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Posted
32 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Phyllis Diller looking rough these days. 

Don't associate that cunt with Phyllis.

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Posted
11 hours ago, NWBuck said:

This is true from my experience... Especially when universities want to save money by cutting staff and reducing headcount and then bringing in consultants as defensible one time expenditures.

My uni has lost 35% of personnel in some areas but has hired (by my count) 12 different consultants or outside firms to sell us their bullshit ideas and leave with us not having any folks to do the regular work let alone any new initiative or manage the transition to a new paradigm. 

You just described the American business model.  Most companies, of all types but especially middle to large, are run by idiots who have yes men/women doing their bidding and the company usually only survives because middle management is holding the place together with bailing wire and duct tape.  

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Posted
23 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

You just described the American business model.  Most companies, of all types but especially middle to large, are run by idiots who have yes men/women doing their bidding and the company usually only survives because middle management is holding the place together with bailing wire and duct tape.  

Yeah, I used to harbor the notion that government was inefficient.

But then you give a clear-eyed look at most of private corporate America, and you realize it's a shit show everywhere you turn.  It's human nature.

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Posted
15 hours ago, Captainant said:

It is my vibe that the higher ed management pipeline is as dog shit and reliant on consulting as every other management pipeline that I've come across. Just there to make a splash and leave before everyone gets wet kind of thing.

Am I off base? I feel like everything is boiling down to profit and loss, even education and civic services

 

Well more leaders (Presidents) are leaving once they get their years in to get that salary and can retire. The average years of service for a President today is around 2-3 years. Are consultants to blame for that? Ehh, maybe.

What I’m finding is those who insist on using consulting firms for critical, executive positions do so because either the BoT or the President has no educational background/experience. Where I’m at now, our sister college needs a college President. So our Chancellor (that’s another story in itself) and BoT decided to use a search firm and pay them $150,000, all while we are in a “budget crunch.” What happened? It was declared a failed search. So they are going back out again this summer, using the same firm, paying the same 150k, and will come up with something that’s probably shit. 

A friend of mine and I have a theory—we believe those who are hired because of the search firm are told to enter into an agreement that when they get to a certain level and they need to do a nationwide search, they must use the search firm that found them their job. That keeps the firms going. 

 

But yes, there are some of my colleagues who really, really, really suck at their jobs—VPs, other Deans, etc. I’ve been told more than once that people like me because I’m a genuine leader who cares about higher ed and making the college run more efficiently while having student success compared to other leaders here who just want the paycheck. I appreciate that, sure, but it’s doing so much damage that we don’t need right now.

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

I’m hearing more and more people say their kid’s public school district has switched to a 4 day a week model. These are mostly districts in smaller towns around DFW, but it seems to be happening statewide.

Here’s a recent Texas Tribune article that discusses the trend:

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/14/texas-districts-four-day-school-weeks/

It seems the main driver is budget constraints and teacher shortages. Pay less for staff and overhead by only doing it 4 days instead of 5. Maybe attract or retain teachers.

The article says that test scores have been worse in schools with a 4 day week. Obviously that should be a major concern, depending on how strongly the data supports that.

Another major concern or question is how do families with 2 parents working full-time account for the off day? If they don’t have grandparents or other family nearby to help with childcare, what are they doing?

My personal reaction to this, like many other things, is fuck you Greg Abbott and anyone who supports him. To the extent that budget constraints prompted this change, he is the biggest reason for that. A pretty sad state of affairs when public schools in a wealthy state can’t afford to keep their doors open 5 days of the week. We can give tax breaks to crypto farms but can’t keep our schools open. If my blame is misplaced, someone please better inform me.

For any of you who have direct experience with this, particularly educators or families with kids in these districts, curious your thoughts.

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Posted

If you are going to or already have young kids in public schools, it would behoove you to find a district right now that is not projected to be battling enrollment decline. In DFW, that would be Denton ISD, Northwest ISD, HEB ISD, Aledo, and the northern burbs in Collin County. We are in HEB and already have an announced ballot initiative to raise property taxes to bridge the funding gap from the legislature. If that does not pass, we will have to cut programs that are very popular and proven to be very helpful to students.

Our district is probably one of, if not the best, districts in the state when it comes to academics & financial efficiency. If we are having to take measures like this, it's going to be very ugly for the districts around us with dwindling enrollment. What an shitty time to have a first grader and a kindergartner. We love our school, but I can't guarantee we're going to stay in Texas much longer at this rate. 

