What caught our eye is what Tobi was using at the time to get Jean McClung out. Which is ironic to say the least. Seems that things are still the same and makes us think that we should move her out as well.
What do you think?
Challengers question Fort Worth school district's performance
Posted Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010
By EVA-MARIE AYALA
eayala@star-telegram.com
FORT WORTH -- Two challengers have filed against school trustees, saying they are concerned about the district's academic and financial performance.
Tobi Jackson filed to run against longtime Trustee Jean McClung, who has represented parts of east Fort Worth for 20 years, for the District 2 seat. Ann Sutherland is challenging Chris Hatch, who has held his District 6 seat, representing the city's southwest side, since 2004.
Four school board members are up for re-election on the May 8 ballot.
District 2
Jackson, 49, a math and science instructor at the ATI Career Training Center, said she decided to run for the board because she was concerned about the quality of education, particularly on the east side.
She noted that Eastern Hills High and Meadowbrook Middle schools have been rated academically unacceptable by the state in recent years. Meadowbrook was rated academically acceptable in 2009.
"I look at the schools on my side of town, and they don't look like the schools that they were," said Jackson, who attended those schools. "I think it's time for a fresh face, fresh approaches and new leadership."
McClung, a community volunteer, said the ratings don't tell the whole story. For example, Eastern Hills Principal Dian Korman came out of retirement to lead that school again, she said.
"She is on the right path to bring it back," McClung said. "I don't think anyone realizes how hard it is for an urban school district to really be where they need to be when you have a low socio-economic area with kids being transient all the time."
McClung also credits new curriculum in Fort Worth for resulting in gains districtwide.
District 6
Sutherland said she is concerned about the district's finances, particularly the $1.5 million the district overpaid employees and former employees as a result of glitches in a payroll system conversion. About $1.3 million has been recovered.
Sutherland, 70, a former educator and budget analyst who spent most of her career in California, said she wants to serve on the board to help it get a hold on financial issues. She said she is concerned that an internal audit of the payroll system was not adequate to determine what went wrong and whether that was all the money that was overpaid.
"It's obvious that they need to be looking at it more closely," she said. By not supporting an external audit, Hatch "is not doing his job as the person responsible for overseeing the audit committee of the district."
At its last meeting, the board did vote to seek requests for proposals to determine how much external audits would cost -- one to look at previous payrolls and one to look at the payroll process.
Hatch, 63, a certified public accountant who is chairman of the district's audit committee, supported seeking the proposals but said an external audit would likely cost too much and provide no new information. The internal audit completed in January found flaws in the payroll process that district officials said have been fixed or are being corrected.
"We made every reasonable effort to implement this and get people trained and as the months go on, there are no more issues," Hatch said.
Redistricting
The district declared a state of financial emergency for the second year in a row last week after being forced to lay off dozens of employees last year.
But despite financial challenges, Hatch said Fort Worth has been able to see the number of schools rated academically recognized and exemplary grow each year.
He also noted that the district's bond program is about $38 million under budget, largely because of favorable market prices for construction.
"I think we've done an excellent job," Hatch said of the district's finances.
Trustees Christene Moss of District 3, on the east side, and Judy Needham of District 5, on the west side, are unopposed so far.
The seats are generally held for four years, but the district plans to redraw its trustee boundaries in 2012 as it changes the configuration of the board.
Currently eight board members are elected from geographic locations and a ninth is elected as president by voters districtwide. The school board is the only one in the state to use that system.
The board will move to nine geographic boundaries and members will elect a president from among themselves.
EVA-MARIE AYALA, 817-390-7700
Looking for comments?
Don't forget this when she was at the ATI Center...
One word Tobi - KARMA. Is the East Side better off? Absolutely NOT. Your plan to "solve" the problem is to ensure your children go elsewhere while hundreds endure two hour bus rides which you called; "opportunities for time management". Please just withdraw. You are a disgrace. What you have done to employees and children is disgraceful.
ReplyDeleteshould read: "opportunities to study...time management"
ReplyDeleteI believe it was ".....opportunities to study - time management"
ReplyDeleteThe district will not change unless someone steps up... Ya'll will be left still complaining about our crazy ass board. (Say ya'll cause I don't live in ftw therefore I can't vote)..
ReplyDeleteFour of the nine seats are up for election in May. So far, Trustees Christene Moss and Judy Needham have no opponents, and Trustees Ann Sutherland and Tobi Jackson have opponents.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article11120099.html#storylink=cpy
The races are heating up. Needham has two opponents. We are waiting for one against Moss. Crunch time.
ReplyDeleteNow it's a race in District 5. Medusa has two opponents. While we don't need another bully, we do need Moss out. For that reason I hope Dansby runs. The real question in this election is: will the big money special interests represented by Ray Dickerson and friends - including any fool supporting Cecelia Speer (REALLY?), beat the rank and file voters and parents - people with a REAL stake in the children of FWISD?
ReplyDeleteExactly. East side is not good enough for her own but still doesn't do enough for the ones there. Vote for change.
ReplyDelete"Who only shows up for photo ops"
ReplyDeleteWho ever runs this blog obviously has no ties to east side. She's in the schools and neighborhoods more than all the other school board members combined.