Volume 16, Issue 5
January, 2008
1500 DOVE,
EYES ON THE BOARD
THE STRESS OF CHANGE
The MISD Board of Education gave direction to administration regarding the calendar for 2008-2009. There will possibly be four (4) calendars. It looks like the district will go back to ending the semester before Christmas. Many district parents were not happy when the students went two (2) weeks and then had three (3) days off after the Christmas break. Many parents had trouble finding babysitters.
In the 2005 Bond news, the new fifth elementary is about 30 days behind—weather and city permit problems. The street to the south of the new elementary—Goldcrest—will be paid for by MISD—later it is hoped that the city will do their part. More than $9.5 million in interest has been earned on the 2005 bond money of $98 million (the bonds were sold at one time).
The Central Kitchen and
We hope the Board does not forget to finish Navarro Elementary. Many 2005 Bond payments were made.
In additional discussion, the Board directed administration to begin the process of designing and bidding of three (3) multi-purpose buildings at each traditional high school campus. The buildings would be used for weights, wrestling, cheer, dance, tennis, and other uses. The total cost is approximately $4 million for three (3) buildings. The money will come from fund balance (approximately $20 million on hand).
Grants were approved—Early Reading First Program from U. S. Dept. of Education and Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentoring Program from TEA.
McAllen ISD received a “Clean Opinion” from the Certified Public Accountants for the Year Ended August 31, 2007—and that’s what you want.
Inter National Bank and the Fields Elementary PTA came up with money for a new marquee—$11,000 from the bank and $8,000 from the PTA.
Special information and decisions
The Board approved new chillers for Castaneda Elementary. The cost is approximately $325,000. The construction of Castaneda seems to have been poorly done as the school has had many problems.
Award and approval of agreements for E-Rate 2008 Internet Services, Telecommunications, and Cisco SMARTNET Services was approved. The district is receiving less and less money from the federal government for these services.
The Superintendent decided to not attend the High School Principal’s meeting in
Open forum presentation
JANUARY 21, 2008
Good evening, my name is Ruth Skow, and I represent the McAllen AFT. We want to bring constructive ideas and legitimate concerns in regard to High School Redesign and block scheduling to administration and McAllen ISD Board members.
In reviewing the McAllen ISD Vision,
We are sure the MISD Board of Education realizes that if we have Family Advocacy one day a week for 45 minutes and there are 36 weeks in the school year, this adds up to 27 hours of INSTRUCTIONAL TIME spent on Family Advocacy. Parents who were called to participate in High School Redesign and block scheduling discussions received calls at 9 p.m. in the evening for the next day at 9 a.m. Such short notice does not allow for proper participation. We have mentioned on many occasions that Parental Involvement is lacking and is part of your Strategic Plan. In addition, meetings were held all over the district for parents about the dress code and yet when
McAllen ISD’s vision statement addresses technology. Our high school students, librarians, teachers, and staff are lacking enhanced technology (and the upkeep of) to meet the needs of a High School Redesign and block scheduling. If the
If you implement HSRP, you must do it uniformly at every high school. The teaching staff will lose faith totally if two high schools implement High School Redesign and Block Scheduling for 9-12 by 2009-2010 and one does not. We believe that at risk students need to see their teacher every day. In the traditional seven (7) period day students get more time with their teacher as opposed to Block Scheduling time frames. We beg you to reduce the enrollment of the KILLER high school course—Algebra--to 18 at the maximum. If there are a large number of special students in Algebra classes (some classes we knew about contained 12 special students), the number should be 14. This same idea applies to high school Science classes. Parents should ask for the results of the School Organizational Health Survey done in October/November, 2007 with high school teachers. This survey would show the true feelings of the teaching staff toward High School Redesign. So far we were told the results had not been received, but we know the results were presented to the high school principals. Parents should be asking questions about the fact that we have RESULTS from schools following First Things First, the model High School Redesign. The results show the schools on this plan did not meet AYP this past year. How is this good for students? When teachers have ask to see the names of other schools using this plan with different results, they have been ignored. That appears to indicate there are none to show us. IS THE
We are concerned about the rewriting of the Curriculum Collaborative or C Scope for block scheduling. If used, the new format should be finish by May 30, 2008 so that teachers can use it during the summer in services. Lastly, the best idea would be to pay back the monies accepted by McAllen ISD and exit the Redesign Project. Business faces the reality of something that will not work adequately. You could keep your seven (7) period day and add a 0 and 8th period. Teachers could volunteer to teach early or late. That way you would get the extra classes you need for graduation. When I was teaching at