September, 2011
Volume 20, Issue 1
EYES ON THE BOARD
THE LATEST
New Assistant Principal at De Leon is Dina Moreno.
New Assistant Principal for Regional School for the Deaf is Teresa Trdla.
New Coordinator for Language Arts PK-12 is Estaban Martinez.
The MISD Board approved 5,600 iPad2 and iPod Touch on September 26th. The Campus Cadres consists of 13 schools, 130 teachers and approximately 5,600 students. All 3rd-12th grade cadre students will receive iPad 2 and all kindergarten-2nd grade cadre students will receive an iPod Touch. Funds were budgeted through Title I-Part A ($550,000), State Compensatory Education ($600,000) and the Instructional Materials Allotment ($56,575). Expenditures for this purchase are $3,552,653.20 over a 3-year period or $1,206,575.40 per year.
The Superintendent reported 700 parents were at last Saturday's 3rd Annual Family Engagement Conference. In addition, 140 students participated. Many varied topics were covered.
The Board approved $43,000 donated from the Gonzalez PTO to Gonzalez Elementary.
The Board approved $86,800 donated by State Farm Ins. and Texas Valley Communities Foundation for project ENCORE.
The Board approved the firm of of Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins, and Mott L.L.P. in Association with The Law Office of John David Franz, Inc. for the final year of the District's option to renew collection of delinquent taxes.
Board member Debbie Crane Aliseda asked that Robert Lazano receive the Board's nomination to the Hidalgo County Appraisal District Board of Directors. The vote was 7-0.
The Board approved Dannenbaum Engineering Company LLC as the civil engineer for the following projects: McHi Bulldog Drive, Roosevelt parking lot, Brown Basketball Court, Lamar Academy Parking Lot, Memorial parking lot, McAuliffe play area, Garza staff parking and driveway, McHi resurface and replacement of asphalt base (track), Memorial and Rowe resurface and replacement of asphalt base (tracks).
Board member Debbie Aliseda was concerned that the company had a local office--the answer from administration was yes for about 10 years.
YOUR LIFE IN TEXAS EDUCATION
All around us in the Rio Grande Valley, Higher Education is facing the same battles as Public Education.
At the local university, some faculty members were offered 40% of their salary to push them out the door.
Classes at the university have grown larger and students are not able to get the classes they need because they are not offered.
Other adjunct staff at the junior college were let go to keep tuition low. In addition staff was even told they would not have health insurance. Online classes are now being pushed heavily to save money. Our governor has pushed to have all classes on line. The governor wants a college degree for $10,000.
Ballot Box
On the November 8, 2011 ballot, there will be a number of Constitutional amendments up for a vote. Proposition 6 makes more funding available for public schools in the short run—at the cost of depositing less money in the Permanent School Fund, and earning less, thus a shortfall of income in 2012-2013.
Public Comment
We would like to remind the McAllen ISD Board of Education of the following concerns: Concerns from the teaching staff regarding a dramatic increase at all grade levels in paper work from elementary to high school—much of which is redundant; Concerns regarding CScope—costs so much but is very lacking in depth; With SACS accreditation scheduled this year, we would ask that our district meet the “acceptable” or higher guidelines for school libraries as published by the Texas State Library.
Next—a lawsuit against the State of Texas Over the next few weeks school districts across the state will sign up to sue the state of Texas. The legal challenge, spear-headed by the research and advocacy team at the Austin-based Equity Center, will attack the legislature's school-finance actions on multiple fronts. For instance, districts by law are supposed to receive substantially equal revenue at similar tax rates. Yet gaps in funding of $1,500 per pupil are common, and the state is highly vulnerable on this equity front. The courts also have held that the state must insure enough funding to provide all students with a "meaningful opportunity to acquire the essential knowledge and skills" called for in state curriculum standards. The lawsuit should be filed in a matter of weeks.
Next--What the American Jobs Act Could Mean to McAllen (and other Valley districts)? Before the US Congress is the American Jobs Act. McAllen ISD would receive $14,154,399 for estimated teacher stabilization and $16,066,905 for estimated school modernization. All of this is pending passage of the Jobs Act in Congress. La Joya would get $19,228,474 (jobs) and $37,847,626 (modernization). Edinburg would get $19,811,610 (jobs) and $35,916,788 (modernization). Mission would get $10,321,292 (jobs) and $13,388,383 (modernization).PSJA would get $18,713,123 (jobs) and $33,813,593 (modernization). See http://tx.aft/mcallen/ for the rest of the public comment.