Posted

My kids go to Waco Midway. Good school. They announced a $170ish million bond package over the summer. Including a new elementary. The current one is 71 years old.

The bond was also gonna cover technology, infrastructure, and maintenance upgrade plus some additions to so middle schools and the HS.

All seemed reasonable to me and the wife.  

They announced earlier this week that the measure got cut in half. They're worried about funding. Plus their enrollment has dropped by about 150 kids in out of 8750 the last couple of years. Theyre  anxious and are being prudent which I respect.

My wifes friend works for the district and said about 80% of those enrollment loss numbers are to homeschool. 

Posted (edited)

My grandkids go to a school that is 4 day week, but private school. Most kids have the mom staying at home or if both parents work have a nanny that does a lot of the heavy lifting of driving and pick-ups and aftercare up to a certain age. There are no school buses and the expectation is that 100% of the responsibility is on the parents. 

And there is still so much griping and complaining about 4 days. I cannot imagine in a district where both parents work and there is no help and you have elementary aged children. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

Edited by Vegas64
Posted (edited)
38 minutes ago, LurkingHorn said:

If you are going to or already have young kids in public schools, it would behoove you to find a district right now that is not projected to be battling enrollment decline. In DFW, that would be Denton ISD, Northwest ISD, HEB ISD, Aledo, and the northern burbs in Collin County. We are in HEB and already have an announced ballot initiative to raise property taxes to bridge the funding gap from the legislature. If that does not pass, we will have to cut programs that are very popular and proven to be very helpful to students.

Our district is probably one of, if not the best, districts in the state when it comes to academics & financial efficiency. If we are having to take measures like this, it's going to be very ugly for the districts around us with dwindling enrollment. What a shitty time to have a first grader and a kindergartner. We love our school, but I can't guarantee we're going to stay in Texas much longer at this rate. 

HEB has its own school district now?  Damn, they really are branching out. What a great company. 

Edited by Biff Tannen
Dammit mchookem
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Posted
If you are going to or already have young kids in public schools, it would behoove you to find a district right now that is not projected to be battling enrollment decline. In DFW, that would be Denton ISD, Northwest ISD, HEB ISD, Aledo, and the northern burbs in Collin County.


How do places like Aledo and Collin County burbs have declining enrollment? Is the enrollment data publicly available somewhere?

Are they losing kids to homeschooling and private schools? Surely it’s not people just moving away.
Posted
29 minutes ago, Vegas64 said:

There are no school buses and the expectation is that 100% of the responsibility is on the parents. 

That's spreading to public school. My wife teaches at a brand new public school in Waco with 800 kids and they have 1 regular bus and 1 special needs bus. Every other kid is expected to walk or get a ride because they can't afford/find more drivers.

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Posted
14 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

 


How do places like Aledo and Collin County burbs have declining enrollment? Is the enrollment data publicly available somewhere?

Are they losing kids to homeschooling and private schools? Surely it’s not people just moving away.

 

I'm saying those districts are NOT experiencing enrollment decline. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, SimonBolivar said:

AVcTmfF.gif.03bbcdd7206f3962f38d028df02570a6.gif

 

At least your bond passed, ours over in Robinson lost.

 

I know.  My parents live in Robinson and voted for the bond.  From what I could tell from talking to them it seemed like a responsible ask 

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

TSBoE just changed how history will be taught ...

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) recently approved a new social studies teaching plan, effective for the 2025-2026 school year, that emphasizes Texas and U.S. history while reducing the focus on world history and cultures. The SBOE voted 8-7 on September 12, 2025, to adopt a chronological framework that prioritizes Texas history, which has been a point of contention and political debate, with conservative groups supporting the new plan and some educators and Democrats opposing it. This change aligns with a 2021 law prohibiting the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism and aims to provide more time for Texas history throughout students' K-12 education. 

