Talk of Waco

By Fred

May 16, 2008 5:57 AM | Link to this

Regretably, the best and brightest WISD teachers have already fled WISD. One of the reasons is simple lack security for the teachers and “lack” of control of the kids within the public schools. When the home unit breaks down then the children are wild and unruly at school. Waco leads the State of Texas in per capita poverty…..hopelessness at home. WISD is rated low by TEA and most of the WISD students can’t even pass the TAKS test. TEA has threatened school closures and “lock-outs”. Like it or not; WISD is one of the worst school districts in the State of Texas. Believe me, this keeps outside businesses from locating in Waco.

By Not a FAn

May 16, 2008 6:44 AM | Link to this

The Wisd was so focused on raising our taxes they forgot about educating our CHILDREN!

172 Million does not buy TAKS SCORES, or QUALITY ADMINISTRATORS!

If you are thinking about sending your child to the WISD think again, you should explore Charter Schools (Public, no cost to you).

THE WISD BEST DAYS ARE IN THE PAST! Wait for the current TAKS scores and you will see we are failing our kids.

Yes there will be a new UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL, fresh, clean walls for the locals to tag, SPRAY PAINT GRAFFITI!

By null

May 16, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this

I have a family member who is a teacher. Fred hit the nail right on the head in a post above; Many children have horrible parents and the school is no more than a “baby sitter” to many wild and unruly children. I’m tired of continually funding this mess. The horrible parents should pay!

By Scott

May 16, 2008 9:33 AM | Link to this

This school has had problems for years. Both my daughters attended when it Was Doris Miller Montessori in early/mid-nineties…what a farce. Was a lot of window dressing with no substance and a huge disappointment. My daughters were actually academically behind the other kids once they went to the next school.Typically Montessori kids are usually far ahead…i would suggest, based on having kids that went to elementary, middle, and high school in Waco, to avoid WISD at all costs. Most of the problem is not the staff/teachers…it is the kids that are absolutely out of control. My daughters finished high school out of state and i could not believe the heightened level of education vs. Waco…i should have taken them out of WISD in grade school.

By C.F.M.

May 16, 2008 9:33 AM | Link to this

Any thing I type in has been beat to death, but here goes one more time, putting more money in the school system does not make for better education,172 million dollars does not make for better, education, bonus for teachers does not make for better education, good god when does it stop. The children have to want to learn and that desire comes, from the parents, and the teachers, and not from money, teachers should want to teach for the desire to teach, parents should encourage their children to learn, and strive for excellence . I do not begrudge the teachers a fair salary, but when they are trying to bribe the teachers to teach, by giving them a bonus?, that is a no-no.. I am so sick and tired of the school board, and the officals throwing away our dollars on these stupid plans.. WAKE UP OUT THERE WACO CITIZENS

By Bearlysure

May 16, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this

Per Fred: ‘Waco leads the State of Texas in per capita poverty …’.

Although Waco proper has considerable poverty, it is not the lowest ranked major city in Texas. El Paso, Harlingen, and Laredo all rank lower than Waco. There are also communities in the greater Waco metropolitan area that rank reasonably high.

Some cities per capital income are shown below: Woodway 36,306 Hewitt 22,263 Temple 19,360 Abilene 16,577 McGregor 16,311 Killeen 15,323 Waco 14,584 El Paso 14,388 Belton 14,345 Brownwood 14,158 Harlingen 13,886 San Marcos 13,468 Lampasas 13,409 Laredo 11,084

By LFV

May 16, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this

I have to agree with many of the comments made also. Money will not educate the kids when the real responsiblilty begins at home, in which case many parents are not willing to take. Do you realiize that school staff is one of the most high risk area when it comes to insurance. You figure it out why. We’will pour in more money into new campuses, but in the classroom, things will be the same when kids either do not want to learn or just will not behave properly. It’s sad when you hear them talking back, using profanity and getting sent to alternative, and that’s some in the first grade. School board WAKE UP

By JMD

May 16, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this

Wake up Waco. Instead of taking the time to complain. Take the time to get involved with the school. The school district and the parent’s are not the only ones to blame. If you are not willing to be part of the solution then you may be part of the problem. When was the last time you volunteered to be a mentor. Have you though about becoming a Big Brother or a Big Sister? Stop complaining and start doing. Only the whole community can make Waco and WISD better.

