Board Members and Questions to Consider

There have been several comments about the DISD Board and whether or not many of them should be re-elected. Many have said there should be a change, the editor's comment is that we might get worse with new ones... Well, here's some questions each voter, and employee, in the DISD should answer when considering this subject.

Which Board members voted to give this Superintendent unprecedented power(s) that no previous Superintendent has ever had?

Which Board members voted to restrict public participation at Board meetings? First, to limit speakers to every 30 days, and second, to limit to 15 minutes the total time to speakers when there are five (5) or more of them speaking to the same subject.

Which Board members continue to vote on a monthly basis to waive DISD policy or DISD competition requirements so that the Administration can spend hundres of thousands of tax dollars the way they want?

Which Board members voted to allow the Superintendent to do a reduction in force (lay-offs) at any time, without Board approval, for what they call a "program change"? Who defines a "program change"? The Superintendent, of course!

Which Board members voted to expand the salary schedule for teachers and professional support from 10-steps to 20-steps?

Which Board members voted to waive the Board policy on the salary schedule for teachers and professional support numerous times not giving those employees a raise according to the Board's own policy?

Which Board members voted to reduce the due process for support professionals and essentially make them truly "at-will" employees? "At-will" employees can be released (fired) at any time for any reason or no reason at all.

Which Board members voted to approve the Administration's recommendation that support professionals not be given a simple salary step?

Which Board members voted against designating any savings from Dallas County Schools to be used for one-time ESP bonuses this year? Their argument, the District should be able to use any savings the way they, the Administration, saw fit.

Which Board members voted to approve the Dallas Achieves plan?

Which Board members voted to approve increasing Administrative costs in the 2008-2009 budget by $8 million while not giving ESP's a salary step?

Which Board members voted to approve a teacher incentive pay plan based on the CEI and SEI? Some would contend these measures are invalid. As an example, a freshman biology teacher's CEI is calculated using their students' 8th grade reading scores in comparison to their 9th grade biology score. Does this really compute?

And, which Board members voted to extend the Superintendent's contract when he met only 37% of his evaluation targets?

These are just a few questions the voters, and employees, of the DISD should be asking when deciding whether or not to support sitting Trustees. I am sure that there are more and they will be forthcoming in the future.