 

https://dentonrc.com/news/state/state-board-of-education-oks-texas-heavy-social-studies-plan-setting-stage-for-clash-over/article_5fd19970-daaf-494d-852d-4270123f4a90.html

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Posted

T.E.A. Starting the new inquisition 

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/education/tea-investigate-teachers-school-staff-social-media-posts-charlie-kirk/269-32f215d0-cbfd-4df9-8bc0-0146341ea4d4#

Quote

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Education Agency will investigate public school teachers and school staff members who are accused of posting or sharing “reprehensible and inappropriate” content on social media about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The agency announced the investigations in a letter from TEA Commissioner Mike Morath that was sent to superintendents across the state on Friday. Gov. Greg Abbott also posted the letter on social media

Sorry about formatting. Did not get a plain text option 

Posted
T.E.A. Starting the new inquisition 
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/education/tea-investigate-teachers-school-staff-social-media-posts-charlie-kirk/269-32f215d0-cbfd-4df9-8bc0-0146341ea4d4#


AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Education Agency will investigate public school teachers and school staff members who are accused of posting or sharing “reprehensible and inappropriate” content on social media about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The agency announced the investigations in a letter from TEA Commissioner Mike Morath that was sent to superintendents across the state on Friday. Gov. Greg Abbott also posted the letter on social media
Sorry about formatting. Did not get a plain text option 

What are these people saying? Honestly, I would like to read what passes for "reprehensible and irresponsible" these days.

Posted
8 minutes ago, tchookem said:


What are these people saying? Honestly, I would like to read what passes for "reprehensible and irresponsible" these days.
 

To fire a public employee for expression that is unrelated to work, there still has to be some nexus to the work environment, meaning the effect of the speech in question has to make the job harder for others in some way or otherwise adversely affect the work environment.

So, the firing authorities will have to turn it into something work related in a pretextual fashion.  "Reprehensible and irresponsible" is a rather poor job of framing it that way ahead of time.

At least that's the way it was under oldlaw, and oldlaw was mostly made by reactionaries in this case, but not these particular reactionaries.

Of course, the current reactionaries aren't very good with oldlaw, but they're also getting mulligans from SCOTUS, so  . . . . .

Posted
19 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

TSBoE just changed how history will be taught ...

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) recently approved a new social studies teaching plan, effective for the 2025-2026 school year, that emphasizes Texas and U.S. history while reducing the focus on world history and cultures. The SBOE voted 8-7 on September 12, 2025, to adopt a chronological framework that prioritizes Texas history, which has been a point of contention and political debate, with conservative groups supporting the new plan and some educators and Democrats opposing it. This change aligns with a 2021 law prohibiting the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism and aims to provide more time for Texas history throughout students' K-12 education. 

 

https://dentonrc.com/news/state/state-board-of-education-oks-texas-heavy-social-studies-plan-setting-stage-for-clash-over/article_5fd19970-daaf-494d-852d-4270123f4a90.html

The football coaches teaching social studies to students who already don’t pay attention or care about shit are now going to be destroyed by this.

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Posted
To fire a public employee for expression that is unrelated to work, there still has to be some nexus to the work environment, meaning the effect of the speech in question has to make the job harder for others in some way or otherwise adversely affect the work environment.
So, the firing authorities will have to turn it into something work related in a pretextual fashion.  "Reprehensible and irresponsible" is a rather poor job of framing it that way ahead of time.
At least that's the way it was under oldlaw, and oldlaw was mostly made by reactionaries in this case, but not these particular reactionaries.
Of course, the current reactionaries aren't very good with oldlaw, but they're also getting mulligans from SCOTUS, so  . . . . .
Well counselor, you may be getting a DM from me. Keep an eye out.
Posted

This is making the rounds through the teachersphere... it may be fake news, but I gotta bad feeling it's legit.

Doesn't look like there's much space for discussing events like slavery and the Indian Removal Act.

Also, notice the 3-year blowjob Texas is going to give itself in middle school....

Yeah, like you never tried. IMG_20250914_192010.jpg

Posted
51 minutes ago, tchookem said:
1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:
To fire a public employee for expression that is unrelated to work, there still has to be some nexus to the work environment, meaning the effect of the speech in question has to make the job harder for others in some way or otherwise adversely affect the work environment.
So, the firing authorities will have to turn it into something work related in a pretextual fashion.  "Reprehensible and irresponsible" is a rather poor job of framing it that way ahead of time.
At least that's the way it was under oldlaw, and oldlaw was mostly made by reactionaries in this case, but not these particular reactionaries.
Of course, the current reactionaries aren't very good with oldlaw, but they're also getting mulligans from SCOTUS, so  . . . . .

Well counselor, you may be getting a DM from me. Keep an eye out.

Well, it's not my area, but I am familiar with the law on it.  

And, in the law that made the government can fire for otherwise protected expression, there was some "dictum" about teachers presenting a separate question not addressed.

I shudder to think how this Court might resolve that.

Posted
47 minutes ago, tchookem said:

This is making the rounds through the teachersphere... it may be fake news, but I gotta bad feeling it's legit.

