
Spanish-speaking children in his neighborhood.
... His concerns were by echoed by trustee Jerome
Garza.
"We talk about bringing in other
children, and while I empathize with that, at the end of the day,
we need to make sure this does not negatively affect
the children we were elected to represent."
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Eight of Dallas' nine board members were present Thursday
night. The only exception was Lew Blackburn, who in addition to being a
Dallas trustee is also a Wilmer-Hutchins employee. Dallas officials said he
will not be allowed to vote on any matters relating to Wilmer-Hutchins.
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See
Joe May
is a Racist (July 11,
2005). Allen Gwinn has a different perspective on Joe:
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If you care about the education of Dallas children and you pay DISD taxes, you
need to learn who wants to represent the district where you live. If you
don't which school district you are in (shame on you), you can use this link
Search For Your Voter Registration
or go to
www.dallascoelections.org to
look it up. Once you learn which district you are in, go to
Board of Trustees
to find out who represents your district. As
soon as I learn which 2 Board members who are also facing the voters in May
(besides Dr. Edwin Flores), I will post it on DallasArena.com.
We must have someone sensible who will represent all the ethnic groups of his
district run against Dr. Edwin Flores. If Jack Lowe is up for re-election,
he needs an opponent, and he needs to go back to his day job. Dr. Lois
Parrott needs to retire from the School Board. Without Hollis Brashear and
Joe May, she is like a flat boat on a lake with no rudder, no sail and no
engine. She cannot make a decision on her own.
We need to throw them all out and start over.
Candidates, your city needs you now to step up and step out and challenge this
sorry School Board. You may think you are not qualified, but you may be
over-qualified if you have any sense of ethics or fiduciary responsibility or
concern for all Dallas children -- not just one ethnic group.
sb
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