Our children are the winners!
Not the losers as stated in this sad editorial.
Attached to this URL please find the sad editorial the Dallas Morning News published immediately after the DISD Board Election of Saturday May 7, 2016. It was a powerful election that put in place strong leaders wanting to support students, parents, and teachers. But this editorial saw things terribly differently. Again, please read it at: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20160507-editorial-reformers-take-hit-in-disd-trustee-votes-but-kids-stand-to-be-the-real-losers.ece . Notice how consistent the comments being made to it are.
As of this morning, 5-9-16, there have been 46 relatively consistent comments as to how off-base the Dallas Morning News and those supporting the people endorsed by the News have been. These comments are posted below as the News has a practice of erasing such comments after some months.
A permanent record of these comments needs to be made, something the Morning News does not appear to want to go down in history due to their comment erasure practices. This is one time the direction Dallas has decided to move should be recorded and celebrated by more than just the 5-7-16 vote.
Below are public comments as of 8:38 am on 5-9-16.
The "LikeReply" vote is under the comment being liked:
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miss_adieuX3 hours ago
The comments here say it all. I had given up
reading local press touting the failed reformy/deform trash, but am glad I
checked back in for this "tears of the clowns" editorial!
The voters have sent a message that the local
oligarchs' agenda is unacceptable for the children of this city.
Hopefully, the exclamation point will be Mita
Havlick winning the runoff, sending Dustin back to his privileged little realm
of private school, the chamber of commerce, and the business founded by his
grandmother.
I'm guessing his "steering purposeful
initiatives" looks different for his alma mater, Greenhill (where he sends
his kids,) than it does for public schools and charters/Uplift.
Those of us steering vehicles around town will
apparently not be spared the surfeit of his giant campaign signs, at least not
for another month.
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1 LikeReply
PattyEvans8 hours ago
Is it just me or did the patsy that wrote this
garbage not have the balls to put their name on it?
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drsteve110111 hours
ago
But, but, but ... Dustin Marshall has the most
signs in the neighborhood.
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miss_adieuX3 hours ago
LOL! And many of them are yuuuge.
I'm horrified at the thought of an increase
for the run-off... though perhaps they could be recycled afterwards to patch
holes in leaky DISD school buildings - or repurposed into office furniture for
the DISD offices at 9400 North Central.
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MindingtheStore12
hours ago
The DMN is having a childish fit because the
public didn't fall for its usual trick. Confound them
even more by voting for Mita Havlick in the
run-off.
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Carolannies Kensa from Facebook12 hours ago
We never trump anything lately
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ParisDomane6214 hours
ago
This sounds like a Mike Miles Era editorial.
Right: The Reformers want positive change and those opposed to the
kind of changes they have in mind are part of the Status Quo crowd. How
polemical of you! You follow the national news, I assume. Can't
you see that Elites like the editorial Board of the DMN are being rejected by
people precisely because the policies that serve the Elites do not serve the
average person. These results represent the ongoing attempts to de-professional
teaching. ND BY THE WAY, The Woodrow Wilson feeder pattern is an example
the entire city should pursue.
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MindingtheStore11
hours ago
@ParisDomane62. The elites aren't happy with
just controlling City Hall; they wish to control it all.
Reject their tactics and their endless spewing
of the words "reformer" and "status quo." The reformers
have brought us nothing but falling test scores, huge teacher turnover, and
micromanagement of teachers. It hasn't worked; neither has it worked to elect
BOT members who have no kids in DISD and have a political agenda that doesn't
work in the best interests of DISD children.
Elect Mita Havlick, a parent with real skin in
the game---not some pretended "reform" mantra and
PAC backing by the power brokers.
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Carolyn_Rios15 hours
ago
You are so wrong it is ridiculous! The
students of DISD have been losing ever since Miles came to town. If you wanted
to write about what is really going on, you would write about how teachers are
micromanaged to the point of not being able to teach, how there are way to many
tests being given, and how the TEI evaluation system is absolutely ineffective
and unreliable in telling a good teacher from a bad one. Many teachers have
been lost over these things. That affects children. Maybe now this district can
get on the right track.
