Abbreviated education

November 9, 2013

I recently had a chance to see an El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) report card.

The courses were listed (along with a grade level) as:

  • SS
  • Sci
  • Math
  • Pub Spk 1
  • Eng
  • Span 1 SL P2
  • PE 1A FND PE HE

There was a column that I guess had the grades.  The heading was NWI.

Spelling

There was room to spell out the names of the courses.  Is this how they are teaching our kids to communicate?

Would they allow the kids to write that way for school work?

Knda hrd to rd.

We deserve better

Brutus

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Great move

November 4, 2013

According to an article in the El Paso Times the Clint Independent School District (CISD) is cutting it’s central office staff by one third and placing that staff in classrooms.

Texas law dictates the student teacher ratios and evidently CISD was not meeting the requirements.

Remarkable

The article quotes the superintendent.  It makes no mention of the district imposing a tax increase on the citizens.

Instead the superintendent is quoted as saying:

“And we will continue to find ways to reduce the administrative costs at the district so we can spend 
more resources in the classroom.”

How unusual.

Comparison

Maybe CISD was out of line.  The other school districts may have a lower central office expense per student than CISD had.  Maybe our other districts are doing better.

With the number of senior level positions being filled at the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) it does not look like it to me.  Then again EPISD is bigger and maybe the ratios are normal.  The Ysleta district has a lot to do before it becomes transparent enough for us to understand what is going on there.

The CISD superintendent’s statement that I repeat here  “And we will continue to find ways to reduce the administrative costs at the district so we can spend 
more resources in the classroom” makes a lot of sense to me.

I hope that the other schools districts will make this a stated goal.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
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YISD not transparent

November 2, 2013

The El Paso Times has printed many articles criticizing the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) but curiously seems to be ignoring the Ysleta Independent School District (YISD).

EPISD has certainly had problems, but at least it publishes the backup materials for the board meetings on its web site so that the public can get a better idea of what is going on.

YISD does not.  Take a moment if you wish and look for yourself.  You can see it here.  They simply post the agenda.  They do not provide any backup material.

YISD has had problems with the public corruption scandal.  It has had former officials plead guilty.

If YISD published the materials that the board members receive at the board meetings like the city of El Paso and EPISD do, we would be better informed about what they are doing.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

E-mail archiving

November 1, 2013

There has been some discussion lately about local governments deleting e-mails.

This presentation out of Laredo does a great job of explaining many of the retention requirements.

The fundamental rules come from the Texas Local Government Records Act of 1989.

Some of the basics are:

  • E-mails that deal with government business are government records — even if sent from a personal device.
  • Destroying local government records can be a Class A misdemeanor and under certain cirsumstances a third degree felony under section 37.10 of the Texas Penal code.  There are also criminal penalties under the Texas Public Information Act.  These penalties could lead to removal from office.
  • The sender is the custodian of the record.  The receiver can delete messages unless
    • the receiver needs to take action based upon the message
    • the message is required for documentation
  • The receiver may delete e-mails that are spam, personal, unsolicited mail like news articles, and carbon copies.
  • For those emails that must be kept, the periods of time defined by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) indicate how long they must be kept.  The periods of time generally are between 2 and 5 years, depending upon the nature of the message.
  • The TSLAC defines messages that must be kept for documentation.

I have not been able to find a law or regulation that requires any Texas local government to keep all e-mails.

There are commercially available devices that allow a government to capture all incoming and outgoing e-mail traffic.  These devices centralize the storage of the e-mails and thus make searching far easier.  Instead of having to go to each desktop or device an administrator can search the central archive.

Maybe it is time for our local governments to install these e-mail archiving devices.

We deserve better

Brutus

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Letter to the superintendent

October 31, 2013

A reader sent in a letter to the superintendent and requested that I post it.  He indicates that he has not had a response yet.

I asked for an explanation of the acronyms and received this:

DEIC—Districtwide Educational Improvement Council: comprised of district administrators, district educators, district parents, and community members at large
C&I—The district’s Curriculum and Instruction division
CCRP—The district’s College and Career Readiness Plan

The e-mail

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Xavier Miranda <xmiranda5@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 10:04 AM
Subject: Education Issue for EPISD
To: Xavier Miranda <xmmirand@episd.org>,

The letter

October 24, 2013

Dear Superintendent Cabrera,

The following concerns and questions were to be broached at this month’s DEIC meeting. Unfortunately, circumstances did not allow for you to meet with us, therefore, I am submitting the following queries on behalf of engaged district employees, parents, and community members:

  • Full authority granted by the Board of Managers to the superintendent to hire and fire is of significant concern, given the  previous culture of intimidation.

  • Employees’ sentiments regarding Superintendent Cabrera’s lack of credentials:  demeaning educators’ certification requirements.

  • Acknowledging that networking typically entails golfing with local politicos and business leaders,  it is requested that equitable time be given to educators to solicit authentic education reform and subsequent implementation of viable policies and practices.

  • PROACT process query:

    • 92  Highly Qualified Applicants dismissed, despite a community-based process was developed.

    • Selection of a non-certified finalist; how was this derived?

    • Connection to Houghtin Mifflin publisher remains a concern. Please update.

  • Connections to Dee Margo and Board of Managers

    • The Board President has historically shown to be “unfriendly” to education, e.g., voting to cut the education budget; promoting charter schools.

    • Transparency and accountability is lacking.

      • No accountability to constituents.

    • Lack of community input by placing limitations at Public Forum.

    • The Board of Managers has initiated a merit pay model for administrators, which undoubtedly will influence teacher performance and dictate curriculum focus. SImilar exploitative practices were in place with the previous superintendent.

    • Not all Managers attend the monthly meeting, giving the impression that our district is not of high priority.

  • It is assumed that your business approach to “fixing” our district will entail realignment of resources; i.e., 116 staff at the C&I division alone, when CCRP requirements indicate that personnel could be better utilized on campuses.

  • The possibility of restoring the site-based management model?

    • Will campuses have the latitude to determine bell schedules and class requirements for students?

    • Determine the number of periods teachers are assigned.

    • Extending the school day.

  • Dr. Steinhauser’s presentation at Coronado indicates that a test-driven instructional model is hindering the critical thinking thinking process of our students. Teaching to the whole child should balance the curriculum-centered instructional approach.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Respectfully submitted,

Xavier Miranda

Coronado High School

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