DISD June Board Meeting - Notes

We're in a time where no longer does truth or integrity define the salary we're payed, it is rather the position or hierarchy that places us where we are in the world today. Your code or ethic of work doesn't bring your yearly income to the true standard of work ethic you put in anymore. It is hard to define a true hard worker, or a corrupt CEO in a major company. The majority of the so called "Leaders" that we have, have all been involved in a corrupt action in some way or another, it is true.... actually it is sad... but we must remember one thing.... Losers focus on they're going through, winners focus on what they're going to..... my friend....focus..

No one can ever be as hard working as you - a former achieving over-achiever. We can't all be perfect. So don't expect others to be as perfect as you. There are rules and procedures in place already. One infraction within a specific time period isn't enough to fire someone. If you get a copy of these rules that your institution follows, apply them to a situation and see if you can fire anyone with those rules. The rules can be quite forgiving. Why can't you be forgiving as well? Oh I forgot, you don't make mistakes.

I would like to know what business is that of YOURS?

It is no secret that the the namne of DISD has been TARNISHED! It sickened me to watch the Superintendent yesterday on the news to be so Jolly while expressing his concerns about the incident at Lang, when he was being questioned about the shortfall of missing money or the program that helped his son, you could have bought him for a penny? Ron Price along with a few other of the board members has no room for comments. Now if he(mikey) can put this much effort into things that have gone undone maybe we would be in better shape? When does he(HIN) exit 3700 Roos Ave? He will only laugh at how much he has milked and screwed up DISD when he is out.

Keep your daily documentation, cellular phone photos, videos and attorney handy.

Hinojosa has changed it drastically. The total lack of regard for staff and doing the right thing was never there before the hinojosa bandit came to town.

Nope, he didn't pass the certification exam. Temporary certificates can be issued to anyone - no test needed.

It is my understanding that Rene Martinez does not have administrative certification nor has he ever successfully performed any job he has been assigned. He was reportedly removed as an assistant principal at Samuell due to lack of certification and poor job performance. He was later placed in the communications dept. in order to pacify some Hispanic advocates. Some of his collegues considered him a joke. He later became a Special Assistant to the Supertinent and was reportedly demoted because he created more havoc than being helpful. He was over a mentoring program that never met stated expectations. To hear him tell it, he is always responsible for many great things. NAME ONE! Just another example of community advocates running the district and a superintendent who is into the "good-old Hispanic male" syndrome. Wouldn't it be great if someone had the ----- to promote capable people who are interested in the well being of students instead of themselves.

[Ed Note: Again... this probably has to be in the category of unsubstantiated rumor unless you can provide documentation of all of this. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the guy, I just like to see the facts.]

If I'm wrong about this.. then SBEC should be SBEL...and Texas doesn't know the difference between licensure and a certification.

It is important to note that certifications are usually earned from a professional society, not the government. If a demonstration of ability or knowledge is required by law before being allowed to perform a task or job, this is referred to as licensure. In the United States, professional licenses are usually issued by state agencies. The assessment process is often similar, even the same; certification and licensure differ only in terms of legal status.

Apparently, there is no such thing as a "license" to principal. What we have instead is a 3rd party that provides quality assurance that the person in question is "qualified".
Legally, they may still be able to perform their job even though the certification has expired. If it were an expired "license", then it would be a legally enforceable problem for the state. Hiring or firing an employee based on certification or lack of... is the decision of the hiring entity.

With this in mind, the guy whose privacy you invaded is qualified. He passed the test to get a temp cert. He knows enough to be an assistant principle. Does that knowledge on how to perform the duties of an assistant principle ever go away? Does your PhD in Bitching and Moaning expire? I think not.

