A LYSer Shares... Our Anti-Public School Leaders

A LYS Assistant Superintendent share the following:

Clearly, our Governor does not want a school person to be appointed to the Commissioner’s position.  We now have a lifetime politician, with no training in how schools operate, function, meet teaching/learning requirements, or how to support our teachers.  However, he was the Railroad Commissioner and knew about the same in dealing with oil and gas as he does education!  We need someone with an education-based skill set like Mike Moses. Is this truly a fresh approach?  Or is it yet another political appointee that will further the agenda of Governor Perry and his friends? 

Perry has no instincts of what school is all about. I can see him asking, “Commissioner Williams, what do you think about education?”

And our new Commissioner will reply, “Well, I think everyone should have one.” 

I am fearful of our future.  Beware of Perry, Dewhurst, Patrick and the voucher people. 

SC Response

I have no problem admitting that I gave up on Perry a long time ago. It is quite clear by his actions that not only does he want to dismantle public education, he also has no respect or appreciation for educators who have dedicated their entire careers to improving the lot of all children, regardless of their background.  I know little about the new Commissioner, but to believe that he is the most qualified person for the position is difficult to swallow.  Without question this appointment is a purely political move and as educators our only recourse is to quit voting for Perry and his anti-public school allies.

What I find most disturbing about our current situation is that fifteen years ago, one of my mentors, Dr. Richard Hooker, predicted this with almost 100% accuracy. Now I have to admit, to both him and the world, that he was right and I was wron...

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Upcoming Presentations: Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), North Dakota Association of Secondary School Principals (Keynote), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

A LYS Superintendent Asks... Hot Water?

A LYS Superintendent asks the following:

SC,

Do you think Commissioner Scott will be in hot water for his Mid-Winter testing remarks?

SC Response

Here is my analysis of the situation. It is pure conjecture and opinion.

I don’t think that there is any hot water. In fact, I think that the comments were a calculated move that were designed to help the Governor. Remember, Scott and Perry are tight. Though there is no question that Scott is brilliant and would be a success in almost any arena, he owes his job and stature to Perry. He understands, better than any prior Commissioner, that his job is to further the education agenda of his boss. Which means that I believe that his comments had a political purpose. The question is what purpose?

Perry based his run for the president by embracing the agenda of the far right. In the math of getting the next job, proving your conservative chops by gutting public education is worth it... if you can get elected as either President or Vice President. Obviously, he miscalculated and that ship has sailed. But now, Perry has a problem. His policies and leadership (or lack thereof) has united educators of all ranks (board to teacher) against him. The last Governor to face this was Mark White. And we know that White did not do well in his next (and last) election.

Perry does not need the educator vote to win, but typical educator indifference during the election makes his job easier. So look at the audience at Mid-Winter. It was made up of Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents, overall a politically conservative group. But this group also believes that the pendulum of accountability and belt tightening has gone to far. When Scott throws them a bone, like he did, maybe in the voting booth they hold their nose and pull the lever for Perry again, instead of his opponent.

In summary, it is my belief that Scott did not go off the reservation. His comments simply confuse those that would be tempted to support Perry’s opponent, which for Perry, equals a win. But overall, nothing has changed. STAAR is still coming and funding is still going away. That, like Scott’s comment, is by design.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

School Closures, Who to Blame

Across Texas, districts are having to close under-capacity schools. As one could guess, this has created staff and community anger. I’m not going to say that the anger is wrong, but where it is present, it is almost always misguided. Let’s look at the situation logically.

If a school is under-capacity, enrollment is declining, and there is room for the students at a nearby campus, closing the school is a rational decision. Why is this rational? Closing a small elementary campus can save between $400,000 and $1,000,000 a year in facility and support costs. So the decision to not close is actually detrimental to students, staff and the community. How, you ask? The saved money could be spent on instructional tools and training, which helps students. The saved money could be spent on staff compensation and benefits, which helps teachers. The saved money could pay off school debt, increase fund balance, or reduce taxes, which helps the community. Or you can fight to continue to spend money inefficiently.

Now let’s look at the situation illogically. Logic be damned. You’re angry and someone needs to know about it. Ok, I can respect that. Let’s just make sure we channel that anger towards the right parties. Should you be mad at the Superintendent? No, the job of the Superintendent is to maximize district resources for the benefit of the greatest number of students. Consolidating schools solve the very real financial problems currently facing individual districts.

Should you be mad at the School Board? No, the job of the school board is to balance the needs of the school system and the needs of the community. Consolidating schools solve the very real financial problems currently facing individual districts.

Now I know you are thinking, “Sean, if not the Superintendent and the School Board, who should I direct my anger towards?”

