Midlothian ISD and the Pledges of Allegiance

Midlothian ISD has not changed its policy and practices regarding the recitation of the pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas flags.

The law states and the district requires that students stand and recite the pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas flags once during the school day.

Specifically, the law (Board Policy EC (LEGAL)) reads, “The Board shall require students, once during each school day, to recite the pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas flags.”

The MISD School Board and all District School Personnel support the law.

That same law (EC (LEGAL)) states, “On written request from a student’s parent or guardian, the District shall excuse the student from reciting a pledge of allegiance.”

Once a day, MISD students stand and recite the pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas Flags. If there is a student who does not participate in the recitation of the pledges, it is because the district is following the law.

Nothing has changed.

The First Class of Students at High School #2 (Phase 1)

As of April 2013, there has been no official decision by the Midlothian ISD School Board on which group of students will populate High School #2 (Phase 1) when it opens for the 2014-15 school year.

However, if someone were to ask me this month (May 2013) what I would recommend, it would be that all first-time ninth graders be the class to open High School #2 (Phase 1).

Why that recommendation? The reason is simple: economics.

The original thought process – not officially approved – was that High School #2 (Phase 1) would be a completely separate High School in 2014-15 and start with ninth and tenth graders. Then, the following year (2015-16) it would expand to include eleventh graders, and in 2016-17, High School #2 (Phase 1) would house ninth through twelfth graders.

The foundation for that thought process was student growth estimates provided by the district’s demographer. The district was informed as late as September 2011, that Midlothian ISD would experience at least 3% student growth annually through 2020-21. [Note: The 3% figure was considered the minimum student growth needed to open the new school with ninth and tenth graders]. For the 2014-15 school year, student growth was predicted to be 4%. For 2015-16, student growth was predicted to be 5% and the following school year, 2016-17, student growth was predicted to be 6%. The next three years, student growth was predicted to be 6%, 7% and 6%.

However, to date, that level of predicted student growth did not and has not materialized.

Student growth is a critical factor in the decision-making process because the number of students plays a large part in  how districts are funded for their daily operations.

Without the predicted student growth and the subsequent extra funding, economics kicks in. It is less expensive – considerably less expensive – to educate all first-time ninth graders (2014-15) than to begin and complete the process (2014-2017) for a ninth-through-twelfth-grade high school.

So, the financially prudent recommendation, if it had to be made today, is to begin the 2014-15 school year at High School #2 (Phase 1) with only MISD’s first-time ninth graders.

75,000 Pictures

Often I am asked this question, “Where can I find the pictures you take?”

There are two answers. You can go to directly to the website: http://midmoments.smugmug.com, or you can go to Midlothian ISD’s home page and click on “Photography” on the right side of the page under “Superintendent, Dr. Jerome Stewart.”

Both options will take you to the page below, and from there you can view over 75,000 pictures.

I hope you enjoy the photographs.

Compliment

Last week (Apr 24, 2013), a group of Midlothian ISD’s second graders from J. A. Vitovsky Elementary School (J.A.V.) went to an all-you-can-eat restaurant in a nearby town.

Several employees from a local company came into the restaurant while our kids were there. One employee wrote a letter to MISD’s Superintendent  It said, in part:

“I walked into [the restaurant with] over one hundred second graders in line to eat. Your children were the most polite and courteous kids I have been around since we were kids. They were all well mannered … I want to say how much I enjoyed [seeing] the kids have such a good time [and] still be very [respectful] and polite.”

Congratulations second graders at J. A. Vitovsky Elementary School! So proud of you!

Under A Bridge

Rajesh Kumar Sharma saw poor children in New Dehli not attending school. Rajesh, a college drop-out, knew the value of an education so he volunteered to begin a school … under a bridge … the bridge where the children routinely gathered to play.

The Child Before The Chalk

I start this blog with a clear vision of its beginning and end, but without such clarity of everything else in between. I am confident that I have committed a rather serious journalistic sin. However, it helps that I am not a journalist … ignorance is bliss.

Educators practice education. We do not do teach in a vacuum.

In my career as a public school teacher, I recall an evaluation system in which it was alleged that a teacher could do quite well if the lesson was taught with only the evaluator present, without students. It was more about teacher performance, less about student learning.

That changed. Teacher evaluation systems evolved to recognize an important part of the classroom experience: students.

And students are human.

Even though it is obvious that students are human, our profession often neglects to include that observation in its professional conversation.

Let’s talk about what it means to be human: the child before the chalk.

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This is the first blog in a series of blogs titled, “The Child Before The Chalk.”

Money Doesn’t Matter

There are politicians who believe that money doesn’t matter when it comes to K-12 public education. Evidently, less money can buy more for Texas kids.

I took that idea … money doesn’t matter, less money can buy more … and tried it out in the real world.

First, I went to my local car dealership. I sat across the desk from the salesperson and told him that I would like to buy a small, economy car. He said fine, wrote the cost down on a piece of paper and slid it my way. The price was $10,000.

“Great,” I said. “Now I want your top-of-the-line, fully loaded SUV … for the same price.”

He looked at me as if I was joking. Eventually his expression turned more serious when I didn’t change mine. He finally broke the silence and said, ”You’re crazy, man.”

My response was instructive, “I don’t think you understand. You see money doesn’t matter. In education, I’ve been told by politicians that I can get a fully loaded SUV for a economy car price, and that’s what I want from you: your top-of-the-line, fully loaded SUV for an economy car price.”

The salesperson’s final reply shut the door to additional instruction: “Dude, you’re cray! Nobody thinks like that!”

OK, that didn’t turn out as expected, so I went to my local realtor.

“I’d like to buy a double-wide on a small lot,” I stated.

“Fine. That’ll be about $75,000,” was her best, first estimate.

Once again I applied a dose of a politician’s economics to this situation and said, “With that same $60,000, I’d like a palatial, 10,000 square foot home on a South Padre beachfront.”

Needless to say and useless to document that conversation didn’t end well, either.

As incredulous as it sounds, all my experiences that day ended in eerily similar ways.

It seems that politicians have discovered the only place in the world where money does not matter: K-12 public education.