Video Highlights of the Forum

This past weekend, the League of Women Voters in Richardson posted their video on the forum.  As voters are going to the polls either participating in early voting or later on election day, November 6, I want to illustrate my views on the forum. 

The length of the video is 43 minutes long, the actual forum (minus all of the introductory remarks) begins at 3:45.  14 questions were asked during this forum.  They ranged to what we thought was the mission of the State Board of Education is to numerous questions on curriculum. 

Many of the highlights of forum occured during the middle of the forum between the 12:00 mark of the video to the 26:00 minute mark.  Most of the questions revolved around my number one issue- curriculum- an issue that will obviously impact our children each and every school day.  Here were the specific things of note I noticed.

12:06- Asked question- Will we spend time with teachers on curriculum?

Here I point out, I have been a teacher my entire professional life and my service on the DISD school board for 10 years.  I am directly involved professionally as a professor of humanities at Richland College, after all now.  So, either way, I will spend time with teachers. 

Book written by Bill Ames

Mrs. Miller in her reply at the 13:45 mark, merely says she interviews retired and active teachers.  But does not cite any specific examples until she introduces at the 14:25 minute mark- Bill Ames (see link here from Texas Freedom Network) by name to the audience, a Republican Party activist, who is not an educator at all.   In fact, Mrs. Miller at the 15:00 minute mark mentions him as an expert in history.  In another question on curriculum, regarding the role of advisory committes, Ames in mentioned twice by Miller at the 16:00 and 17:00 minute marks on the video. 

Republican Party activist Bill Ames

19:00- Incorporating Scientific Method Into Curriculum

I am for promoting a fact based curriculum based on physical evidence and reliable, scholarly research.  Mrs. Miller, avoided answering this question completely by talking about her expertise with phonics and her related positions with reading.  I am upset the moderator in the forum did not insist on a direct answer from Mrs. Miller on this question.  This is direct evidence that she will NOT stand up to individuals within her party trying to promote ideology over what is practical fact in the scientific curriculum, as depicted in the recently-released film "The Revisionaries." 

24:30- On Health and Teen Pregnancy issues

Texas for many years have had among the high rates of teen pregnancy of any state in the nation.
My position is simply this as I pointed out in the forum- "Knowledge is power."  Our kids are not being given the resources they need to protect themselves.  At the 25:40 minute mark, Mrs. Miller talks about what she and the state legislature did in 1995 and essentially defends the status quo allowing individual schools to NOT take responsibility to educate students on these topics.   

More Reaction from Forum

A fairly positive review came out just today regarding my performance in the forum again from a gentleman named Mark Stegar.  I am somewhat surprised how objective this review is.  There are actually some objective people out there wanting to inform the community of what actually happened that night. Aside from the reporters and the League of Women Voters (LWV) volunteers, I actually thought almost everyone in the audience there were Miller supporters that night. 

The video from the forum that night has not yet been posted on the LWV Richardson website.  When it is, I expect it to be found here.  I like to look at myself and point out some highlights from the forum that viewers should be looking for. 

While we are on the subject on endorsements, I wanted to show this link from the Texas Freedom Network endorsing my bid for State Board of Education District 12.  I also appreciate my support by the Stonewall Democats of Dallas. 

I will keep you posted on fruther developments. 

 

The Day After: Reaction to Forum

Picture from Dallas Morning News. 
Our forum last night at the Richardson ISD School Board Auditorium.
 

Last night, I participated in what will be the closest thing we will have to a debate between us- Tincy and I, as you can see from this story by the Dallas Morning News.  However, I admit at times it hardly felt like a neutral athmosphere.  I don't want to be critical at the League of Women Voters who organized the event, they did their best to promote a fair democratic process by NOT allowing campaign material to be openly distributed in the auditorium. Yet I do think quite a few supporters for Miller were present in what was supposed to be a community event focused on informing undecided voters.  In fact, at one point in the forum even Mrs. Miller freely admitted to one of her longtime supporters being present and available after the debate to help explain her positions on writing the History curriculum! 