Assuming the entity that hired him requires a non-expired certification, He just needs to pony up the money to get another certification..that is.. if he wants to be paid an AP salary. Who knows.. he may be going back into the classroom and that's why he hasn't paid up yet.. or maybe he's doing the job of an AP but still paid as a teacher... or maybe he in that limbo period after getting a temp cert. and before getting a standard cert... or maybe he doesn't need to be certified anymore. Why is your interpretation of the data so negative? You aren't saving the taxpayer any money by picking on any one individual. It's the system that you should work on.

Let's not fool ourselves. Certification is a revenue generating mechanism that pays to keep the entity that does the certifying extant. Also there is federal, state, and private funding for those institutions that generate teachers. Just so you know... there is a system already in place to generate "qualified" teachers and principles and there is also much money to be made in the process. That's why the certification expires... the system generates more money that way.

What gets me is this invasion of privacy that you people assume you are entitled to. Being a taxpayer only get's you so far until you impinge on the rights of the individual.

Where have you been for the last... too long? Rene Martinez doesn't have to be certified as long as he is Hispanic and Hinojosa's pal. The seven administrators who ARE certified were the wrong ethnicity. All seven were African-American! They were told to go back to the classroom or find another district! Certifications, credentials and qualifications are not needed in the DISD if you are Hispanic. That is obvious! As long a Hinojosa is here, this will be the order of the day. By the way, what was the scandal this week? I've been out of town. I lost track after the grading policy, the son going to Harvard, the alleged made up and stolen Social Security Numbers, $146-million missing, etc. ad nauseum!

Rene got a temporary certificate to play principal when he had no experience that would translate into getting a certificate the traditional way. He connived his way into this through political connections the same way he connived his way into every govt boondoggle he has had.

Yes, he failed the test. No, he never received the actual certification. After he failed the test, his temporary boondoggle ran out and he never bothered getting his credentials. Why bother earning credentials when Mike Moses, the king of hiring crooks, known felons, and local race tokens, awards Martinez a high ranking job on the basis of what? Who knows?

Rene plays the illusion of leader of the victim class. He has never been a real victim of anything. He has played the poor Latino role for all it's worth for 30 years.

Yet, he goes to Preston Hollow where real discrimination was going on, discrimination he later stated he was fully aware of, and instead of changing the way the principal was conducting the school (another one of his old buddies when he was playing at being principal), he calls some LULAC flake. Then he proceeds to go after the teacher who passed along what was public information.

The guy has been trained in smear tactics by none other than Robby Collins himself. His pcard record alone should have gotten him fired. Then it was the Preston Hollow fiasco where Mr. Community Relations cost the district millions in a lawsuit. Then it was ethics violations.

But he never goes away. Where would he go? Do local businesses still need well-dressed tokens, or is that job role gone away with the disco era?

And why would Hinojosa even think of promoting him now? Hinojosa is actively looking everywhere for a job. How does promoting Rene help his search?

Come November, Hinojosa is gone. The new candidates are not going to view some disco-era leftover token as necessary to educating students in this district.

What is imperative is to be responsible and not allowing your certification renewal to come close to or expire.

There is a big gap here 5-13-2000 and it is now 2007. This person should have been RIF’d. I will definitely Email this to TEA.

[Ed Note: But he's not a teacher! I thought the goal was to only RIF teachers--not administrators!]

My wife's birthday was June 25. I have a healthy appreciation for remaining in one piece.

Hazards of being a one-man show :)

Hey, why don't you blog!

Summary-

Instead of concerning themselves with their civic duty in asking questions about the secrecy of the budget process, Adelpha's clowns showed up only to throw fits about naming a school for her.

Ten years from now, who is going to care?

But ten years from now, if the board isn't changed in Nov and this sleazy supt and his CFO are not shown the door, the taxbill of citizens could easily rise each year beginning in 2010-2011 for the same lousy, corrupt garbage, the same Detroit look-alike that is apparent now.

Throm showed his true colors Thus night. He was openly insubordinate to Carla Ranger and sat there and told the BIG LIE to the board when questioned about the spending practices of this district.

