David Tuthill
                             

05/16/06   DISD School Board now has a chance to do some good things!

Everyone has a hero, and one of mine is Allen Gwinn.  He's one of those people who do good stuff when no one is looking, not just when he's in the limelight.  He can drive you crazy with his incredible energy, but everything he does is purposeful and frequently successful.

Like me, Allen was once a supporter of Lois Parrott, long after I gave up on her.  He kept thinking that his positive reinforcement would have some effect on her.  If Allen has a flaw, it's his desire to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, way beyond what they deserve.

Once he goes South on someone; however, he starts looking for solutions, as in a replacement.  With all the scandals and news about Ron Price's outrageous spending habits and questionable donations from DISD vendors, Lois Parrott would not comment, much less criticize the convicted wife beater.  Pretty hard to take from the conspiracy queen who sued the DISD to block the Edison Project.

I was with Parrott in opposing the Edison deal, as well as her opposition to then Superintendent Lounge Lizard Rojas.  It got to be more difficult to take her seriously when she continuously suspected one conspiracy after another against her personally.  No one on the Board at the time took her seriously enough to consider her a threat, much less conspire against her. 

To describe Parrot as paranoid would be a major understatement.

While he continued to hope for better from Lois Parrott, Allen Gwinn realized early on that Ron Price was a fraud and a self-promoter who was using his Trustee position for his own benefit.  Allen became a one-man army intent on making the public aware of what a scumbag Ron Price is and how unfit he is to hold public office.  Apparently, the people in Price's district (at least those who voted early) don't mind corruption in their public officials. 

Unfortunately for the rest of us DISD taxpayers, Ron Price gets to participate in decisions that waste our tax dollars and undermines the efforts of dedicated teachers and principals.

Still, Bernadette Wright Nutall came within 75 votes of beating convicted wife beater Ron Price.  Winning by slim majorities seems to go with the election of scoundrels like the late Joe May who only beat Mike Martinez by 25 votes.  Non-Spanish-speaking Adam Medrano didn't even have to stand for office and wait for voters to reject him.  He just filed, and no one else stepped up.

It's ironic that Adam Medrano is replacing the late Joe May in DISD District 8 because Joe May sent out an illegal mailer against me when I ran for city council in 2001 saying "Our community must be represented by someone who speaks Spanish...".   Now, we have two convicts on the School Board, one for wife beating and one for illegal activities in a Dillard's men's bathroom.

Mrs. Nutall did beat Price on election day.  When Price resigns in a few months to legally run for city council, rather than his current illegal council campaign, Mrs. Nutall will be a shoe-in to replace Price.

Price for council? News to me, he says Dallas: DISD hopeful Nutall denies ordering campaign signs for foe Tuesday, May 9, 2006 by TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News

Signs announcing that Dallas school trustee Ron Price plans a run for Dallas City Council are causing a stir just days before Saturday's school board election.    Mr. Price couldn't be reached Monday, but he said on a KHVN radio show that he didn't have the signs made and that maybe his opponent's campaign had put in the order. ...  Mr. Price has denied rumors in the past that he plans to run for City Council in 2007, and has said it would be "God's will" if he does run.    Derrick Nutall, Ms. Nutall's husband, said he came across the signs announcing "Elect Ron Price for Dallas City Council Place 7" during the weekend when he was picking up signs for his wife at a local sign maker's storage shop.    Clair Woertendyke, manager at Edwards & Patterson Signs, where the signs were made, called the printing of the City Council signs a mistake. Late Monday afternoon, he said the order was placed by Teddy Hawkins, a man who often helps with campaigns. Mr. Woertendyke said he had read that Mr. Price might seek the City Council post and that when Mr. Hawkins asked that signs be printed for Mr. Price, he assumed they were for that position. ...

Don't think that Ron Price has a lock on replacing Shakedown Leo Chaney on the city council.  Even Shakedown is not backing Price.  Later today on www.Dallas.org, Michael Davis will report in more detail about Brain-Dead Thornton-Reese's Park Board appointee (assumed choice of T-Reese to succeed her) not letting Ron Price do all the illegal campaigning.  She's spending money on advertisements describing herself as "city council candidate".   The problem is, she has not yet resigned from the Park Board. 

The City Charter and the Texas Election Code prohibit a candidate from spending more than $500 or accepting donations until they have designated a treasurer.  No board member may remain on a city board when they have taken "affirmative action" to declare themselves as a candidate for city council.  Running an advertisement in a bulletin describing herself as "city council candidate" is an affirmative action.

As usual, the City Secretary's Office is doing nothing to control the illegal electioneering.  Dallas City Hall operates on the theory that locks are to keep honest people out; and election laws and regulations are only to be followed by honest candidates.   If it doesn't bother a candidate to break the law and they can live with occasional unpleasant exposure, the City Secretary's Office can as well.

Allen Gwinn wanted to get both Lois Parrott and Ron Price off the School Board, but he has emasculated Ron Price in multiple ways.  Before the election, street talk was Parrott would be supporting Price for School Board President.  Same street talk says Adam Medrano is already under Price's thumb.  With Parrott gone, it's very unlikely that Price will hold an executive position on the Board.  Besides, he will be gone soon. 

Allen may not have scored 2 for 2 in Saturday's school board elections, but he got 1.5 out of 2.

It's good for all of us, no matter which school district we are in.  The bad decisions of DISD District 9 voters impacts all DISD taxpayers, not to mention DISD teachers and students.  They could have sent a honorable woman with a true commitment to educating children to the school board, but they picked a convicted wife beater instead.

Victory for Dallas Students: Board must address district's changing needs Editorial Page 01:55 PM CDT on Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Two notable achievements by Dallas school district voters in Saturday's elections.    They showed an eagerness to ditch hesitant approaches to towering problems by jettisoning school board President Lois Parrott. ... Perhaps it was because of her nine years on the board that Dr. Parrott got somewhat out of sync with the slate of overdue reforms now championed by a superintendent who just completed his first year in Dallas.    Her replacement, Hinojosa ally Leigh Ann Ellis, bulks up a board majority eager to advance the new agenda. A scandalously high dropout rate, a heap of failing schools and endless tales of wasted taxpayer dollars are argument enough to break decisively with the past. ... But you can't get everything you want. Voters re-elected three-term incumbent Ron Price, who often represents yesterday's politicized approach to school governance. Perhaps Mr. Price got the message, too, given that his victory was extraordinarily slim for a trustee of his tenure....

It was private Allen Gwinn and his websites, www.Dallas.org and www.DallasISD.com that exposed most of the shenanigans of Lois Parrott and Ron Price.  DMN's reporter, Tawnell Hobbs, hardly ever has a critical thing to say about either Parrott or Price.

No one at The Dallas Managed News will ever give Allen Gwinn the credit he is due, nor will Allen ever toot his own horn.  So, it's up to DallasArena.com and you readers to pat him on the back with an e-mail of thanks.  Please take a minute and log on www.Dallas.org to tell Allen how much we appreciate him and how grateful we are that he is so devoted to bettering Dallas public schools.

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