Comments on: Live Blog From DISD Board Meeting

By: mymnafersar

mymnafersar — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:08:16 +0000

Nothing seems to be easier than seeing someone whom you can help but not helping.
I suggest we start giving it a try. Give love to the ones that need it.
God will appreciate it.

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lupe mp3 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:40:49 +0000

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By: ross flunker

ross flunker — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:38:32 +0000

To all you anti sports people out there and to the long term teacher, you guys outta be ashamed of yourselves!
I can’t believe you would insult the teaching ability of coaches in Dallas ISD, pull up the cei index and the TAKS passing rates and you will find them at the top of the list. Mrs long term memory failure, when something bad happened at your school, who took care of the problem for you? I bet your ole crusty a_ _ it was a coach. These are the men and women that are the most dedicated people addressing the needs of your children and providing the safety net at your school.
If you think DISD is spending huge sums of money on athletics you have to be smoking crack! Less than 1/2 of 1% is allocated toward athletics, who do you think already pays entry fees and travel expenes.
Who do you think spends thousands of hours turning boys into young men. These people get paid maybe a dollar and hour for the time they spend.If that is too much for you to spend on something positive then move to New York, Chicago, Boston, and any other inner city school in America, where they have done just what you are suggesting!
The root of the problem is not extracurriculars, it is 121 million in consulting fees, too many administrators, and the 50+ million they waste on staff development and pet projrects.
I hope all of you communists that hate sports have a nice day! You better hire extra police to protect your children and homes when you kill sports in Dallas!

By: Tobie

Tobie — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:03:50 +0000

take out the coaches, you take away the discipline.

ask any teacher/administrator who gets called first when a fight breaks out, it’s not the math teacher (who isn’t a coach), its the coaching staff.

as for cell phones, unless they’re an administrator, the personal cell phones come out of the teacher’s pockets. The teacher just gets a DISD negotiated discount w/AT&T.

everything I’ve read over the past few days points to non-core teachers (media, counselors etc.) getting the cut, not core teachers (many of which are coaches)

as for cutting athletics altogether…i agree with what many have said in their responses: cut athletics, cut the proverbial ‘carrot’ for many kids to stay in school. Additionally, taking away sports, takes away the after-school refuge for a lot of students and puts them in the streets.

By: Bethany

Bethany — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:38:14 +0000

The BS sports – would those be the girl ones?

Some of the things most people consider BS, if cut, would cost more. It’s called Title IX.

By: Amy S

Amy S — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:50:34 +0000

The absolutely best three teachers I ever had (math, math and science) were all also coaches (and I played no sports). They emphasized drilling to learn, teamwork to succeed and empowering to win.

By: yikesdallas

yikesdallas — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:02:58 +0000

It’s depressing that we have a board trying to run things when the majority of them either aren’t the brightest of the bunch (Medrano), or are only in it to pad their own pockets (Ron Price – I’m talkin’ to you…or should I write that in Spanish, since you claim that’s your first language)

Then we have a superintendent who – no matter that his intentions may be the best – is apparently clueless when it comes to making personnel decisions (Viramontes x 2?).

THEN we have all the consultants and trainers and specialists who get paid to basically drain teachers of all their time without making any contribution whatsoever.

PLUS there’s all the employees who get paid to not work. Why is the DISD contractually obligated to pay those people when they apparently are NOT obligated to live up to the contracts they have signed with teachers?

And long-time teacher is right: there are so many “coaches” who are actually a negative in the classroom (what few classes they teach) yet are getting paid extra. Does a school really need 8-10 football coaches?

It’s disturbing that no one has the guts to make the tough decisions to save teachers and cut all the administrators and consultants and hangers-on that are making no contribution to the educational process.

But heaven forbid we cut Ron Price’s travel expenditures!!!

By: the long-time teacher

the long-time teacher — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:40:44 +0000

I wonder how many of you have an idea about how low teacher morale is at the moment . . . and not just because of the financial fiasco. The amount of time and money spent on meetings teachers must attend in order to learn about all the additional paper work they must do is almost overwhelming. And it takes away from the real teaching prep and the actual teaching. There are a number of “instructional specialists” who come onto campuses, interrupting classes to tell teachers about new paper work required. They need to go.
And 5%? Hinojosa could’ve gotten a whole lot of teacher support if he had made a meaningful cut to his own salary. He chose not to. Athletics? Ask some real classroom high school teachers about the number of coaches just sitting around in the athletic director’s “office” during 3 or 4 periods a day, but still getting lots of extra pay. Find out the ratio of coaches to certified teachers in each school. And then check those numbers from someone besides the p.r. DISD spokesperson.
Who are the people left out of making any decisions regarding the immediate business of educating your children? The teachers, of course.
I survived 37 years of teaching by asking myself, “What is most important to teaching the kids in my classroom?” and then disregarding the rest. Good principals respect that.

By: Amy S

Amy S — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:22:24 +0000

@Dave, you are under the misinformation that many of the PTA’s have any money to speak of. At Hillcrest, the absolute best year ever fundraiser raised a total of $80,000, and $40,000 of that came from the auction of a Richard Petty autographed helmet – a once in a lifetime donation for our school. And it’s not from a lack of trying – we are constantly looking for ways to fund group activities – the money goes so fast. I’ve been to private school fundraisers that have raised funds in the millions in one evening.

Here’s what I’d suggest, let’s set the cost to educate a child equal to the average state private school tuition. Then, what property taxes don’t raise, the state kicks in. I mean doesn’t the “open market” set the true price of products? Before we start discussing school vouchers and splitting up the district (like 4 or 5 seperate administrative offices are going to run MORE efficiently?) why don’t we have an honest discussion on what it really costs to educate a child.

And yes, this should include a base amount for extracurricular, like sports, art, music. All of these venues can lead to good careers, why do we limit it only to career paths that involve books?

And what have you done lately to help your public school? As long as your input is being offered as to a solution I think the question is a fair one.

By: Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:13:39 +0000

I have a slight compromise on sports to offer: they can keep playing as long as the district doesn’t have to pay a dime. In other words the kids and coaches are going to have to pay their own way to the games. Someone’s going to have to find a free place to play..etc. Would the PTA be willing to pitch in to help out on something like that? Maybe. I hope so.

Look, I agree that the athletic programs are important at these schools. But the educational programs are more important. It’s a little hard to explain to a bunch of teachers at a school why you had to cut their jobs so that the kids could keep playing a game.