DMN Story Misses Mark on Dallas ISD Cuts
Eric, turning 40 hasn’t dulled your perspicacity any. (And, yes, that word just came to me. Gonna be a good day for Rogers.) When I read that Dallas ISD story, my head exploded (again). Let’s see if I understand the thrust of it. The district cut 163 jobs. And some people — notably those who were let go — are upset. Oh, and trustee Lew Blackburn thinks that job cuts should be made based on skin color. Rather than looking at which employees contribute the most or how a restructuring can make an organization more efficient, the bosses should figure out the percentage of black employees working for the district, the percentage of Hispanics, whites — and then make cuts along those same percentages. That’s some solid thinking.
The Morning News and its Belo cousin continue to undermine the most important institution in Dallas. It’s not a perfect institution by any means. Media watchdogs will continue to play an important role in its reform. But this sort of bogus “gotcha” reporting gets us nowhere.
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8 Comments to “DMN Story Misses Mark on Dallas ISD Cuts”
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I worked closely with Tawnell Hobbs in the Arlington newsroom of the Star-Telegram. She is an awesome reporter. It looks like someone told her to write a story where there wasn’t much of a story. Editors can suck.
Smoke and Mirrors
Smoke and Mirrors
the “razzle dazzle” from chicago
Where is the outrage over $100,000 being stolen from Bishop Lynch? I mean that’s not supposed to happen at a private school. The Dallas Morning News should really dog-pile on them to get some more juicy stories!
I agree that this “story” was a bit of a head-scratcher. DISD said they were going to make some cuts and hoped to realize $10 million in savings… well, they got to $9.2 million. Throw in some other related costs (adding employees always results in all sorts of other seemingly unrelated cost increases besides payroll, etc.), and I’m willing to bet they exceed their $10 million goal.
It looks like a relatively rare win, by DISD standards.
Oh yeah, I agree that the comments by DISD trustees, etc. apparently should be staffed according to some sort of racial guidelines were pretty alarming.
It appears that the DMN will not be happy until they have chased yet another superintendent out of town. The parents of Dallas are clearly only going to get the kind of school system that the DMN deems desirable, “damn the consequences and full speed ahead on the computer assisted reporting.”
Right. The idea that layoffs at any company should hit a certain target of “highly paid” execs (whatever that definition is) is absurd. In 2004, when the DMN laid off 150, how many of those folks do you think made more than $100K?
Actually, one could make an argument that the not so long ago race-first nepotism @ DISD Ross Ave. did the school district (shall we say) no favors. As for the layoffs, I think they were, yes, ill-timed when the pink slips flew, too late to appoly for other districts, etc. Was this prudent? Maybe, possibly. Was it further reason to pile on the ‘Down With DISD’ ongoing gang rape? I say no.
I know entirely too many positive and courageous and (duh) widely unreported aspects of the DISD to continue reading the latest DMN ‘Big Bang’ gotcha ‘expose’ du jour.
I have volunteered and spoken to drop outs being given a second chance at 19 over at Sunset High in Oak Cliff. Watched a young man I sponsored from Colombia teaching 4th Graders to speak English quickly and well. I went to the Latino Cultural Center east of Downtown, hearing the Dallas Latin Youth Orchestra under the tutelage of DISD Booker T. Washington Performing Arts School hero, Otis Gray. Anyone dissing the DISD or maligning our multicultural society missed a halcyon event.
I’m a product of the DISD. They deserve our support and yes, scrutiny. But the truth is, no few agressive opportunists are trying to get their Pulitzer while a lot of very dedicated hard-working persons are doing more for Dallas youth than the rest of us combined. And the current Superintendent Hinojosa is no phony or dilettante. He cares, and he should be encouraged and his earnest accountable expectations applauded.