junecleaver's kitchen

DISD is run by idiots. Period. To lay off veteran teachers because of the administrators' failures & mismanagement is totally ludicrous! Why should the teachers be made to pay for the mistakes of people who have never been inside a classroom? Why should they be sitting on pins & needles wondering if they'll have jobs tomorrow? This is yet another example of people not respecting teachers enough to make sure they keep their jobs. No wonder so many kids graduate from DISD schools as functional illiterates. They leave the high schools unable to read beyond an 8th grade level & unable to handle college. Guess what happens then? WELFARE!!!

I maintain that the troubles with DISD or any other school district are not the fault of the teachers, but that of administrators & parents. Too many of those who have never taught before do not understand the importance of becoming a team with the primary goal of making sure the children receive a good education. Administrators are busy mishandling money, pocketing huge salaries & fighting amongst themselves. Too many parents are too busy working all the time, micromanaging the teachers & talking bad about the teachers. How many times have I heard, "What do the teachers know?" Until an adult has actually been inside a classroom & has had to put up with what so many teachers have to put up with, they need to take a breath before they pass judgement on our educators. Where does that leave the students? I'll tell you where that leaves them; On their own to buck it by themselves with no guidance or boundaries. When children see dissent among the adults around them, they will naturally pit them against each other in order to avoid what they need to do. On the converse, good solid teamwork with teacher, parents & administrators supporting & respecting each other will result in excellent education & thus turn out young people who will become productive members of society.

Instead of laying off teachers, how about if the administrators who botched all this up be made to pay back every cent of it & put it in the teachers' pockets. I'm sure there are a few who should be in jail as well. Greed was what brought DISD to this horrible situation. These administrators were not looking out for the good of the students, otherwise they would have made sure there was plenty of money & plenty of support for their teachers.

My children have grown up in the Richardson School District & since 1996, I have been thrilled beyond words with the type of education my children have received. They were reading by Christmas of kindergarten. And, they have wonderful ambitions & goals. I myself was brought up in private schools & I am of the opinion that my girls have received a much better education that I ever did. I've seen other kids come out of RISD schools who were just as well educated. It seems that RISD has it "right". RISD supports its teachers & promotes teamwork among the parents, teachers & administrators. Of course, every district has it's shortfalls, but before my oldest reached school age, I chose to move into the RISD area because of its reputation for excellence in education. I talked a friend of mine into moving into the Lewisville school district because his children could not read after 5 years in Denton ISD.

Why can't DISD follow the examples set by school districts that have proved themselves year after year? These adults in DISD seem to have forgotton what running a school district is all about. It's about the children! It's about making sure they receive the tools they need to manage in their adult lives. It's about making sure they learn to read, write, spell & add. It's not about how much money you can stuff into your own pockets. I say do an across the board firing of the administrators & promote some of the veteran teachers into those roles. After all, they're the ones who know what the schools & the students need. They're the ones who understand what happens in a classroom & what multi-child management is all about.

With all the protests I see for other things, this issue would be the most important to protest. Keep the teachers & throw out the ones who made the mess in the first place.