Well I guess that's what board president, the honorable, lol, Ed Kirkland meant when he said "If you can't trust your superintendent you have a problem" as quoted in the Dallas Morning News.
Wow, so much crap, so little time. First thing, Ed! we know that we have a problem. His name is Larry Lewis and one of his accomplices is you. Tell us what you really mean Ed. Do you mean trust me?
Trust me is what your best friend the salesman tells you as he writes up that pretty SUV with the 20" wheels at list plus.
Trust me is what the ceo says to the board as he loots the treasury and tanks the share price on his way to a golden parachute.
Trust me is what the con man says as he convinces the senior citizen to sign that power of attorney that gives him control of her property.
Trust me is not what a trustee accepts from employees of his district. The trustee recalls the testimony of Glori Orapello, secretary of DISD, who testified that the reason she racked up $450,000 in charges on a district credit card was that no one was watching her. That came of course while she was trying to convince a federal judge to give her probation. It didn't work. He gave her one year.
The trustee is not as alleged dumber than a rock and realizes that rules and oversight are meant to keep honest people honest. Thieves are going to steal anyway. If you don't do your job Mr. President some of those honest people will too.
We did not elect you to trust anyone. Remember the words of Ronald Reagan "Trust but verify".
Monday, August 27, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Save our Schools
I am convinced that the root of our problems in public school operations is a legislative one.
The legislature has designed a system, characterized by Peyton Wolcott as socalist, that designates certain powers to a superintendent or Czar.
To balance this power is an elected board consisting of basically part time, non paid volunteers. This is not a fair fight. It is the equivalent of a knife fight in a phone booth and only the superintendent gets to have a knife. The Czar has the benefit of tens of millions of, or in the case of Dallas and Houston, billions of our dollars to buy consultants and outmaneuver us patriots.We the people are the ones who struggle unpaid for the interests of our children.
I am convinced that the only fix to this mess is in the legislature. While tactically fighting in the trenches in LISD is the order of the day, strategically repairing the system is a struggle for the legislature. With Governor Perry at the helm the time may be right for major reform.
Part of our approach might be contacting legislators, inviting them to meetings and shedding light on what goes on down here in the trenches. It is my belief that the position of superintendent whose primacy challenges the ultimate authority of the board is obselete.
I propose a tri parte administration. Itill consist of three superintendents, one for Instruction, one for finance and one for legal and law enforcement. These three will be required to be promoted from within and have a minimum of 5 years service at positions involving their specialty within the district. There will be no outside hires at superintendent level.
These superintendents will serve at the pleasure of the board and the board shall be subject to recall by the voters. In addition any violation of the education code, the government code, board code of conduct or board rules will be considered a class a misdemeanor. However the state will indemnify an act endorsed by the superintendent for legal affairs.
Do this and I'll be doggone if you don't get control of your schools back.
The legislature has designed a system, characterized by Peyton Wolcott as socalist, that designates certain powers to a superintendent or Czar.
To balance this power is an elected board consisting of basically part time, non paid volunteers. This is not a fair fight. It is the equivalent of a knife fight in a phone booth and only the superintendent gets to have a knife. The Czar has the benefit of tens of millions of, or in the case of Dallas and Houston, billions of our dollars to buy consultants and outmaneuver us patriots.We the people are the ones who struggle unpaid for the interests of our children.
I am convinced that the only fix to this mess is in the legislature. While tactically fighting in the trenches in LISD is the order of the day, strategically repairing the system is a struggle for the legislature. With Governor Perry at the helm the time may be right for major reform.
Part of our approach might be contacting legislators, inviting them to meetings and shedding light on what goes on down here in the trenches. It is my belief that the position of superintendent whose primacy challenges the ultimate authority of the board is obselete.
I propose a tri parte administration. Itill consist of three superintendents, one for Instruction, one for finance and one for legal and law enforcement. These three will be required to be promoted from within and have a minimum of 5 years service at positions involving their specialty within the district. There will be no outside hires at superintendent level.
These superintendents will serve at the pleasure of the board and the board shall be subject to recall by the voters. In addition any violation of the education code, the government code, board code of conduct or board rules will be considered a class a misdemeanor. However the state will indemnify an act endorsed by the superintendent for legal affairs.
