Comments about the hearing last night

Last night I attended the first of two presentations regarding the High School Zoning changes that will occur next year. I now have a better understanding of the complexity of this issue than I did previously. I have an even greater respect for the School Board and Administration that have to sort all of this out. I thought that Mr. Tony Swafford and Mr. Gene Holloway did a great job at presenting the information and answering the questions. In fact, they answered all of the questions and took follow-up questions from the group. It was obvious that although they answered the questions, most of the people in the audience did not like what they heard. There were several points that became clear to me as a result.

I was surprised based on the importance of this issue that there were only a few parents that attended the presentation. I am guessing that 30 or so attended the session. Given that this blogger has been averaging over 200 hits a day and growing. At the end of the day regardless of the final outcome, I urge you to attend these meetings because they seem to be the only place to make your opinions heard. In addition, there is a document that you can fill out for comments of recommendations for the School Board.

It was obvious that the distance the kids had to travel to school and the inconveniences that go along with this did not matter.

It was made clear that the continuance of neighborhood schools and the common sense of that did not matter.

It was clear that the cost of transportation for the school district did not matter.

I drove home thinking that my opinions did not matter.

The only thing that did matter in the new zone districts was making sure that the percents of the reduced and free lunch students at Denton High and Ryan were not above the average percent of the entire district. Hence, some neighborhoods right down the street from Guyer must attend these schools to maintain the numbers, and many kids will have to drive by Ryan on the way to Denton High for the same reason. Oh by the way, they may have to bus kids into Guyer from other areas North to make the numbers look better at Guyer. I have learned that this is a DISD Board mandate that the district must adhere to. I very much respect that, and I personally believe it is the right thing to do. However, I just can’t comprehend that there is not a better way to get this done where diversity exists and kids can attend schools down the street. Maybe it is because I have always been a business man where there always seems to be a solution for a complex situation even though disaster often time seems right around the corner. Maybe I’m just plain wrong.

We learned that internal staff at DISD administration did the Zone study. I have no doubt that they are very good at what they do, and respect the countless hours they spent on this proposal. However, I can’t help but wonder if an independent study should have been conducted to determine if there is a better way to get this very difficult task done. Maybe there should be one.

Regardless of what you think of the new zone changes. Please make your opinions known to the DISD Administration. I firmly believe that they are trying to do the right thing for our children. I also know that there are hundreds of teachers and administrators that work hard every day in the best interests of our children. For this I am very grateful and believe that all of us are indebted to them. Personally I feel a tremendous amount of guilt for not being more involved over the last 10 years my children have been in DISD. Whatever the outcome of this issue, I intend to be more involved with the DISD to help make all the schools the best they can be.