By escapee

May 16, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this

I agree with the comment about quality teachers leaving WISD. I left WISD after about 10 years of teaching and I am teaching in a school in another school district in the area and have felt appreciated, valued, and glad I am there. Waco is not a bad place to work but it needs to show appreciation for what the teachers do and it needs to start from the top down.

By Parent

May 16, 2008 3:46 PM | Link to this

Not a future criminal My son was in Pre K at Doris Miller. He was called a N##### by another child when I contanted the school, the front office staff did not understand the problem because it was another Afican-American student so she thought that was how we called each other. I explained that I was not raising a N##### when the children were getting off the bus they were reffered to as future convicts and I heard teacher call another student trash. My other child was given a sack lunch for not turning an assigment( which she had) when I questioned this I was told it should be grateful she had something to eat because it was free. I pay full lunch for my children. The climate at some of the WACO schools needs to change. As long as they feel they are educating furture criminals, n****, and trash then that is what we will get. You get what you put into it. My children were neither an academic problem nor a behavior problem. Had they stayed they would have a low self-esteem and or self-worth how does that equal to commended results.

By Good Grief

May 16, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this

Blame the school… blame everyone else… Good parents generally have good kids. The teachers are at school, the parents aren’t. You’d be surprised how these kids really act when not in front of Mom or Dad (if they’re lucky enough to have both!). Bad parents produce bad kids. The school just has to deal with the bad kids. Bad parenting is to blame and if your child isn’t a good kid then just look in the mirror and see the problem. Bad parents generally have bad kids. Denial is how a bad parent will react, “not my baby!”….. phew….

By Teacher

May 16, 2008 6:17 PM | Link to this

Teaching is a very important profession and yes we do deserve a signing bonus for working at Doris Miller. As a teacher at Doris Miller this year I know first hand how much extra work we put in with our kids. We work very hard to help children who don’t come from the home life that most other kids come from. Doris Miller is a very tough environment for teachers to work in. For those who say we don’t need a bonus I challenge them to come and spend a day at Doris Miller and see what it is like. I also wanted to address the part of the article that states that 1/3 of the teachers are leaving due TEA recomendations, many good teachers are leaving not due to TEA but because we do not get the support we need from WISD administration and have found that other districts in the area will give you the support to be a good teacher.

By inner city teacher

May 16, 2008 6:54 PM | Link to this

I teach at a neighboring school that actually has lower SES children than Doris Miller. I agree that the teacher deserve extra pay because we put in a lot of extra hours. I kept up with my overtime last Spring out of curiosity and I put in over 60 hours of time outside of school just that Spring. It is very difficult to work in the inner city but my question is why do just new teachers signing on get the bonus and why just this school? My school is just as hard - do we get anything for hanging in there and loving kids who many times are uncertain how to accept love or who can be very difficult to handle? Do we have to be new people signing on instead of tried and true to a call to love kids in the inner city to get noticed? Just because my schools ratings are coming up we don’t get incentive? That seems like an interesting way to say thanks to teachers who have been laying down their lives for years.

By Publius

May 16, 2008 7:10 PM | Link to this

Not a Fan, you’re exactly right. $2,000 per year doesn’t buy good TAKS scores. $172 million does not buy good TAKS scores. No amount of money buys good TAKS scores.

But because no amount of money can buy good TAKS scores, should we stop trying?

Don’t fault your Waco ISD. Believe it or not, Fred hits the nail on the head when he says that when the home breaks down, children are wild & unruly at school. A full one-third of teachers leaving a school suggests significant problems, but the Waco ISD can’t opt to avoid trying to teach these children. The state mandates - in our constitution, no less - that every child have access to a free public education through grade 12. The state then requires not only that communities provide access, but that the children in those communities actually attend school.

WISD must teach what the state requires. WISD can’t opt not to teach these children. Obviously, WISD must have someone to do the job.