There was one question I thought was both bizarre and clearly put out by a Miller supporter designed to her explain her specific positions on technology in the past and to put a positive spin on them.  That question regarded the topic of funding for computer hardware.  Miller has had a mixed record at best embracing technology.  She has not been honest in the past and was not honest at all last night on her lack of support promoting the use of modern-day technology.  She should and does know as much as anyone that the State Board of Education does not govern the funding at all on computer hardware.

As I tried to explain last night, school districts in Texas have acquired much of their funding from Federal, not State funds such as Title I to bring modern technology onto their campuses.  On occasion some school districts have been able to get private donations from individuals and non-profits to address this issue.  The Texas State Legislature has just recently passed into law that barely addresses this issue- the need for all students within Texas public schools to have access to modern day, 21st century technology such as e-books or I-Pads. It was called Senate Bill 6, which I will describe in another blog. 

A Supporter's Letter to the Morning News

Last month, the Dallas Morning News endorsed my rival, Geraldine "Tincy" Miller.   I don't have much to say personally about the Editorial Board's endorsement, however one of my supporters, Lorraine Keed of Dallas does.  This is what she wrote to them:

Your editorial of 9/18/12 wherein you rally your support for Geraldine "Tincy" Miller for Texas State Board of Education, District 12, gained my attention. You indicate that Ms. Miller is an "imperfect" candidate having already previously served 26 years on the Texas State Board of Education with a record of inconsistency and vacillation. It would seem the only affirming endorsement you can give Ms. Miller is that she is a Republican and a member of a Dallas real estate family? This post is not about partisanship or family background, it's about growing the minds of Texas youth with factual information in preparation for their own self-actualization in society.

The other candidate for the post, Lois Parrott, is far from imperfect. Lois Parrott is and has always been an educator. Who better to immediately fit in with the "centrist" wing of the board to prevent further weakening of curriculum standards in our schools? As a long serving member of the Dallas Independent School Board, did not Lois Parrott's skepticism, as you put it, regarding the Edison charter school plan of a former Superintendent prove to be warranted? The charter school went down the drain with millions of taxpayer dollars, right? Are you not being “divisive” by not revealing the facts?

 

I raised two children over the years in the DISD system and when I had an issue it was Lois Parrott who resolved it and she wasn't even my board representative, but she was truly the most responsive DISD board member. Alternatively, I have also placed calls to Ms. Miller when she was my representative on the State Board of Education - I am still waiting for a return call.

The status quo at the State Board of Education has contributed to driving Texas educational standards into a downward spiral nationally this past decade alone. Texas should have a stellar educational system, but yet we do not! There is no room for vacillation and inconsistency when adhering to one's steadfast commitment to a mission. Lois Parrott has the unwavering commitment required for the post of State Board of Education, District 12 because she knows what is truly at stake - the youth of Texas!

 

Memo to Tincy: America is "A Melting Pot"

Roughly a minute into this video that I talked about in a post last month, "Tincy Miller: On Camera & Unscripted," I noticed that Mrs. Miller voiced disapproval over teaching world cultures.  The question to be fair asked if she was for world cultures being taught specifically in charter schools.

She said that American culture is superior over other cultures by mentioning the idea of American Exceptionalism repeatedly in the video.  There is no doubt our country is unique, however my disagreement with you, Tincy, is this:  America is the world's "melting pot."  American culture is really a mixture of world cultures and the modern day epicenter of world history. 

The three most obvious reasons why America is the world's "melting pot." 

1)  Our country started out as 13 British colonies that banded together and declared independence from King George III and the British Parliament in 1776.   Many our laws and traditions thus come from Great Britain and Ireland.

2)  Our country took over lands originally colonized by other nations such as purchasing Louisiana from the French in 1803, getting Florida from the Spanish in 1819, and fighting wars with Mexico to secure much of the American West in the 1840s.  Alaska was bought as a Russian territory after the Civil War.  Before that, many dozens of Native American tribes dotted the American landscape.

3)  The headquarters of the United Nations is right here in America, in New York City!  Leaders worldwide come at least to openly and peacefully express their concerns.  (Of course this is considered international territory.) 