Doesn't look like there's much space for discussing events like slavery and the Indian Removal Act.

Also, notice the 3-year blowjob Texas is going to give itself in middle school....

Yeah, like you never tried. IMG_20250914_192010.jpg

It's being pumped by a number of state legislators, so it's certainly their interpretation of the curriculum law.

Posted
52 minutes ago, tchookem said:

This is making the rounds through the teachersphere... it may be fake news, but I gotta bad feeling it's legit.

Doesn't look like there's much space for discussing events like slavery and the Indian Removal Act.

Also, notice the 3-year blowjob Texas is going to give itself in middle school....

Yeah, like you never tried. IMG_20250914_192010.jpg

Nice the way the curriculum mentions the perils of communism and avoids mention of the perils of Jim Crow.

Posted (edited)
9 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Nice the way the curriculum mentions the perils of communism and avoids mention of the perils of Jim Crow.

Or another 20th century -ism that was notable at the time.

Edited by flatdawgs
Posted
Nice the way the curriculum mentions the perils of communism and avoids mention of the perils of Jim Crow.
Yeah, it's currently: "The benefits of Capitalism". I'm counting this as a lateral.
Posted
4 minutes ago, tchookem said:
26 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:
Nice the way the curriculum mentions the perils of communism and avoids mention of the perils of Jim Crow.

Yeah, it's currently: "The benefits of Capitalism". I'm counting this as a lateral.

Middle school (at least upper ms) is not too young to read The Grapes of Wrath (although I remember some of my friend's parents not being cool with some of the passages--specifically the Rosasharn scene IYKYK) and that novel is such a nice display of capitalism in all its glory...my family used to joke that my great-grandparents were too poor to leave for California but it wasn't really a joke. They damn near starved to death. 

I didn't know when I read it (actually as a frosh in hs not middle school) about Steinbeck and the controversy with Sanora Babb's Whose Names Are Unknown.

I wish educators were given the freedom within a broad curricula to educate and excite students about the highs and lows of humanity in our country. Their lives and imaginations would be so much richer for it.

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Posted

My kids were all exhausted and bored with Texas history by the time they were done with middle school.  This looks to be even more exhausting and boring.  

Posted
My kids were all exhausted and bored with Texas history by the time they were done with middle school.  This looks to be even more exhausting and boring.  
Yeah, I teach 6th grade World Cultures. It's usually their first experience with 50 minutes a day dedicated strictly to social studies. I can't think of a better curriculum to foster a love of social studies. That was always my primary directive... don't make them hate social studies. This looks to kill that joy.

But the test makers will make money.
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Posted

It seems like many in Austin aren’t aware of the school consolidation plan that will announced Oct 3rd and voted on, on the 9th. A dozen or more elementary and middle schools will close and all attendance boundaries will be redrawn. AISD said in the Zoom call yesterday that every school will be affected and the boundary changes will be severe. They will also most likely eliminate transfers to force kids to attend their home schools.

TEA also moved the goal posts and just said AISD must develop improvement plans for 33 schools instead of the original dozen. The plans are still due in November. This is to assure the inevitable state takeover of the district.

TLDR: AISD is fucked.

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Posted
27 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

It seems like many in Austin aren’t aware of the school consolidation plan that will announced Oct 3rd and voted on, on the 9th. A dozen or more elementary and middle schools will close and all attendance boundaries will be redrawn. AISD said in the Zoom call yesterday that every school will be affected and the boundary changes will be severe. They will also most likely eliminate transfers to force kids to attend their home schools.

TEA also moved the goal posts and just said AISD must develop improvement plans for 33 schools instead of the original dozen. The plans are still due in November. This is to assure the inevitable state takeover of the district.

TLDR: AISD is fucked.

I agree that AISD is fucked. Only way out is fixing recapture and that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. They are being set up for a state takeover and that will speed up the decline in enrollment, especially at the higher end schools that can take advantage of vouchers. The lower end will continue to get whittled away by charters. 

 I feel the district has been dealt the most unfair hand of any district in the state. However, that does not absolve the district of terrible leadership over the last 10 years. Cruz had no idea how to put large scale systems in place. Elizalde was the nail in the coffin by running off most of the competent, long-term staff then bouncing to Dallas. They had to hire a home grown guy just to try to salvage what staff was left.

They are good at hiring west Austin principals who work with their involved communities. No clue how to run the other 2/3rds of schools. 