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disdstakeholder15
hours ago
DMN, what is Dustin Marshall's "long
track" record in public education? In spite of Grigsby's accusation
that we "haven't done our homework" or are "ignorant" if we
aren't supporting Marshall, I have listened, read and researched Marshall's
"long track record", and I see that he shows a commitment and advocacy
for charter and private schools- also his support is primarily from the Dallas
political machine, and I am skeptical of his motives. Please prove me
wrong with some facts. I want the most qualified candidate to fill the
trustee seat. What has he done? What are these "transformative
initiatives" that you write about?
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RaymondCrawford16
hours ago
First you humiliate the dog attack victim, and
now you cry over Faz not winning. So much wrong here
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Nrodriguez16 hours ago
"Joyce Foreman more known for disruption
than unification"...that's an out and out lie and slanderous. She has been
nothing but pro-student and pro-teacher during her tenure. Just because she's
ask hard questions does not make her disruptive.
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BillBetzen14 hours ago
@Nrodriguez When Trustee Foreman's
demanding transparency leads to some calling her disruptive, what is really
happening? What is being kept secret? Trustee Foreman is a hero for
DISD children!
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elliemayhem19 hours
ago
The fact that the "reformers" took a
hit speaks volumes to how much credibility the DMN has these days.
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mike.macnaughton19
hours ago
Still another clueless, stinking pile of horse
manure from the DMN editorial opinion writers. Sharon Grigsby, is this your
work? Demagogues? Please...get a grip.
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mike.macnaughton18
hours ago
Oh, it's Ms. Grigsby for sure. The writing
style is the same.
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drsteve110120 hours
ago
Maybe I'm dense, because I don't get it. You
bellyache and moan for diversity, then when you get it, you complain that the
diversity of opinions that don't fall into lockstep with your ideas are
inimical to the students. Remember, diversity goes beyond race and ethnicity;
it also includes ideas and opinions. Deal with it.
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BillBetzen14 hours ago
@drsteve1101 Why Is the Dallas Morning
News only comfortable with an all male DISD Board? They certainly are not
supporting the two women remaining on the board over this transition, and they
have only been supporting male replacements in spite of the fact that dedicated
and capable women are running with MUCH more experience and hundreds of more
volunteer hours inside DISD than the men the Morning News endorsed.
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drsteve110114 hours
ago
The gender of the candidates doesn't bother me
near as much as the endorsement of one candidate who graduated from a private
school and sends his own kids to private school, yet wants to be on the public
school board. Seems to me he talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk. Aside
from being a taxpayer (presumably), which is mandatory if you want to keep your
property, he is not a DISD stakes holder. To me, that endorsement makes no
sense at all. Cronyism at its best, I guess.
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BillBetzen13 hours ago
@drsteve1101 I agree with your point, but
having watched the DISD Board for many years, women trustees, with ONLY one
exception, have been the first to become critical of Mike Miles type management
and the internal secrecy that grew within DISD under Miles. Just look at
the past 4 years. Where were the men who raised alarm over this falling student
achievement? Three of the four women on the board raised alarm during
these tragic years in DISD history! Children were neglected as Dallas did
not adequately listen to these three dedicated trustees who were also all
women!
When will this decline in achievement stop?
(Hopefully it has already, but that data is not yet in.) [Note: when the 2015 data was posted on Snapshot the 2015 estimate used in this chart was found in error. It was an improvement to 10%}
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drsteve110112 hours
ago
Miles was an utter train wreck. BTW, all of
our kids are DISD graduates (pre-Miles), and doing quite well, thank you (knock
wood). I think at least one had you for a teacher, Bill.
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BillBetzen10 hours ago
@drsteve1101 It may also have been my son
Mike who taught Physics at Booker T. Washington until he had served 18 great
years, but he transfered out of DISD during the third year of Miles. They
all recommended him for DTR and the raises involved, but he wanted no more of
it. He joined the 6,000+ teachers who left under Miles. A dozen
teachers left Booker T. that year. BTW almost never has such turnover.