America history was part of world history from day one.  America continues to be part of a larger story- the history of human civilization. To suggest that America has today a wholly self-contained culture from day one does Texas schoolchildren an enormous injustice!

I Help Build It (In DISD)

Long before the Dallas ISD School Board was a political stepping stone, I was on it during the dark days of the late 1990s and early 2000s.  We had races where few qualified candidates actively sought office on the Dallas school Board.  One notable example is here for this South Dallas DISD Board seat which was left vacant after Dr. Yvonne Ewell, which now Townview Center is named after, died in 1998.

As I mentioned in my previous blogs I have had called for financial reform, fighting privatization against out of state interests, and aslo my main web site discussed about the schools I arranged to built in the 2002 DISD Bond Package.  That bond package was important because DISD had not passed a bond for a whole decade-10 years prior-1992.  The bond package which was worth $1 billion, at that time the largest in DISD history. 

Many of these newer schools that came from that bond package I was able to get built in my school board District.   These schools include Jack Lowe Sr. Elementary, Sam Tasby Middle School, and Emmitt J. Conrad High School.  All of these schools are in the same "feeder pattern."  That means if a student attended Lowe Elementary or Tasby Middle School they would wind up being enrolled as a student in Conrad High School, which is today one of the most impressive schools in the District.

While Republicans tout about building things and having executive experience, these are things that Mrs. Tincy Miller does not have much experience with.  She mentioned her most significant accomplishment aside from making the state curriculum more friendly to those with learning disabilities is protecting the State Board of Education's Permanent School Fund from special interest groups.  The money from this largely unknown-fund comes from interest payments from Texas state-owned lands that have been managed by the State Education board. 

She cites a key reason she wants to come back to her old job, is to keep this fund clean of special interests.  But I wonder if she couldn't do that the first time around, why should we expect her to be successful a second time?  (Please also see this recent video.) And what is more troubling is that she can't do that working with people within her own party?  The State Board of Education has been a Republican-dominated body after all.   My answer is she never had the executive experience I've had.  After all, I was the President of the Dallas ISD Board for 2 years over a multi-cultural and economically diverse student enrollment of 162,000. 

Because she never served on a school board- Mrs. Miller never had a hand in building schools, finding and managing money to cover the day-to-day operations to fund them.  I help rebuild the reputation of Dallas ISD, I helped made it hip for business executives to work with Dallas ISD.  People of means want to put their kids in the Dallas ISD again. 

Tincy Miller...On Camera & Unscripted

My opposition...the Republican candidate Tincy Miller in
one of her campaign handouts.

For those who want to know Tincy Miller is, I was able to find this video clip of her.  This footage was taken during the Republican primary season earlier this year.   Why does this race matter?  This video clip can explain it all.  She spends far more time on justify her personal ideology rather than expressing fresh ideas on what she wants to do if elected.  To sum it up, she talks about what she will NOT do.

Here were some interesting points you should notice in this clip.

5:57- Asked about the importance of teaching the origins of American democracy from the Magna Carta to property rights, and the U.S. Constitution. 

Merely said these are examples of American expeptionalism.   

Didn't mention that much of U.S. law was and is based from the British Constitutional Monarchy system because America was a British colonial possession. Magna Carta is best known for being the British Parliament's stand that no King could raise taxes without permission from it back in 1215- 500 years before the U.S. existed!   This tape points out how Mrs. Miller is just plain ignorant of our country's historical origins. 

 

11:00- Asked about the possibility of losing Federal education funding (Title I) if the State Board of Education refused to adopt the Department of Education's Common Core standards

Literally says, "Let's just get rid of President Obama, get a Republican president to get rid of the Department of Education." Addressed no specifics whatsoever to make up for loss of Title I funding. Kept saying that this was a states' rights issue and an intrusion with the Federal government. 

 

Noticed she said that since the mid-1980's Texas was the cutting edge leader in public education and other states "were picking our brain."  She forgets to mention that a Republican President from here (George W. Bush) just a few years back wrote and passed a law with a Republican Congress called No Child Left Behind to address education issues nationwide!