Not really my main focus with work right now but my company does own, manage and operate charters in other states. Would be hilariously ironic to come back to AISD to run 20 of their schools as charters and give no fucks about what their clown show administration wants. 

Posted

The classroom library approval thing is at least a year old.

I know all of our English teachers had to scan every book in their classroom library, the ISBN info, not the entire book obviously.

Any books not on approved lists set by the district were removed.

It also applied to Science and History as well. Anyone that had any books available for students to use had to put them in the database or remove them

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Posted

Strong rumor going around that Wooten Elementary will close and merge with Brentwood which puts that school over capacity.

I'm gonna guess our home elementary, Gullett, is gonna get fucked and merged with Pillow.

From the Zoom call, it sounds like the Beckett Elementary community already knows they're also closing.  

Posted
On 9/14/2025 at 6:39 PM, TwiceHorn said:

To fire a public employee for expression that is unrelated to work, there still has to be some nexus to the work environment, meaning the effect of the speech in question has to make the job harder for others in some way or otherwise adversely affect the work environment.

So, the firing authorities will have to turn it into something work related in a pretextual fashion.  "Reprehensible and irresponsible" is a rather poor job of framing it that way ahead of time.

At least that's the way it was under oldlaw, and oldlaw was mostly made by reactionaries in this case, but not these particular reactionaries.

Of course, the current reactionaries aren't very good with oldlaw, but they're also getting mulligans from SCOTUS, so  . . . . .

Teachers have a right to their personal opinions but they should exercise caution when posting anything online. Districts have often been ruled by a small minority of parents/citizen who clutch their pearls at anything.

We're not that far removed when a divorced, female teacher would be run out of a small town for being a disgrace and setting a bad example for the girls. Much less if they're posting opinions online that some in the community would disagree. I imagine there are busybodies in school districts that follow as many teachers as possible in an attempt to catch them posting anything scandalous, including going back in the teacher's history of social posts. Their goal is to find anything that would allow them to kick out a teacher. 

Posted
15 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

It seems like many in Austin aren’t aware of the school consolidation plan that will announced Oct 3rd and voted on, on the 9th. A dozen or more elementary and middle schools will close and all attendance boundaries will be redrawn. AISD said in the Zoom call yesterday that every school will be affected and the boundary changes will be severe. They will also most likely eliminate transfers to force kids to attend their home schools.

TEA also moved the goal posts and just said AISD must develop improvement plans for 33 schools instead of the original dozen. The plans are still due in November. This is to assure the inevitable state takeover of the district.

TLDR: AISD is fucked.

I am glad my youngest is a Soph. Only 2.5 years or so and we are free from AISD BS. Hard to fault the district as recapture just completely fucks them. But at least Temple has a stadium with LED lights and a Jumbotron 

Posted

Mike Miles is given $173k raise, on top of his $470k base salary and a contract extension. So the taxation without representation continues.

I simply do not understand how this is allowed. If the voter vote for elected officials then they should be in office, if the state removes those folks, then they are effectively saying your vote doesn’t matter.

So if we vote for Abbott then those should not count as well because we are incapable of self governance. So we should also be incapable of paying taxes then as well.

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Posted
2 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Strong rumor going around that Wooten Elementary will close and merge with Brentwood which puts that school over capacity.

I'm gonna guess our home elementary, Gullett, is gonna get fucked and merged with Pillow.

From the Zoom call, it sounds like the Beckett Elementary community already knows they're also closing.  

Wooten's elementary closing seems a strong possibility based on the data rubric.  I think the attendance zones would be modified for Brentwood to keep their capacity manageable.

 

Based on the data rubric, why do you think Gullet would be closed and merged with Pillow?

Posted
25 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

Why Fascists Hate Critical Thinking

Randi Weingarten’s new book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers, reveals why Trump and the right demean teachers, slash school funding, and rewrite history

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/randi-weingarten-excerpt-fascists-hate-critical-thinking-1235428379/

 

it's their game plan ....

Immediately after seizing power in 1933, the Nazis passed the "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service." This legislation provided the basis for dismissing teachers based on their political views (especially communists and social democrats) or their race.

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Posted

Why Fascists Hate Critical Thinking

Randi Weingarten’s new book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers, reveals why Trump and the right demean teachers, slash school funding, and rewrite history  
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/randi-weingarten-excerpt-fascists-hate-critical-thinking-1235428379/

No reviews so far, but I have some Audible credits that I need to burn, so I just started listening.


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