If you are in Texas, the answer is rather straightforward. Texas school districts are facing significant declines in funding, but this decline has nothing to do with the economy. The Texas economy is doing quite well. In Texas, the school funding crisis was created, either by design or incompetence. I’ll explain. Texas was doing a slightly less than adequate job of funding schools. Then Governor Rick Perry, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and the Republican members of the State House decided to revise the tax code. The stated plan was to reduce personal property tax rates and increase business tax rates. However, instead of increasing the business tax rate first and then reducing the personal property tax rate, in a stoke of political genius or incompetence, they attempted the reverse. They reduced the personal property tax rate, reducing education funding by billions. Then they tried to increase business taxes, but surprisingly, that attempt was derailed.

So you want to be angry, call the Governor, the Lt. Governor and your Republican State Senator and Representative. Let them know that your anger is based on emotion and sense of betrayal and you won’t forget when it comes time to write campaign donation checks and step into the voting booth.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

A LYS Principal's Open Letter to the Governor

The following was written by LYS Principal, Dr. Jerry Burkett.

Governor Perry,

I want to take this opportunity to invite you to my school. I am fortunate to lead a mid-sized elementary school in North Texas that is poised for greatness this school year. Although this is only my first year to lead my school, our students have shown double-digit gains in reading, math and science in all grade levels. We are positioning ourselves to achieve our first TEA Exemplary rating in school history.

How did we do it? Perseverance and dedication. Our students come to school nearly everyday and a select few arrive at school at 6:30. We are not staffed to allow these students in the building this early as many of these students have working parents who are on their way to their second job. Our school is a stop on the way to work. Our students sit outside and wait patiently for the school to open, reading books, and completing homework.

When we are able to open the building, I have two dedicated paraprofessionals who monitor our students through breakfast. We open the computer lab for the older students and the library for younger students. This alleviates the overcrowding we have in our small cafeteria. This also allows us to rotate our students through breakfast. Breakfast is very popular. Most all of our students elect to eat. For many, it is the first meal they have had since lunch at school the day before. I am thankful for the federal government free and reduced lunch program. It benefits nearly 90% of my student body.

After breakfast, we dismiss for classes. You will find the finest teachers greeting students at the door each and every day. We shake hands, give hugs, smile and talk to our students before they even walk into the classroom. We look to make sure students not only have their homework but have gotten enough sleep, are clean, and aren’t wearing the same clothes at the day before. If we do find these things, we notify our counselor and social worker so these professionals can get our families in contact with local charities for food and clothing.

Students are expected to perform to the highest standards set forth by the Texas Education Agency. We do not allow our students to fail. We ensure quality instruction, communicate with our parents, and educate in each subject area according to the student expectation, not the TAKS test expectation. My teachers work tirelessly to plan lessons, attend staff development sessions, analyze data, host parent conferences, complete paperwork, and grade papers. They understand the needs of our students and work hard to meet their needs. We are able to accomplish these tasks on 10% less than we were given by our school district last year and we’ll do it next year with even less.

I invite you to tour my building with me and experience its age and history. My building is named for a famous Texan who once graced the same grounds you walk today and I believe that he would be proud to have such a school named in his honor. However, in my building you will find temporary walls, a leaking gym, and that musty smell that is indicative of building as old as mine. Sadly, it cost more to run my building than some of the newer ones in the district, as it is not as energy efficient as it should be.

Governor, on a daily basis, we work to serve a variety of students from many nationalities. My student population is largely Hispanic but my student body is blessed with talented students from El Salvador, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Vietnam. We are fortunate to have such a fine collection of cultures and nationalities collected in one school. I encourage you to visit my Pre-K or Kindergarten Dual Language classroom where you will find students learning English and Spanish in all subjects in one room. Even I have been able to learn some Espanol in my short tenure as a principal. Imagine that, my students teaching me!

Despite the many roadblocks we hurdle each day, our students leave my building with a smile. Our school is safe and our students know they are loved. I ask my teacher to love their students and I ask my students to love each other. As long as we work to respect everyone and the needs they come to us with, we can succeed.

I realize that you had your own personal needs to fulfill when you restructured the tax code in 2006. You needed to be re-elected and it made for great debate fodder against Chris Bell and Carolyn Keeton Strayhorn who warned you against restructuring that same code. I understand that your approval ratings were down and you needed to remind your Republican supporters that you were on their side. However, since then, you have succeeded in steadily pulling money each and every year from your state school districts yet raising the requirements and expectations of those same districts. You have asked us to perform with higher expectations and lower funding. Yet, we have persevered and we are dedicated.

Governor, I implore you to rethink the structural tax deficit that was created in 2006. Using the rainy day fund will only plug the hole, it will not fix the problem. Imagine how much more your school districts could do with the proper funding. I am not asking for more funding, I am only asking what is necessary. Right now, we do not have what is necessary.

I hope you find the time to visit my school. You will find the finest students in all of North Texas working hard each and every day to meet our expectations. The only thing they expect from you is the funding necessary for them to be guaranteed what our state constitution requires for all students, “to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.”

Sincerely,

Dr. Jerry R. Burkett, Proud Principal

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