Get this, folks, did you know that the previous reserve of $100 Million was put there over, according to Throm, "100 years or 50 years."

Did you know that? Probably not, because it's a BIG LIE.

Did you know that Throm considers the idea of presenting a line item budget to the public months before the vote occurs some idea from another planet?

Did you know he has no intention of creating budget information that allows last year's budget to be compared to this year's?

Did you know that the members of this board are totally outgunned by the manipulations of this superintendent and his gang of cronies?

Hinojosa created total chaos from Feb-May over gutting the magnets. Throm helped him every step of the way by lying to the public until Lew Blackburn finally made him admit after hours of debate in May that there was no cap on spending in the magnets.

As a result of all that chaos, the board and public has had no chance to scrutinize the budget.

Throm threw up every roadblock possible Thurs night to any discussion of whatever is in the budget.

It comes down to this. Hinojosa is a pathological liar. He will hire like. Until 3 board members are put in place in November who will fire this supt and tell the next one to offload half the expenses of the still bloated central administration, TAXES WILL RISE ON THE SISTER SCHOOL DISTRICT OF DETROIT.

This supt is no better than Detroit's mayor who has just taken up residency in Southlake. This district is a jobs program for cronies and friends of the supt. Teachers and support staff are kept totally in the dark while the supt and his crooked buddies load their pockets.

Throm told some long-winded story Thurs night about TEA keeping stimulus money and that bull is the basis of no salary schedule for teachers. THAT IS ANOTHER BIG LIE. All the school districts around Dallas have passed their budgets or are in the process and no one has stated they have no salary schedule for teachers because of TEA.

THROM WILL CONTINUE TO LIE TO THE BOARD AS LONG AS HE IS EMPLOYED HERE. HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF TRANSPARENCY.

Long time ago, community members met and went over the DISD budget line by line. According to Throm, he will only meet the minimal demanded by the law.

Great--then Larry, this is not the place for you to be, is it? Those are not YOUR tax dollars, and the public has every right to demand community meetings where a line item budget is presented and discussed.

Regarding the previous post on Rene Martinez--apparently the supt has added 50 positions in this time of a huge deficit. Where are they? Who are they? Who knows?

Job openings for teachers are not being posted, as per law.

Until these board members are changed out and a new supt and administrative team arrive, expect more of Detroit politics in this school district.

As far as Jerome Garza (the MOST STUPID BOARD MEMBER IN HISTORY) and his remarks that academics are just great now, Jerome, you are an idiot. The completion rate is less than 50%. Look at the actual scores in this district and compare them across the state. You are at the BOTTOM. Welcome to the new Detroit.

After November, all the lackies promoted by Hinojosa will be shown the door. That will include Martinez. All the pcard violators will be scrutinized by the new supt who will be chosen to tolerate none of this thievery.
Things are going to be very different, and there will be no place for Hector or Rene in the new regime.

Regime change means just that. There are many, many parents who will demand the right to take a close look at the candidates, not the usual business of the board choosing in secrecy.

Martinez has left a record that can't be disputed. Look at the facts, not the smoke being blown by his cronies. pcard, preston hollow, no results from all his work other than to give him a blank check to circulate with his other do-nothing buddies.

The new system is not going to look like the old system. Nepotism...hiring friends and family. Maybe if Leigh Ann could figure this out and quit voting with Ellis and Garza she would stand a chance in November. She could start by voting against a raise for Viramontes and hold the supt to his previous remarks that no new admnistrators would be hired.

Simply get out the budget and ask where Martinez's job is--it wasn't there last board meeting, so where did it come from? Was the budget supposed to be passed with no scrutiny from the board or the public. Martinez and his job were supposed to be a big secret, just like his continued pcard use after he was told to quit misusing the public's money?

Leigh Ann has many choices to make between now and Nov or there will be someone to remove the supt and all his friends after Nov. Leigh Ann still has time to be an advocate for children instead of a rubberstamp for the supt. who is very dismissive of her.