Do this and I'll be doggone if you don't get control of your schools back.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Reasons to fire Larry
This from the archives:
On Tuesday, September 30, 2003, some time after 7:00 p.m., at the Janie Krebs Smith Memorial Auditorium, located between Lancaster Park Drive and Westridge, in Lancaster, Texas, on the old Elsie Robertson High School Campus, a town hall meeting was held. Former City Manager Jim Landon and Superintendent Larry Lewis spoke. They spoke concerning Lancaster’s future growth and the needs of the schools in preparation for that growth. At that meeting, Superintendent Larry Lewis said, “Give me $75 million in February, and I will give you the best school district in the nation in five years.” I immediately recorded that statement in writing. My wife was present with me and also heard the statement. She confirms the accuracy of my memory. I have recorded that statement in letters and memos I have written since then. I vividly recall the statement.
He went on to say, concerning the children, “We’re going to feed them, clothe them, house them, brush their teeth, and comb their hair.”
Hat tip to Dave Allen for documenting this bit to the hilt.
Now then, here we are preparing for the 2007 -2008 school year. Let's assess the situation.
Apparently the pledge to feed them etc. only applies to Monday thru Thursday.
Texas schools are evaluated as follows:
Exemplary
Recognized
Acceptable
Unacceptable
Other
In 2003 our schools were evaluated as follows;
Exemplary 0
Recognized 2
Acceptable 5
Unacceptable 0
Other 1
Now let's take a look at 2007. The latest school rankings are as follows:
Exemplary 0
Recognized 0
Acceptable 7
Unacceptable 2
Other 0
You can see that we no longer have any recognized schools. To add insult to injury Larry bulldozed one of our recognized schools and replaced it with an acceptable school at scarcely an increase in student population. We began with no unacceptable campuses and now have two. In addition, we still have no exemplary campuses.
Even Cretin, visiting our small planet would have to conclude that this administration and this superintendent is a massive failure. We have fallen from to having 2 recognized and no unacceptable to 2 unacceptable and no recognized. So then the inevitable conclusion is that Dr. Lewis, bless his heart, has failed miserably and failed to deliver on his pledge. Therefore he should find a compelling need to spend more time with his family.
Therefore Dr. Lewis, giving props to props not due, should live up to his pledge. Dr. your family needs you. Go spend more time with them.
Hat tip to Jeff Melcher for his heroic effort in compiling this information to a spreadsheet available documents on LPP@yahoogroups.com.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you , then they fight you, then you win.
Mahatami Gandhi
On Tuesday, September 30, 2003, some time after 7:00 p.m., at the Janie Krebs Smith Memorial Auditorium, located between Lancaster Park Drive and Westridge, in Lancaster, Texas, on the old Elsie Robertson High School Campus, a town hall meeting was held. Former City Manager Jim Landon and Superintendent Larry Lewis spoke. They spoke concerning Lancaster’s future growth and the needs of the schools in preparation for that growth. At that meeting, Superintendent Larry Lewis said, “Give me $75 million in February, and I will give you the best school district in the nation in five years.” I immediately recorded that statement in writing. My wife was present with me and also heard the statement. She confirms the accuracy of my memory. I have recorded that statement in letters and memos I have written since then. I vividly recall the statement.
He went on to say, concerning the children, “We’re going to feed them, clothe them, house them, brush their teeth, and comb their hair.”
Hat tip to Dave Allen for documenting this bit to the hilt.
Now then, here we are preparing for the 2007 -2008 school year. Let's assess the situation.
Apparently the pledge to feed them etc. only applies to Monday thru Thursday.
Texas schools are evaluated as follows:
Exemplary
Recognized
Acceptable
Unacceptable
Other
In 2003 our schools were evaluated as follows;
Exemplary 0
Recognized 2
Acceptable 5
Unacceptable 0
Other 1
Now let's take a look at 2007. The latest school rankings are as follows:
Exemplary 0
Recognized 0
Acceptable 7
Unacceptable 2
Other 0
You can see that we no longer have any recognized schools. To add insult to injury Larry bulldozed one of our recognized schools and replaced it with an acceptable school at scarcely an increase in student population. We began with no unacceptable campuses and now have two. In addition, we still have no exemplary campuses.
Even Cretin, visiting our small planet would have to conclude that this administration and this superintendent is a massive failure. We have fallen from to having 2 recognized and no unacceptable to 2 unacceptable and no recognized. So then the inevitable conclusion is that Dr. Lewis, bless his heart, has failed miserably and failed to deliver on his pledge. Therefore he should find a compelling need to spend more time with his family.
Therefore Dr. Lewis, giving props to props not due, should live up to his pledge. Dr. your family needs you. Go spend more time with them.
Hat tip to Jeff Melcher for his heroic effort in compiling this information to a spreadsheet available documents on LPP@yahoogroups.com.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you , then they fight you, then you win.
Mahatami Gandhi
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