Whole school board replaced (Texas)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3180159

I took a look and didn't see this anywhere. An entire "elected" school board has been replaced, with the blessing of our Justice Department. Sounds like Texas has some pretty bad stuff going on with education. Who was the governor there?

"DALLAS - Increasing state control over a troubled, predominantly black school district, state Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley removed the Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District's elected school board on Thursday and replaced it with appointed managers.

The move received clearance Thursday from the U.S. Justice Department, which reviewed the decision because it affects voting rights.

The 2,900-student system, which enrolls students from southeast Dallas and the towns of Wilmer and Hutchins, had been under the control of a state-imposed two-member management team since last year, when financial and management problems emerged. Neeley said the district's seven-member board consistently obstructed their efforts.

She pointed to an election Saturday in which voters declined to raise the tax rate and the results of an investigation into cheating on state achievement tests as further justification for taking the rare step of ousting the elected board. Neeley said the tax election and a bond election that failed last year were proof that district residents have no confidence in the sitting school board.

"I'll tell you right now, I'm not going to stand for it," Brenda Duff, who was elected to the board on Saturday, told Neeley from the audience."

So since the voters chose not to raise taxes, that means they have no confidence in the board members?? :wtf:

Can I interpret that to mean the repukes have "no confidence" in America?

might mean that the people of that district felt they could not afford higher real estate taxation.

Article sounds bassackward to me. But then what do I know?

thanks to the Propagandist.


Many cities were already at the maximum tax rate allowed by law. Some are trying to get that upper limit bumped higher to cover the costs and they're running into resistance.


Gee....imagine that.

voters did not believe so because they refused to increase their taxes.

I assume voters would accept funds from other districts or states. :shrug:

I think the story first broke last summer right before school was getting ready to start up again. At least one campus had real bad mold problems because the AC had not been on--power shut off, bills not paid. It did not open on time and finally the kids who went to that school were farmed out to other schools for a while. And then they missed payroll for some of the teachers.

There were allegations of financial improprieties on the part of the property director. The ISD police officer continually filed complaints to the board that were never acted upon. I finally had to wonder if some or all of the board were corrupt.

I think the Education Commissioner is correct to take charge because the current board has shown itself unwilling or unable to fix any problems.

when I saw that subject line, I thought, "Does this mean we can replace our state school board here?" And I had one little moment of evil glee. :evilgrin:

But really, I don't think any of us trust the government enough to want them appointing our "boards of managers" for us. Sounds like a dangerous precedent. I hope the idea doesn't spread beyond this one messed-up district...

so why is this board in trouble because the people didn't vote to increase their taxes?

want to destroy our public education system. After all isn't is just another "entitlement program" :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

As a "local" I am not surprised by this story. The Wilmer-Hutchins district has been the "scandal of the week" for years.

Also, the district is getting obsolete, considering much of it is now annexed in Dallas city limits.

this sounds much more like a local corruption issue than a fundie/secular issue.

An administrative assistant to Wilmer-Hutchins' maintenance director said Tuesday that she watched her boss destroy a stack of purchase orders that he asked her to assemble.

She said the maintenance director, Wallace Faggett, said he was acting on direct orders from Superintendent Charles Matthews.

***

This is not the first time document tampering has been alleged in the district. In 1996, federal agents from the FBI and IRS raided district headquarters and seized boxes of financial records. Agents interrogated employees about allegations of shredding, but no charges were filed.
http://www.clipfile.org/clips/001303.php

... but this school district was being run like a piggy bank for friends and family of administrators. We're talking hundreds of thousands of misappropriated dollars over a period of years, in a school district that was poor already.

I believe that some of the perps have been indicted.

A recent proposal to raise tax rates to bail out the district failed.

I'm not sure this was the best course of action, but given the circumstances it can hardly be dismissed as "wrong" out of hand.

Neeley said a seven-month state investigation found that 22 elementary teachers at three campuses — or two out of three people involved in the district's testing program — were involved in cheating on state tests. She said they will be referred to the State Board for Educator Certification for possible sanctioning of their teaching certificates.

I was in a school system where the Superintendent was concerned he might not pass. Thankfully his wife coached him (as he was a former coach) to pass.

This is one time I think the school board should have been fired. I just hope the replacements aren't a bunch of freepers.

Sorry, but I've been following them for years. It's just corrupt - plain and simple. And the recent vote was more a "vote of confidence" than anything else. Now they're faced with cutting their budget by 40% (which I've never heard of, and I'm a school district CFO), or close down completely.

Many reports of records destroyed, which documented payments to board members and cronies, family members awarded big district contracts that were never performed - etc. etc.

I say, good riddance.

If that is the case, why would anyone vote them more money if there is no accountability as to how that money is used?