That is the so-called "reform" that the Morning News was
defending with the very poorly written editorial they posted 24 hours ago.
It is long past due that Dallas focus on DISD
data and discuss it in open public meetings. What is really happening and
why are there no such meetings to focus on the data that is supposed to be
driving change in DISD?
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drsteve110110 hours
ago
Might have been Mike. Had one at Booker T, one
at SEM, one at Hillcrest. As for the data, when I was in E&A, our reports
(including data) were published on the DISD website. That was pre-Miles. Don't
know about now.
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Tami Walker from Facebook 21 hours ago
Your judgement against Mita is ridiculous and
uneducated. Makes me want to fight harder for her until the runoff!
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4 LikeReply
JustaGuy 21 hours ago
I smell sour grapes. The people have
spoken. Too bad that your liberal agenda has failed to reach the people
again,
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3 LikeReply
BillBetzen 20 hours ago
The DMN agenda is not "liberal" by
any stretch of that term. The issues are not liberat/conservative but are
centered on timely transparency of all deidentified performance data. That data
documents the progress 2007 to 2011 reflected in data through 2013. It also
shows the decline since 2012 reflected in the data since 2013.
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5 LikeReply
drsteve110119 hours
ago
Having worked in the DISD Evaluation and
Accountability (data collection and analysis) department, I can attest that
this statement is 100% accurate.
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1 LikeReply
Tod Grimes from Facebook 21 hours ago
We really need transgendered locker rooms.
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ksksjt 22 hours ago
Are you kidding me with your comments about
Mita Havlick?!? This is just more proof that you have not taken the time to
listen to Mita and learn why she entered this race and what she plans to do
when she becomes the District 2 Trustee. To say that Mita just wants to protect
the Woodrow Wilson feeder pattern is not only ridiculous but offensive to her
and everyone that has worked so hard for her during this election. It's one
thing for the DMN to endorse and support a candidate but for you to report
false statements about other candidates is completely unacceptable!! Mita is in
race for all the right reasons and wants every child to get the amazing
education they deserve no matter what district they live in. Shame on you
DMN!!!
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9 UnlikeReply
JamesDeLeon22 hours
ago
Making the assumption that so-called school
reformers work for the welfare of children is dead wrong. All too often
so-called reformers work for their buddies who run so called non-profits who
pay them six figure salaries for their efforts. All too often so-called school
reformers give the Education Testing Services and Pearson a steady stream of
cash.
Building trust and collaboration, maintaining
neighborhood schools, and ending the hideous reliance on pencil-and-bubble
exams is what real reform is all about. The DallasNews.com editorial
board seems to be quite lost and dangerously promotes reforms which don't work.
Just look at the big mess HISD is in after
seven years of your so-called education reform.
www.houstonisdwatch.com
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5 LikeReply
Robert Langham from Facebook23 hours ago
Can the kids read, write and cipher? No.
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1 LikeReply
Jonny23 hours ago
Hopefully this new group of board members
fizzles out the pay for performance scheme that the old guard was trying to
push through.
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4 LikeReply
BillBetzen23 hours ago
@Jonny It was before my retirement that
one of the first pay for performance plans was used and I consider it to have
been a great success! If a teachers students in any given year did
significantly better on the final area-wide testing then that teacher received
a bonus that year. One year, possibly 2009, I remember receiving an extra
$3,000. This was in addition to the regular salary. It worked and
was certainly encouragement to remain a teacher and work even harder.
One of the many problems with TEI is that
mentoring and immediate feedback appear to have disappeared as the district
went to 35% test scores and 15% student feedback combined with a 10-observation
score system for the remaining 50%.
I have made futile open records requests
attempting to determine the correlation between high scores on the 10
observations with the high scores on the 35% that is due to student
achievement. Nobody within DISD talks about this obvious area needing
study. If this system is working there should be a high correlation
between the 50% score and the 35% score. Absent that, the TEI is a fraud
played against the people of Dallas to destroy DISD with record teacher
turnover so charter schools have less competition.
What is that correlation?
Remember that charter schools have monumental
teacher turnover, over twice as high as ISD's in Texas. Some Uplift
schools have had turnover greater than 70% in just one year! How is that
good for education?
