School districts–charter options (1)

June 22, 2017

We learned the other day (thanks to the Times) that some at EPISD may be considering operating or facilitating charter schools.  We hope that the people at the Times realize that they have struck upon an opportunity to educate the public while selling more newspapers by covering this complex topic in depth with a number of articles.

Without regard to what the Times does, we intend to discuss the subject in several blog posts.  We have learned that making our articles short and limiting them to one point works better with many of our readers.

As it turns out, Texas law allows school districts to operate in the charter format one of three ways:

  • They can adopt a home-rule school district that applies to the entire district
  • An individual campus can operate under its own charter
  • The district can hire a private firm to run programs on school district property

The rules are complicated and vague and will be subject to much argument and probably lawsuits.

We will write about how these options can be adopted in future posts.

Stay tuned

We deserve better

8 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD–in the spotlight

June 21, 2017

The battle between two of our potential congressional candidates (the county judge and the president of the EPISD school board) is heating up.

We are beginning to see articles in the Times that shine light on problems relating to the EPISD superintendent and the board president.  It would be nice if these articles were the result of the Times doing good investigative reporting about our local governments.  Instead, it looks to us that the Times is trying to influence the upcoming election.  Without regard to their motivation, we are thankful for their coverage.

The latest article dealt with travel expenses racked up by the superintendent and the board president.  Evidently the superintendent and board president have been living it up while traveling on district business.

The Times informed us that the superintendent said he wasn’t familiar with state laws regarding government employee’s travel expenses.  What a shame.  They also told us that the superintendent has “severe health issues” and must travel in first-class on longer trips.  Try applying for a job at the district with “severe health issues”.

We can expect to hear more about this as teachers are being asked bear the brunt of the district’s financial problems.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

16 Comments | County Government, El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD–free food

June 17, 2017

The image below tells us about another feral initiative:

We’re not qualified to comment on the necessity of the program.

We do wonder how if it has been judged to be important to offer free food it makes sense to stop serving the food when the district is on vacation July 3-7.  Are the kids to go hungry?

We also wonder what the district means when they write “All meals are free of charge and without eligibility or restrictions”.  Do they mean eligibility of the person doing the eating?  And when they say no restrictions do they mean that anything goes?

We do know that we deserve better.

Brutus

18 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD–marketing, Tim Holt responds

June 12, 2017

Tim Holt is an EPISD administrator that writes a blog dealing with educational technologies.

He sent us an email the other day that contained this:

28 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD–branding detail

June 10, 2017

This came in from Dan Wever:

12 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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