In business, when you cannot fill a position or keep the position filled, you must either (a) increase compensation and/or benefits or (b) lower the job requirements to attract a broader applicant pool. If one-third of the teachers leave and Doris Miller’s teachers truly treat students like those stories here, then it appears that the job requirements can legally go no lower. Thus, WISD must find some way - read: additional teacher compensation - to fill the positions.

If you don’t like it, call your state representative and state senator. Changes in public education in this State are a long time coming. If Austin makes positive changes in what WISD must do, then, maybe you can blame WISD.

Otherwise, you have only the option of urging your friends & neighbors to appropriately discipline their children.

By Roger

May 16, 2008 7:42 PM | Link to this

The children in the Waco schools are really no different then children of other areas. The parents are the same. We must learn how to teach reading, writing and math again. The schools need to be helped by the principle and their staff. Class needs to be set up where there is only 6 classes a day. That way you spend 50 minutes in each class. The system now only allows about 35 to 40 minutes. This means a teacher can not spend time walking around to see that each child understands how to do it. I went to a JR college and took a class that I knew. It was college algebra. The teacher was in such a hurry to go through the book that those that did not understand just failed. A bout half way through the quarter she became sick and could not continue, a new teacher came in and finished the year. He taught so those that did not understand where able to learn. He showed how to answer questions, then wrote some on the board for everyone to work in class. He walked around and watched to see if you were doing them right. If he saw that you had trouble, he would help. He wanted everyone to be able to pass the course. He could have taught the class the way we started and alot would have failed. What I am trying to say is we need new ideas in teaching, not just run the students through. If given a chance teachers will teach. Please do not worry about the state test to see if they are learning, they did not have it when we where in school. I think we did ok. We had good and bad teachers, just like now. Lets get the government out of the schools and let the teachers teach. They do not need the fear of job security, based on a test result.

By Roger

May 16, 2008 7:44 PM | Link to this

The children in the Waco schools are really no different then children of other areas. The parents are the same. We must learn how to teach reading, writing and math again. The schools need to be helped by the principle and their staff. Class needs to be set up where there is only 6 classes a day. That way you spend 50 minutes in each class. The system now only allows about 35 to 40 minutes. This means a teacher can not spend time walking around to see that each child understands how to do it. I went to a JR college and took a class that I knew. It was college algebra. The teacher was in such a hurry to go through the book that those that did not understand just failed. A bout half way through the quarter she became sick and could not continue, a new teacher came in and finished the year. He taught so those that did not understand where able to learn. He showed how to answer questions, then wrote some on the board for everyone to work in class. He walked around and watched to see if you were doing them right. If he saw that you had trouble, he would help. He wanted everyone to be able to pass the course. He could have taught the class the way we started and alot would have failed. What I am trying to say is we need new ideas in teaching, not just run the students through. If given a chance teachers will teach. Please do not worry about the state test to see if they are learning, they did not have it when we where in school. I think we did ok. We had good and bad teachers, just like now. Lets get the government out of the schools and let the teachers teach. They do not need the fear of job security, based on a test result.

By Roger

May 16, 2008 7:44 PM | Link to this

The children in the Waco schools are really no different then children of other areas. The parents are the same. We must learn how to teach reading, writing and math again. The schools need to be helped by the principle and their staff. Class needs to be set up where there is only 6 classes a day. That way you spend 50 minutes in each class. The system now only allows about 35 to 40 minutes. This means a teacher can not spend time walking around to see that each child understands how to do it. I went to a JR college and took a class that I knew. It was college algebra. The teacher was in such a hurry to go through the book that those that did not understand just failed. A bout half way through the quarter she became sick and could not continue, a new teacher came in and finished the year. He taught so those that did not understand where able to learn. He showed how to answer questions, then wrote some on the board for everyone to work in class. He walked around and watched to see if you were doing them right. If he saw that you had trouble, he would help. He wanted everyone to be able to pass the course. He could have taught the class the way we started and alot would have failed. What I am trying to say is we need new ideas in teaching, not just run the students through. If given a chance teachers will teach. Please do not worry about the state test to see if they are learning, they did not have it when we where in school. I think we did ok. We had good and bad teachers, just like now. Lets get the government out of the schools and let the teachers teach. They do not need the fear of job security, based on a test result.

