Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Tatum is in a pickle now!

So here we go friends!!

Our dear friend the Reverend Tatum, not sure how you retain a title if you don't fulfill your obligations, but that's besides the point.

He began a group The Good Hands Program to help students learn a lesson.  At first thought this seemed like a good thing to help our kiddos understand how to earn our keep and be responsible.

Now it comes out that the district told him not to run the program and he did anyway tying himself to the contract the district awarded him to work with students.  We all had a bad state about the deal but that's approved and done.  So this summer deal seems like it was not part of it.  Now students are asking for their hard earned money and Tatum wants the district to pay it.

So pointing fingers at this point is not finding a solution to the situation.  Tatum is responsible knowing that he was not to move forward with the program.

The only other reservation we have is how these children were on the campuses without anyone in the district knowing or for that matter reporting that underage children are working?  I can see the district saying that they did inform Tatum about this but at the same time does the district not bear any responsibility for supervision?  The information pasted all over the facebook page and no one noticed?

Normally the district tells its principals to let hourly pay employees know that they cannot work overtime without approval and that they cannot come to functions after hours even if they want to volunteer because by law they have to be paid for "helping" the school.  Would this rule apply to some degree?

Again students went on a false premise that their work would pay off and now someone needs to save face, pay the students and move on.  The message the students are learning is surely not what was intended but adults will be adults especially when money is involved.  I heard a phrase in the bible say that money is the root of all evil.. not sure if anyone is listening nowadays.  Funny how even the most reverend of them all does not apply any teachings.

You be the judge!



http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/07/29/6004471/students-say-the-school-district.html?rh=1





Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Days of Our Children's Lives starring Tobi Jackson

Well friends, first of all, thank you for reading our blog and for commenting.  We need to stay informed to make sure that we help improve the system.  The blog is not so much a place to complain but rather bring out the transparency of FWISD and make them accountable.

Well many of you  may know Board Member Tobi Jackson who was elected to represent District 2 which covers most of East Fort Worth.  For the past months until her announced resignation from Prime Prep, she took on the lead of the academy.  The academy has been marred with so much negativity and bad decisions by adults.  In all students who were former FWISD enrollees made the decision to join the academy as it was touted mainly because of the Deion Sanders.  We questioned how an elected member of a public school system would endorse a charter.  We heard from both sides and she indicated that her job was no different than someone who lives in another district being a board member in ours.  Others weren't so fast to forgive because how can you be for public schools and represent it and then advocate for charter schools.  Well in one of her recent Facebook postings she indicates that these are public charter schools because they receive state funding.  Obviously she boasts about her schools and the improvements thereof and yet children were going to another institution.  Why would the children not stay in FWISD?  If things were going great, why leave?  Tobi turns a blind eye to the issues affecting our kids and not until she went to Prime Prep did she begin to realize that our kids are affected by extreme poverty.  Hence she called on the mayor and everyone else to join her for a walk to help the students.  So since 2010 she had not realized that students in district 2 needed help?

Now she is on a campaign to help the students return to FWISD.  Using them as pawns for her intentions to run again next year for the board. Truth be told she intended to leave Prime Prep once she thought that she could get elected president of the board.  That plan failed because she has no leadership and does not have good standing with her colleagues.  While Norm Robbins is not one of our favorites, it's the better of two evils.  We appreciate her dedication to Eastern Hills and we want her to know that District 2 has other schools that also need the attention but we don't hear much about it.  Only when a prize or recognition is won does she show up to take the picture but other than that we don't hear anything.  There are plenty of events that she shows up and that's it, nothing more than to say I was here.  Leadership requires you to be hands-on and I don't mean just hand shaking, doing the work as an example.

The results we have now are the type of leadership she has supported, actions that speak.  The results are worse than ever!  No transparency whatsoever.





2015 is board election year and know that we are coming after her to make sure that she does not continue to hurt our students.  Here is a link of a story that doesn't come up often, how she got questionable funds by an indicted lawyer and basically covered it up:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/26/3916335/fort-worth-lawyer-indicted-on.html

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/13/3219973/fort-worth-school-board-trustees.html

Here Ms. Jackson points out how great things were at Prime Prep, yet she resigned?  Doesn't a leader see things to the end regardless?  Then she goes on to celebrate students finishing the STAAR exam.  We are all for celebrating students but supporting a testing system that has failed our students?  See for yourself:
http://www.greatermeadowbrooknews.com/GMN_back%20issues/2014%20web%20pdfs/GMN%20May15.2014-web.pdf

Interesting how Tobi works: http://www.texassharon.com/2011/04/12/fwisd-trustees-lobby-for-chesapeake/