Lew Blackburn denies the third request for Board vote on High Stakes Testing

Friday, April 20, 2012

Lew Blackburn denies the third request for Board vote on High Stakes Testing

This is actually the third request and Board President Lew Blackburn's reply.
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-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	RE: Corrected Copy - RE: Second Board Agenda Request -- Resolution Concerning High Stakes, Standardized Testing - TASA and TASB
Date:	Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:57:57 +0000
From:	Blackburn, Lew
To:	Ranger, Carla
CC:

Trustee Ranger,

I noticed that you did not address your request to me, although I did respond to your requests. I am choosing to respond again.

Board policy BE(LOCAL) vests authority for preparing the agenda with the Board President and the Superintendent of Schools. In addition, three board members may request that an item be placed on the agenda and BE (LOCAL) requires that such be done within 60 days of the presentment of the request.

I did not say that there was a policy that required a consensus of the trustees for an item to be placed on the agenda. My statement was an observation of the trustees’ actions at the board briefing.

However, as I indicated during the Board Briefing, if three (3) trustees request that the resolution be placed on the agenda, I will honor the request. As of today, you are the only trustee who has made the request. Please note, the agenda will be approved for posting by 4:00 p.m. Friday, April 20.

With Regards for Children,

Lew Blackburn, Ph.D.
President, Board of Trustees
Dallas ISD

A Teacher's Creed

"In the classroom on the first day of a new school year, I am eager to meet my students. I have rehearsed my greeting and first day’s remarks, but no matter how many years I’ve prepared for this procedure, it’s always new. My heart pumps a bit harder, faster; I feel adrenaline like an athlete, or like an actor, or maybe like a novice public speaker. It’s a marvelous feeling, this first day, because I know that something special is going to happen, and I know it because I’ve experienced it before and I know that I will experience it every time I meet a new class throughout my venerable career. And then they’re seated before me and I smile at this special feeling. This is an assembly of students, yes. But there’s so much more, because each of these young persons is more than just a student entrusted to me. Each of these students has a story to tell, a lifetime, however brief, of experiences, a history in volumes whose richness and depth I can barely begin to fathom. And so as I absorb the first glimpse of these young charges, I must appreciate the extent of my responsibility, of the privilege I’ve accepted in presenting these young souls my special knowledge. In offering them my talent and passion, I am adding an enormous array of new bright stars to the vast firmament of their minds, stars that will never have time to fade in their lifetimes. I will be part of their story. And I know that each of them will always be part of mine. And that’s a good feeling, a feeling that is perpetually renewed, revisited, and rewritten in A Teacher’s Creed."

Carla Ranger - Dallas ISD Education Blog

Friday, April 20, 2012

Lew Blackburn denies the third request for Board vote on High Stakes Testing

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