I fear money and the making of money is a big
factor in the crisis we face in DISD. See http://schoolarchiveproject.blogspot.com/2016/01/charter-schools-as-investments-2016.html
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PriscillaClark1 day
ago
Correct me if I'm wrong. The DMN supports the
Reformers over the Demagogues. The Reformers have brought us lower test scores
year after year. If the DMN really believes “student outcomes trump
everything else” then how can they support the reformers?
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5 LikeReply
FullContact291 day ago
Okay, you're wrong.
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PriscillaClark23 hours
ago
@FullContact29 And I'm wrong how? Name
one "reform" that has benefied student outcomes.
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5 LikeReply
DianeBirdwell1 day ago
What a lousy, immature editorial!
Look, let us make one thing clear: Oak Cliff,
NOT you-- NOT the Oligarchy, got to vote, and they wisely chose someone who is
involved, intelligent, NOT burdened with personally embarrassing issues and NOT
in a conflict of interest status---Got it?
The "status quo" you tout is
double-speak, because YOU actually try to keep the REAL status quo going--- one
where a small group of people meet behind closed doors to choose the path for
kids they never Haden schools their own kids do not attend!
Why are you so afraid to have a teach pair of
eyes and ears on the Board? Why are you so afraid of parents who saw the
bullying of Mike Miles and the cowardice of Eric Cowen in faking to handle it?
Your refusal to see past your puppet masters
is why your newspaper had to keep laying people off. You become less integral
to the city every day.
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9 LikeReply
RiaConn1 day ago
It seems that with the DMN shutting down the
only commenting site available they still didn't get the backward results they
wanted. Vote Havlick and let the children be the winners in this
propaganda driven, regressive reform DMN seems to seek.
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9 LikeReply
Ramon_Mejia1 day ago
This editorial is garbage. But what can one
expect from a so-called publication employed with self-important publishers,
editors, and writers who follow their corporate employers’ political line.
Don't act like you actually are concerned about the education of our youth. If
you did, you'd be writing legitimate op-eds addressing how our student's have
been receiving subpar education.
You're more than welcome to come see how what
you call so-called reforms have helped my 7th and 8th graders. Go to sleep.
Can't wait until this publication closes its doors because its foolish to
expect objective reporting anytime soon.
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5 LikeReply
W._Ryan_Williamson1
day ago
So, DISD children are losers?
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1 LikeReply
DianeBirdwell1 day ago
They were losing big time under Miles, but
maybe we can throw out the vestiges of his disastrous decisions!
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6 LikeReply
BillBetzen1 day ago
This DMN editorial is wrong! Today's trustee
election was a major step forward for Dallas ISD. With only one exception, the
candidates supported with the biggest campaign funds and endorsed by those who
most strongly supported Mike Miles, did not win! There are many reasons for
that.
The public is noticing the damage done to DISD
over the past three years: the record loss of teachers and declines in student
achievement, all surrounded in an atmosphere of secrecy within a district
claiming to be “driven” by this same alleged data that is not reported monthly
for unknown reasons. Nothing is more important than student achievement!
Why is it missing? See http://dallasisd.us/
Now DISD can move toward a more truly
transparent district that is really driven by data that is made public in the
most timely fashions possible. Our students and our city will be the winners.
Secrecy must end! The data should be posted online monthly as part of the
superintendents report.
Does the Dallas Morning News truly support the
formation of a $1.6 billion bond program with no minutes made of the task force
meetings, no record of attendance or of the decision making process, or who
supported which decisions made? Does the Dallas Morning News support this? (See
the record below!) One of the people the Morning News endorsed was a co-chair
of the Future Facilities Task Force which operated in such secrecy!
How is such secrecy in the best interest of
DISD children?
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PattyEvans1 day ago
All the people backed by the DMN are high
rollers with connections so deep to politics it's sick. Don't be pissed that
the people in the district in which they represent voted for doers over the
paid fors. Specifically D7. Do 2 seconds of research and you will find the same
money goes to the candidates supported by the DMN.
