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swraith

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Posts posted by swraith

  1. 24 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

    There is a lot of anti-charter sentiment in the public education world. This is especially true in AISD where they have pulled students away and made the funding crisis much worse. 

    My guess is the administration wants to be able to say they tried everything before going that route. It’s a political move as much as anything.

    I view TEA takeover of AISD as an existential issue.  It is likely the action that would require me to remove my children from AISD.  I have no desire for political moves that play around with that outcome.

    • Hook 'Em 3
  2. On a different topic, years ago Bozo mentioned the Austin Monitor as a source of local news.  I liked their product and donated over the past couple of years.  Austin Monitor announced an asset sale to the Texas Tribune.  Even after reading the FAQ I still don't quite understand what is going on or why.  Other than I'm assuming the Austin Monitor had a funding issue.

    The Austin Monitor joins forces with the Texas Tribune  - Austin MonitorAustin Monitor

  3. 2 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

    They are going with a restart approach, with a charter safety valve.

    The schools are going to be restarted over the summer, with new administration.  They are going to use something like the ACE model (Accelerating Campus Excellence).  This will be their fifth year of possible F's in a row and they need a D to pause closure and a C to clear it for five years.

    They are going to test the students at the middle of the year and see how it is going.  If it is not going well, they are going to seek an 1882 partnership with a charter school provider so that they can avoid getting the fifth F.  They have to initiate this change by mid-Dec if needed, so the students have very little time to show progress in the fall.

    The ACE model does include hefty stipends, so it will cost an additional $1.7 million per year, per school, to implement.  The district already has a deficit over $100 million per year.  At their current spending rate, they will begin to violate their board policy of having 20% of costs in reserve this summer and will have no reserves by the summer of 2026.

    They have a lot of schools that are 1-2 years behind these three in getting their fifth F in a row, so they may have additional schools in the same situation by the 2026-27 school year.

    Call me pessimistic but I don't see how performance could improve enough between now and December for the Board to feel confident enough to not pull the charter school safety valve lever. Risking the 5th "F" is a decision borne from hubris or a complete failure in strategic risk management.

  4. 4 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

    Yep, and AISD is about to ruin all of that improvement in one fell swoop.   Segura (superintended) was never qualified for the job in the first place, although to be fair the last couple before him were even worse despite having the credentials.  He did a terrible job in the meeting last night, blatantly lying and doubling down when called out by angry parents.   They would have gained much more traction if they were just fucking honest about it.   

    As Larry mentioned, Lamar families are a fairly altruistic bunch.  The messaging from the dumbasses in central office should had been, "You know what, we've failed these kids for years and have failed to foresee what was an extremely obviousy situation that is now upon us and we have planned absolutely nothign for it.   The Lamar community has demonstrated the ability to put in the tough work that families have to do to make an inner city school work, and we're asking you to help out your neighbors now because there really isn't much we as administrators can do at this point."   This would have gone over much better than the lying, obfuscating, and refusal to accept any ownership for the situation that those cowards presented last night.  What a sorry bunch of overpaid dipshits, starting with and especially the superintendent.   Vouchers are already going to further decimate AISD, but this move will send a ton of high performing kids to private schools whose familes, just a week ago, were ride or die with the public school system.

    I don't think Segura could have said anything last night that would have appeased the cohort of angry parents and teachers.  Late into the evening 1 Lamar teacher basically said out loud they are likely going to quit at the end of the year.

  5. 7 minutes ago, 'stache said:

    Is it seriously the policy now that the US exports to Cambodia should equal imports from Cambodia? Is the US supposed to start making cheap t-shirts at slave wages instead of just buying them from overseas? Is the republican party now against free trade? I seriously cannot comprehend the party from top to bottom just going along with this after decades of being full blown proponents of globalization. 

    maybe they can buy some military hardware? it doesn't seem like Europe is going to want to purchase it going forward

    • Rage+1 1
  6. 52 minutes ago, royiv said:

    My god, some of you guys will bitch about anything. Look north up I-35 to Dallas and take a look at Klyde Warren Park to see the model for what caps could become in Austin. Klyde Warren Park is an incredible urban amenity and Austin is going to miss out on an incredible opportunity that has the ability to change the fabric of central Austin for generations if it can’t figure out how to fund this.

    I agree.  I think Dallas was correct to get Klyde Warren Park built.  

    The Austin proposals are for caps that are at least 2x the size of the park in Dallas.  I hope we get some caps built, even if the final cost for all the caps can't be digested.  I hope UT also drops some $$ to permanently do caps by campus to transform the 40 acres in a way that hasn't been imagined for decades.

    • Hook 'Em 1
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