By Annapolly

May 16, 2008 10:17 PM | Link to this

No problem here with paying teachers extra to work in the more troubled schools. Many professions do the same thing.

No doubt there are many kids out there in bad homes and WISD has no control over those situations. Those kids didn’t have a choice about the home in which they were born. So what are we going to do? Just lock ‘em all up for the rest of their lives? At the current rate of $60,000. per year to incercerate, does it make sense? For some of these kids there may be no other choice due to mental illness, but I’ll bet there are some out there that are borderline and could go either way.

WISD takes a very harsh, punitive stance even toward minor misbehavior, shuffling kids onto alternative campuses, ticketing, suspending, expelling.

There is a non-profit program called CARY in the Austin area which concentrates on at-risk youth in the very early stages of problems, working with the child, the school and the family as an advocate and as a mentor to the child. WISD needs to step up and support that type of program. The bond money should have gone to something like that rather than to new buildings.

We can’t change these parents, but we can start working with these kids in a more positive way. There are other solutions to this besides handcuffs and jails.

By Annapolly

May 16, 2008 10:17 PM | Link to this

No problem here with paying teachers extra to work in the more troubled schools. Many professions do the same thing.

No doubt there are many kids out there in bad homes and WISD has no control over those situations. Those kids didn’t have a choice about the home in which they were born. So what are we going to do? Just lock ‘em all up for the rest of their lives? At the current rate of $60,000. per year to incercerate, does it make sense? For some of these kids there may be no other choice due to mental illness, but I’ll bet there are some out there that are borderline and could go either way.

WISD takes a very harsh, punitive stance even toward minor misbehavior, shuffling kids onto alternative campuses, ticketing, suspending, expelling.

There is a non-profit program called CARY in the Austin area which concentrates on at-risk youth in the very early stages of problems, working with the child, the school and the family as an advocate and as a mentor to the child. WISD needs to step up and support that type of program. The bond money should have gone to something like that rather than to new buildings.

We can’t change these parents, but we can start working with these kids in a more positive way. There are other solutions to this besides handcuffs and jails.

By Vote For Vochers So your Kids can leave WISD

May 16, 2008 10:54 PM | Link to this

I am a product of Waco ISD so forgive me if I have spelling or grammer errors. As you may have guessed I don’t read much, but I do read some news on the computer at work when I get tired of playing hearts.

I am of the opinion (be it uneducated) that the $2000 is just a ploy to get a warm body at the teacher’s desk. If you do the math, you will conclude that $2000 will hardly cover the glass breakage, damage to your car and personal items stolen while you are inside teaching.

If you have any worth as a teacher, why even apply at these schools? With gas going to $5.00 per gallon by Sept. 2008 why risk getting car jacked when you can teach at Midway, Waco Baptist, St. Pauls, stop at Comet Cleaners and HEB on the way home and have dinner started in 15 mins. (Old School)

IF you could send your kids to any school and have it paid for 100% would it still be WISD. School vouchers make the school compete for your kids education. If you ran your business and had clients (students) like these schools, you would be out of bidness and eating spam.

No, its not going to change…..but its nice to dream, argue and fight….its the Baylor / Waco way !!!!

By Had enough?

May 19, 2008 9:38 PM | Link to this

WISD offering incentives for teachers to place themselves at risk in a low performing school isn’t going to change a school culture of apathy, disrespect and irresponsibility from children and parents. It will only expose more ambitious, well meaning teachers to the harsh reality that this large district is unable to educate children who come from families who have been the products of welfare and irresponsibility. Education is no longer a safety net for these children because short-sighted social programs have told them its alright to be broke and ignorant, we’ll feed you anyway.

Parents who present the problems aren’t looking for a way out, they’re looking for free childcare while they pusue their own wreckless lives. The real answer for the school board is to stop putting band-aids on the problem and have frank discussions in this community about what needs to happen in order for these schools to turn around. We need leadership on the campus and at the district level with the courage to call a duck a duck. I have found that such courage is not valued in Waco ISD.

As taxpayers we are getting no return on our investment. Show up at Doris Miller some time and see how you’re money is spent.