Observer Questions Motives of Park Cities Residents
Muckracker Jim Schutze has a new cover story titled “The North Dallas Plot to Takeover DISD.” In it, he questions the motivations of Park Cities people (note the all-important lowercase p) and others in getting involved with the public school system.
An excerpt:
In the recent Dallas school board election, an unprecedented river of cash poured into a handful of campaigns, the lion’s share from donors in downtown, the Park Cities, Preston Hollow and far North Dallas. That money came from affluent people, the majority of whom are white, some of whom must think that sending their own kids to a public school in Dallas is like sending them to the gallows.
Schutze explores many possibilities for the sudden flow of cash, including the extremes that:
- “A bunch of wealthy white people” suddenly decided to start supporting DISD out of the goodness of their hearts, as DISD trustee Mike Morath (who lives in Preston Hollow) claims.
- The flow of cash is actually a sinister one, meant to create charter schools that will pluck the best students out of DISD and leave the others “behind to rot,” as Black community activist Joyce Foreman believes.
The article isn’t just extremes, though. It holds a number of interesting points about various public school reform efforts, as well as an interview with Highland Park resident Harlan Crow.
for pete’s sake, it couldn’t get any worse.
plenty of park citizens send their kids to DISD
magnets, so why not try to have a say in how
it is run?
What it all boils down to is that it is in all our best interests for DISD to be turning out productive and educated citizens. We can all say it’s not our problem, but eventually it will be. A lot of people are fed up with the direction DISD has been heading. I think it’s great that the two magnet schools are tops but we need all of the schools to be of a good caliber. It is no easy feat to deal with some of the populations and parents that are within a large district with many different priorities. Stressing education and having the know how to put a measurable plan into place is not for the faint of heart. I commend Mike Morath for taking on a thankless job as someone who has already achieved his own success in the corporate world and is now trying to make a difference in his city. (I am in no way negating that all school board members do this. It is just that much more remarkable that he has committed to take TEN years to do all he can for DISD). Anyway, we all want to see DISD do well, not just those who live within its boundaries.
LOL at you calling another reporter a muckraker.
Pot, meet kettle.
Much of the impulse to jump in and help comes from the belief, frankly, that it just can’t be that hard. DISD takes huge sums of money to educate kids with sub-dismal results. Some of their administrative decisions would be comical if not so sad. Lots of us watching feel like, with a little effort and elbow grease, we could have em ship shape in no time. First step: break the monstrosity into sub-districts of manageable size. The kids are too important to be left to the current culture of failure…
I agree, Carol.