Irving ISDs Steven Jones is right to challenge status quo
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas As
a member of the Irving ISD School Board Steven Jones has done the unthinkable. A board member who is a conservative who questions stupid and costly decisions made by the board and actually attempts to represent the interests of children parents and taxpayers
he has challenged the status quo.
Question wasteful spending and the Irving ISDs fixation with bilingual education? Instead of just the education establishment?
But even these things might not call for censure. Jones real crime is his opposition to bilingual education.
These things are simply not done. As anyone in the educational bureaucracy will tell you Texas schools are run by experts" who know how to run them better than you do and what we should really do is give the schools about $8 billion of additional funding and then butt out.
Jones thinks otherwise.
His first crime was his decision to run for the Irving board of trustees. School board members are not supposed to be conservative businesspeople who have designs on change. They are supposed to be former teachers or liberal activists who will bow to the whims of the school superintendent.
Jones second crime was that he won. And get a load of his platform. During the campaign he said
I am running for the Irving school board because I have watched the actions of the current board and question its judgment on three major items."
Note to future candidates: Youre not supposed to question the school board. Thats why it meets late at night and nobody goes.
But Jones dared question the board when it voted to extend the superintendent an additional 36-month contact after just seven months on the job. The board said it wanted stability." Jones wanted excellence." He also noted that while no teachers were being hired the board was openly searching for two more assistant superintendents. He thought the district needed fewer bureaucrats and more teachers.
His biggest crime of all though related to educations biggest sacred cow: bilingual education.
Back in 2011 WFAA-TVs Gary Reaves did a story about then-candidate Jones desire to add an English immersion program to the bilingual mandate required by the state. A conversation he had with bilingual coordinator Pascuala Sifre was a harbinger. As related by Reaves Jones asked her about how she pronounces her own name.
When I introduced myself as Pascuala Sifre he did ask why I say my name with a Hispanic accent" she said.
But Jones was having trouble understanding her. So he asked
When you speak to Hispanic children in English do you use a heavy Hispanic accent?" Jones says she didnt answer.
I said I hope you dont because I speak English fluently and I couldnt understand a word you said."
Sifre filed a complaint with Superintendent Dana Bedden.
Fast-forward to 2013 and the complaints are still coming. Jones additional crimes include micromanaging" duties reserved by law for the superintendent; explaining to a new assistant superintendent that her job was wasteful" and might be eliminated; and explaining to the districts director of world languages" that the board wanted to push for that English immersion plan.
Board President Ronda Huffstetler says its a pattern of incidents. Censure became necessary along with a request to the Texas Education Agency to investigate.
Investigate what?
A board member who is a conservative who questions stupid and costly decisions made by the board and actually attempts to represent the interests of children parents and taxpayers instead of just the education establishment? But even these things might not call for censure. Jones real crime is his opposition to bilingual education.
In a district where 70 percent of the children are Spanish speakers you simply do not speak of such things as English immersion even if it does work every time its been tried. You do not take on the coordinator of bilingual education. And you sure dont want to offend the director of world languages.
Join me online at BeLogical.com. And until next time be logical.
Join Lynn Woolley online at BeLogical.com. The Lynn Woolley Radio Show can be heard Monday-Friday from 8:00 am 11:00 am in Lubbuck-Amarillo (KVOP 1090) Midland-Odessa (KCRS 550) Waco (KBBW 1010) & Temple-Killeen-Ft. Hood (KTEM 1400) and Navasota (KWBC 1550).
