On Tuesday, the State Board of Education met for the final hearing on the adoption of new social studies textbooks. The board intended to cast the first vote on the textbooks, with the final vote scheduled for Friday. But after hours of impassioned testimony from both the right and the…
Last week, Highland Park ISD released its updated high school reading list. The list provided titles required for in-class reading, optional outside reading and the passive aggressive list of “approved” but not taught in the classroom reading. Students will have to get parental permission to read six books on the…
Vinita Hegwood, the Duncanville High School English teacher whose profane tweet aimed at “dumb duck ass crackers” went viral on conservative social media, has resigned, she announced Thursday afternoon. Hegwood was suspended without pay in anticipation of her being fired after her Friday night tweet went viral…
Dallas ISD has, for the moment at least, put last spring’s athletic-recruiting scandal behind it. The 15 coaches and administrators Superintendent Mike Miles fired over the summer have exhausted their appeals. Madison High School’s 2012-13 and 2013-14 basketball titles have been vacated. There’s a new athletic director and, the district…
For the first time since 2002, the Texas State Board of Education is considering the adoption of new social studies textbooks. The books must incorporate 2010 state social studies standards, which have been criticized as right-wing biased and blatantly conservative. See also: Proposed Texas Social Studies Textbooks Get Climate Change…
On Tuesday morning, right after an African-American principal and an African-American superintendent had finished predicting a great future for East Dallas’ Lee Elementary and its new International Baccalaureate program, a woman buttonholed DISD trustee Mike Morath. After a few complimentary words about Morath’s efforts on behalf of the campus, she…
The neighborhoods surrounding Dallas ISD’s Robert E. Lee Elementary are much like the neighborhoods surrounding nearby Stonewall Jackson and Lakewood Elementary. That is, they are predominately white and upper middle class, with just a touch of East Dallas crunchiness. But while Stonewall and Lakewood bulge with kids from the neighborhood,…
In Dallas ISD, early childhood education has been a major push in the last year. It’s a move that administrators believe could one day in the future lower soaring poverty rates in a district where free and reduced lunch rates have steadily creeped toward 90 percent in recent years, and…
Vinita Hegwood, a Duncanville High School English teacher, has some strong opinions about white people, especially as it relates to what’s happened in Ferguson, Missouri. Friday night, she decided to share some of them. “Who the fuck made you dumb duck ass crackers think I give a squat fuck about…
It’s far too early to render judgment on Superintendent Mike Miles’ school-choice initiative. Eventually, he wants to open nearly three dozen specialized campuses that offer an alternative to neighborhood schools but aren’t as selective as magnets. Thus far, he’s opened just one: Mata Montessori, just south of White Rock Lake…
When it comes to reporting weapons in schools, kids are often each others’ best watchdogs. In light of the recent Washington high school shooting, and the school shootings in recent years at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Columbine, police departments across the country are constantly brainstorming new ways to decrease…
On Friday, UNT officially began making its students’ daily bodily activities a little less uncomfortable, with the opening of several gender-neutral restrooms on campus. The move comes as part of the yearlong push by the university to combat campus discrimination. The school has committed $100,000 toward building gender-neutral restrooms. Restrooms…
Well before Wilmer-Hutchins High School basketball standout Troy Causey was beaten to death by a friend and on-court rival after being improperly recruited from Richardson ISD, it was clear to anyone paying attention that Dallas ISD’s athletic department was rotten. Superintendent Mike Miles’ subsequent house-cleaning was greeted as a righteous,…
As a rule, high school sucks. Now imagine going to high school thinking you could get infected with one of the most deadly viruses known to man. There are a few caveats to that, of course. One, ebola is not nearly as deadly as we like to think — far…
Early this morning, Dallas ISD received word from the Centers for Disease Control that five district students have been exposed to the Ebola virus. The students attend Emmett Conrad High School, Sam Tasby Middle School, Dan Rogers Elementary, and Hotchkiss Elementary. Jack Lowe Elementary, which is located close to Tasby…
“Universal pre-K” is the universal mantra of every school board member and education official in the city. It’s the elusive idea that all future, predominantly poor, kids in Dallas ISD will have gone through an aggressive early childhood education program, and that earlier exposure to vocabulary and learning will put…
Highland Park ISD announced at the end of last week that it would be suspending seven books from the high school reading list: Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely…
In Dallas, the estimated number of homeless kids has been dismal recently. The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance reports that the population of unaccompanied homeless kids is up 108 percent in just the last few years, and the number of homeless families is up 60 percent. And a recent Department of…
Highland Park High School announced it would be suspending seven books from the high school reading list, just in time for Banned Books Week. So what’s wrong with the books? Each of the seven, award-winning texts feature themes about sexuality or include passages that some parents find too racy. See…
Since allegations surfaced that NFL star Adrian Peterson abused multiple children at his Texas home, debate has swirled between pro- and anti-spanking parents. For the majority of North Texas schools, though, there’s no question: Spare the rod, spoil the child is official district disciplinary policy in all but a handful…
It’s been a rough week for State Board of Education members, who have upheld their loyalty to TEKS social studies requirements despite bipartisan opposition (although for different reasons, of course). On Tuesday, the board heard public commentary against proposed social studies textbooks. The publishers, required to conform outrageously biased state…
The internet has gone wild over the past few days with news that Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings is facing child abuse charges after disciplining his 4-year-old son with a switch, and was separately accused of leaving a scar on another 4-year-old son’s face. A native of Palestine, Texas,…
