A good thing

April 22, 2014

Things can get better.

The city’s new agenda software now ties the agenda item to the portion of the video of the city council meeting.  EPISD has been doing this for some time now.

This is a great convenience to members of the public who want to see the discussion relating to the item.

Something got better

Brutus

 

1 Comment | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD cuts

April 16, 2014

The El Paso Independent School District superintendent wrote a guest column for the El Paso Times that was published last Sunday.

Enrollment is declining at the district and thus state and federal funding is being reduced.

He mentioned teacher cuts and other changes that are being considered.  He asked for community input and pledged to “continue to learn and listen”.

Suggestions

There are a myriad of reasons why many things at the district seem to be inefficient from a cost perspective.  Rather than talk about the bloat that is caused by mandates (or the way the district chooses to interpret them), let me offer some suggestions that are within our control.

  • Don’t spend the $57 million from the 2007 bond issue just because you have the money.  The voters approved that money for a new high school.  As it turns out we don’t need one.  Save the money and the interest.
  • Don’t build a new central administration facility.  EPISD staff estimates currently indicate that this will be a $40 million project.  Work with the city to stay where you are.  Let the voters know if city council forces this spending on us.
  • Quit spending money to have unique designs for each school.
  • Maintain your buildings so that they last.  Quit neglecting maintenance until it costs less to replace a school than fix it.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

7 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

A dollar here, a dollar there

April 6, 2014

I recently saw an old email from a former city representative who has now been elected to the EPISD school board but has not been seated.  I would mention where I saw it if I could remember.

She was writing about the valuation issue with our local refinery and wrote:

“Western’s value went from $280,224,075 to over a billion dollars in one year. That is about a 200% increase.”

She wants to manage our children’s education?

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

High school administration then and now

April 5, 2014

Looking at the 1968-1969 personnel directory for the El Paso Independent School District we can piece together how the staffing levels have changed from then to today.  There is a lot of talk about how the central office has grown bloated.

Let’s instead examine the situation in the high schools first. Alphabetically Andress is the first high school in the district, so let’s look at it.

In 1968-1969 there were a principal, an assistant principal, a coordinator of instruction and guidance, a student activities manager, and four counselors–a total of eight.  Other than office staff and custodians the rest of the employees were classroom teachers and coaches.

Today the district’s web site tells us that they have a principal, four assistant principals (one for guidance and instruction), an at risk coordinator, four counselors, two education diagnosticians, a high school literacy coach, a high school campus athletic coordinator, a military family liaison, a CDL lab monitor, a parent involvement assistant, a student activity manager, and a transition to career specialist–a total of nineteen.

Yes societal changes and mandates may have required these positions to be created.  I am not trying to blame the administrators.  My goal is to point out the changes.

Are our children better educated today?

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Testing, testing

April 3, 2014

Mr. Holt over at holtthink.tumblr.com sent this link of a video that does a fine job of pointing out some of the issues with standardized tests the way we are implementing them.  Our school districts unfortunately have little choice in the matter at this point.

I hope that you take three minutes to watch it.

Youngsters across the city have been taking the state mandated tests this week.  As the song in the video points out it has gotten to the point that teachers have to teach to the test and only the test.  Knowledge outside of what is tested is now deemed unimportant the way we are handling the test results.

He points out that there are organizations that are trying to change the situation.  This group is particularly vocal about the issue http://www.fairtest.org/get-involved/opting-out.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

1 Comment | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »