Damarcus Offord will serve the District 9 community

Mayor Mke Rawlings has announced his endorsement of school board candidates. This confirms the Mayor's intention to continue meddling into the affairs of an "independent" school district  with no authority under state law.  

Damarcus Offord is a candidate for Dallas ISD - District 9 trustee.

Damarcus Offord is a former member of the Dallas ISD Teen School Board.  I remember how he showed leadership ability and genuine concern for public education.  His peers allowed him to lead their Teen School Board project for two straight years. He was active and engaged. He observed school board meetings and became concerned.

I personally advised Damarcus Offord not to run for the school board. I recommended that he complete his education and enjoy the years of college study. However, he made the decision  to run.

While Damarcus Offord is a young man, he has the caring heart of a public servant. I believe he will be a servant leader. School Trustees are provided excellent training by the Texas Association of School Boards. All Trustees of any age and regardless of background are required to receive yearly training. And it never ends. 

If elected, Damarcus Offord will be the youngest school board Trustee in Dallas ISD history.

I believe he will be a sincere and independent Trustee of District 9.

Superintendent search applicant information request

On March 20, 12 in closed session, Trustees received the top eleven candidates selected by PROACT Search.  Only one copy of the applicant information/resumes was provided at this important meeting, and that one copy had to be passed from Trustee to Trustee.

Trustees reduced the list of eleven applicants to five applicants to be interviewed.  Gary R. Soloman, President of PROACT took all information on the eleven applicants with him at the end of the closed session and Trustees were never provided an individual copy.

This appeared to be an effort to control the information and the process. The so-called Superintendent Search Code of Ethics had previously been signed by eight Trustees. This surprise document was intended to muzzle dissent.

Still, it did not seem to matter. It appears information was reported that was quite accurate. This information did not come from the District 6 Trustee. In the closed session Trustee Bernadette Nutall attempted to accuse me of being the source of this leaked information - since I was the only Trustee who had not signed the document agreeing to be muzzled. More than absolutely false, Trustee Bernadette Nutall's accusation was wrongheaded.

Later I requested that we review additional candidates, but that was not done. Only five applicants were ever interviewed. Three of the five were invited for a second interview, and that decision became somewhat political.

Trustees never saw the remaining 78 resumes.

I believe it would have been wise to interview additional candidates presented by PROACT Search and review all resumes received.

I am not aware of a response to the request below since April 11th - unless it was misplaced.  Today is April 23nd - twelve days later.


******************************************************************************************************
-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Superintendent Search Candidate Resume and Information
Date:	Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:46:35 -0500
From:	Carla Ranger
Organization:
To:	Gary R. Solomon (PROACT Search)
CC:	Lew Blackburn, Alan King, Jack Elrod, Deno Harris, Leticia D. McGowan, Delisa Proctor

Good afternoon,

This is to request a copy of all resumes and references of all 89
applicants applying for the position of Dallas ISD Superintendent.

Please identify the eleven applicants selected and presented to Trustees
by PROACT Search. You will recall that you and Board President Lew
Blackburn refused to allow me to see the top eleven applications at the end
of the meeting on the evening of March 20, 2011 - although I made the
request before leaving the room.

Also, please identify all applicants referred by Mayor Mike Rawlings.

Please send the information to me - the Trustee making the request.
I don't know the wishes of other Trustees.

Thank you.

CR

Test, Punish, and Push Out: How Zero Tolerance and High-Stakes Testing Funnel Youth into the School to Prison Pipeline

 

January 20, 2010

“Test, Punish, and Push Out” provides an overview of zero-tolerance school discipline and high-stakes testing, how they relate to each other, how laws and policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have made school discipline even more punitive, and the risk faced if these devastating policies are not reformed. The report explores:

• The common origins and ideological roots of zero tolerance and high-stakes testing;
• The current state of zero-tolerance school discipline across the country, including local, state, and national data;
• How high-stakes testing affects students, educators, and schools;
• How zero tolerance and high-stakes testing have become mutually reinforcing, combining to push huge numbers of students out of school; and
• Successful grassroots efforts to eliminate harmful discipline and testing practices.

Attached files

• Download Report (9.91KB PDF)"
  
  In the 1980’s a new movement began implementing policies, such as “zero tolerance” and “high-stakes testing,” that were more punitive and penalizing in both the criminal justice and public education school systems. Recent studies show the U.S. graduates fewer than seven out of every 10 high school students.  Have these two disciplinary policies produced a threat to the educational opportunities of America’s youth and consequently created a dropout crisis?
  
  "In President Obama’s first address to Congress, he cited America’s school dropout rate as one of the three most pressing issues facing our country. Researchers believe policymakers are looking in the wrong places for their answers to the cause of this “crisis."
  
  According to the report from the Advancement Project, low graduation rates aren’t the problem. Instead they are simply a symptom of the problem. The current education system is not designed for every child to succeed, they assert. Instead, the educational opportunities of young people are threatened by policies that set them up to fail.
  
  Both “zero tolerance” and “high-stakes testing” have been pinpointed as the two policies that pose the most direct threat to American youth’s educational opportunities. Together they turn schools into hostile and alienating environments and as a result, huge numbers of students are treated as if they are disposable, routinely being pushed out of school and toward the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
  
  The Journalism Center on Children & Families (JCCF)
  The Center is a nonprofit program of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park"

Advocates work to keep kids in school, out of prison

Education Justice

"For example, Advancement Project has helped a number of school districts, including Denver, CO, and Baltimore, MD, rewrite their discipline policies to focus on prevention measures and effective interventions designed to keep students within the learning environment and to limit their time spent outside of class. Advancement Project also partnered with the Florida State Conference NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund to organize a series of public hearings throughout the state of Florida to discuss the school discipline crisis. They then issued a report that served as a catalyst for change throughout the state."

School Today, Jail Tomorrow: The Impact of Zero Tolerance on the Over-Representation of Minority Youth in the Juvenile System

"Criticizing the high rates of incarceration of poor youth of color in this country Giroux (2009) calls on the United States to bring this issue to the forefront of policy and social agendas. We answer his call by critically examining zero tolerance policy and its victims across the nation, while also studying Florida schools and its juvenile system where reform efforts are evolving in an attempt to mitigate practices which have contributed to the arresting and sorting of minority youth. Florida has been selected for analysis in this article due to historical challenges in its juvenile justice system with the over-representation of minority youth, and its high rates of school-based arrests. This article illustrates Giroux’s argument (2009) that youth of color are viewed as “expendable” and “disposable.” Zero tolerance policy as implemented in public schools is a pathway from school to jail for many youth of color deemed outcasts (Bauman, 2004). Zero tolerance policy in public education continues to be fed by distrust in youth, diminished rights and freedoms of youth compared to adults in public schools, and racism that is reflected in “widespread stereotypical images of Black youth as superpredators and Black culture as the culture of criminality” (Giroux, 2003, p. 560)."

2012
School Today, Jail Tomorrow: The Impact of Zero Tolerance on theOver-Representation of Minority Youth in the Juvenile System

Superintendent Mike Miles and Sierra students

Sierra students walk out

Posted by Chet Hardin on Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:55 AM

Colorado Springs Independent - Click Here

• 
  
• Mike Miles

"The Sentinel, the news outlet for Sierra High in the Harrison School District 2, is reporting that a large group of students walked out of class this morning in protest over staffing issues.

At 9:00AM on September 15th, 2011, a crowd of a few hundred kids walked out of their classes today in protest the numerous of the rule changes and teacher relocation’s. They started their protest across the street from Sierra, but was eventually moved to the school auditorium so they didn’t disturb the local residents.

Superintendent Mike Miles, and the school's principal, Sean Shields, took the opportunity to briefly address the frustrated students, according to The Sentinel. "

Comments

Mike miles is a product of authoritarianism. His background as a virtual dictator ("the little general" was his nickname )is entirely wrong in a system trying to promote critical thinking and democracy. Fuhrer miles, this is a school...not a tank battalion. The students walking out of class is VERY telling in a district mired in dysfunction, cronyism, and over paid administrators.

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Posted by cheshirecats on October 5, 2011 at 5:43 PM

I am beyond proud at the actions of these Sierra students. Not only are they standing up for their own well-being in a positive, peaceful way, but they are also standing up for the rights of their teachers. These are the types of kids who will make the world a better place because of their compassion and moral-compass.

As another commenter mentioned, no one can really believe what happens in District 2 unless they have students in the system or work there themselves. I knew in the first month that D2 is a toxic environment - not only for teachers, but for students, families, and the community. I spent my year in a constant state of shock, because I couldn't fathom how more people weren't up in arms about the way Mike Miles and BOE allow children and teachers to be blatantly disrespected. I couldn't understand why rooms full of people would clap for him when he said inane things like, "We will raise our graduation rate. We're also going to start holding students back." If you know anything about education, you know he is full of bull.

I did figure it out, though - why people stand by and let this happen. When I started interviewing for a position outside of D2, I was alerted by one of my references from a previous school that the Admin at my school had given me a scathingly bad reference (btw, I got the job anyway). The Admin proceeded to not call back for reference checks for several other teachers leaving the school - costing them new jobs. Mike Miles hires Administration who are gutless, power-hungry cowards. He makes sure that they are the type of people willing to put children & teachers in unhealthy environments and then punish those teachers who refuse to do the same. It is disgusting.

By the way, TJ, everyone has a right to an opinion, but that doesn't mean that you're right. Not only was your opinion made without enough information, but you failed to even try to consider a different point of view. It sounds to me like the "crack down" you received in High School was actually a disservice to you. A *good* education would have taught you more critical thinking skills.

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Posted by Former D2 teacher on September 23, 2011 at 6:38 PM

Mr. Spader does NOT have all the facts, if he did he would not make such uneducated and disrespectful remarks. That being said, as a former D2 employee who was treated very unjustly because of Mike Miles and his underhanded tactics and blatant disrespect for employees who gave so much of themselves to their jobs, I hope to sit and watch Mike get his professional reputation trashed the same way he has done to so many. I know that there will be MANY former employees who will sit by, watch and feel vindicated as Mike Miles finally gets a taste of his own medicine.

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Posted by Sandyeggo on September 23, 2011 at 2:32 PM

I m so happy to have a place to vent..something MUST be done!!!!! my heart bleeds for all the students affected by this "change" and the poor, beaten, fearful, disgraced teachers who feel"up against a wall" M Miles sways data, puts undo pressure on administrators, and, for someone trying to improve graduation rates, didn t even attend either H S graduations last spring!!!! I was a piece of the puzzle..and have witnessed many wrongdoings. Employees/students feel beaten and fearful. A mass exodus of employees and students should raise some eyebrows..WHY?????????

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Posted by Linda Rossetti on September 23, 2011 at 11:20 AM

I am somebody who just quit Harrison after 6 years of service (hard work) with not even a goodbye from administrators. There were 16 employees that left on their own accord as well. Some left education all together. This has been tragic to say the least and I am happy to say I have found work teaching in a much healthier environment where teachers get treated with some dignity. I still have nightmares about teaching in district 2 and can't believe it has become such a toxic environment for all involved. Disgusting!!!!

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Posted by Licia Rossetti on September 23, 2011 at 9:04 AM

funny how quick people(Tj Spader) are to talk crap about people, students, teachers and parents standing up to this bully. how would any of you know the conditions around the district if you don't have kids in it, or work in it. how do you know, cause of hearsay that's old rumors circulating for years. these schools have a overblown reputation, and like in any case the teachers can only do so much, it comes down to parents. teachers can't follow the kids home and force them to take their academics up a notch, study at home, homework, etc..the other schools don't have teachers walking out, students walking out, teachers comming and going like an amusement park.
Anyone else who wants him gone, join our facebook page Mike Miles-Vote Him Out

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Posted by Mike Miles-Vote Him Out on September 22, 2011 at 11:57 AM

I taught in D2 for four years, last year I was at Sierra, and I want to say publicly:
  GO STALLIONS!!! I'm proud to have known you.

My position was eliminated due to budget constraints, and, while no one wants to face unemployment in this economy, in was glad to leave the district.  I was only sad about leaving the kids.

The problems at Sierra (and Harrison) are real. I do not disagree with the need for accountability for teachers and students, but excessive testing to produce data, which is then used punitively has created such a culture of fear and stress, that real education/learning is not possible.

There are senate bills (191?) in place that require teacher evaluation be partially based on student achievement - this is what the future holds in store for all school districts in Colorado. Hopefully other districts will find ways of collecting the necessary data, without stressing out the students and educators to the degree that HSD2 has.

Miles is a politician, he wanted to be a trendsetter in education.  Hopefully, he will be remembered for what not to do. I agree with the comment above calling out to parents: Listen to the children (sorry guys, but you are the children of the parents in HSD2)!  the teachers have been trying to tell you for years  - what is going on is not okay.

Take back the Board of Education, get rid of Miles, put "Kids First" for real!!!!

- an educator who is still afraid to use her name...

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Posted by Ex-D2 educator on September 18, 2011 at 7:27 PM

I just graduated from Sierra last year, before the new principal Shields was there. From what I hear, Shields is a good guy, but Miles is no good. The restrooms stalls don't even have doors on them, lunch is about 40 minutes long, with so many students trying to eat lunch, some of them never eat, they are firing good innocent teachers. I was outraged to see my old english teacher be fired, he was by far one of the nicest teachers I've ever had the privelege to learn under, and there he is being fired by some prick who doesn't even care.

I feel horrible knowing my little brother still attends Sierra as a sophomore, it's only going to go downhill from here, treat your staff and students with disrespect, no wonder why they don't wanna attend school, you can go sip water and laugh at yourself elsewhere, not where the futures of many kids are being made.

@TJ, your opinion is nice and all, but until you have first hand experience and not just "hear about things done in Colorado springs " your opinion is vague and irrelevant. I went to Sierra for four years, just graduated luckily before all this happened, students are people too, they are the next generation and they are at school to learn. They went on strike because they realized things are being ran wrong, they didn't leave and go home when they walked out, they sat there and protested for THEIR EDUCATION, for the teachers sake, if they didn't care and were " bad kids " they all would have went home and had a " who cares "attitude. They even went back to class after they made their point.

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Posted by Graduated from Sierra last year on September 18, 2011 at 2:36 AM

This is the way he behaves when he doesn't respect people. He doesn't care about kids. He cares about himself. He laughs to himself because there is no one to hold him accountable. He has the board in his backpocket ... along with a newspaper which shall go unnamed. He will continue to do what he's doing until the PARENTS and VOTERS in District 2 kick him out once and for all. YOU had the chance to do this last year, and you voted back the same weak board members who sign Mike Miles' paycheck. It's about time the community realized what is going on. The teachers have been trying to get your attention for YEARS, and this is the first time the community finally backed the people who are in the classroom EVERYDAY with your children.

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Posted by jamieleerae on September 15, 2011 at 10:43 PM

Were any representatives from the meeting at the board meeting? The public needs to see how smug this man is and how little he actually cares about the development and success of the HSD2 students.

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Posted by Courtney Cook on September 15, 2011 at 9:08 PM

I really dislike how miles is making not only the advanced but all students feel uneducated... and it is like we are traveling back to elementary learning.. I already graduated from there and middle school as well it would be nice if he would stop messing with my chance of graduating high school!

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Posted by Qwaneche Mcleod on September 15, 2011 at 8:40 PM

when attending the board meeting, all the superintendent did was drink his water and laugh, like it was joke,never made any comments, why because all he is worried about is his kids going to district 20 and they going to harvard, and if the kids at sierra don't like it there to go to widefield, what type of individual is this, they all need to be voted out of there position, what they actually need is to take dr. judith smith out of retirement and put her back at sierra, so the students feel wanted again, so that way the students do not feel as though they are being discriminated, because they are part of district 2

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Posted by someone that cares on September 15, 2011 at 8:00 PM

         

Black Publisher Files Complaint against Harrison School District 2 Superintendent Mike Miles

 

Was this complaint resolved?

******************************************************************************************

 

Message to Mike Miles:
Stop abusing educators and
destroying good teachers' lives!

AAVoice_Dec. 2011 

http://africanamericanvoice.mobi/archives/2011/AAVoice_Dec2011.pdf 

 

Black Staff Disappearing From Harrison School District 2 

Out of Control Superintendent - Blatant Abuse of Power 

African Americans For Justice Warn That Grant To School Furthers Unwelcome Agenda 

Community Fights to Regain Control of Schools

*****************************************************************************

New America Media - Click Here

http://newamericamedia.org/2010/12/black-publisher-files-complaint-over-school-districts-call-for-ad-boycott.php

Story tools

New America Media, News Report, Roger K. Clendening, Posted: Dec 12, 2010

The Black Press believes that America can best lead the world away from racial and national antagonism when it affords to all people – regardless of race, color or creed – their human and legal rights. Hating no person and fearing no person, the Black Press strives to help every person in the firm belief that all are hurt as long as anyone is held back.
—The Black Press Creed

COLORADO SPRINGS—James Tucker, publisher of the African American Voice, the city’s only Black newspaper, has asked the federal government to stop a local school district from advocating an advertising boycott of his publication.

Tucker recently filed a racial discrimination complaint with the U.S. Justice Department against Harrison School District 2 alleging that Superintendent Mike Miles wrote a letter asking businesses not to advertise in the African American Voice. 

“If your organization advertises in his paper, you are either wittingly or inadvertently sending a message of support for the paper’s extreme views and incivility,” Miles wrote in a letter on Harrison School District stationary dated Nov. 2. The letter appeared on the publicly-financed school district website.

“I ask that you take a stand and pull your advertisement from the paper,” Miles wrote in the letter saying that “a quick look through a few editions of the Voice will make apparent the use of personal attacks and the fomenting of racism.”

Tucker announced the filing of what he described as a Title VI 1964 Civil Rights complaint against Miles and the District 2 School Board during a news conference.

For several years, Tucker has been publishing a scorecard of those business entities he maintains are “Title VI Civil Rights Violators” because, he maintains, they receive federal funds, advertise and otherwise do business with white-owned media, but refuse to advertise or contract with the Voice.

A front page box in the December edition, for example, signed “Sincerely, Dr. James Tucker,” displays photos of Miles; Paula Miller, Pikes Peak Library District Executive Director; and Jerry Forte, Colorado Springs Utilities CEO, and above the photos laments that:

“The African American Voice is sick and tired of the following individuals and agencies discriminating against the community and the Colorado Black Press” and goes on to demand:

• You stop discriminating against the African American Voice Newspaper
• You obey the law, Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
• Jerry Forte, we demand economic inclusion.
• Paula Miller, we demand economic justice
• Mike Miles, we demand More Teachers of Color

Tucker’s complaint to the Justice Department, dated Nov. 14, will be handled by the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) Office of Civil Rights, according to a Justice Department spokeswoman in Washington citing a DOE attorney who tracked the Complaint Number assigned to the case.

The complaint says Miles and the School District have been discriminating against Tucker and the newspaper since Miles became superintendent in 2006. The most recent act of “discrimination,” says the complaint, was the Nov. 2 letter in which Miles, “with express or delegated authority, published a tortuously slanderous and intentionally harmful letter on the School District web page and contacted persons who do business” with Tucker with the “express purpose of interfering with the business relationship” between the Voice and Tucker’s business community.

The school district receives federal funds and “ignores the federal mandate that requires the district to include advertising in the African American Voice newspaper,” the complaint says, adding that the newspaper is thereby “denied the benefits” of equal protection and is subjected to discrimination under Title VI.

Tucker, an Honored Gulf War veteran and retired school teacher, started his newspaper in 1991.

He has been reporting on education issues for several years, advocating for equitable education for Black and Hispanic students, who now comprise a sizeable majority in Harrison District 2, and for more rather than fewer Black teachers. He also reported on an unsuccessful effort to recall previous Harrison school board members.

The current board members are Deborah L. Hendrix, president, an African-American female; Victor Torres, vice-president, an Hispanic male; Linda Pugh, treasurer, an Anglo female; Keith Varney, secretary, an Anglo male; and Richard L. Price, director, an African-American male.

The headline for the lead story in the December edition, for example, shouts in boldface caps, above the fold, that “Black Staff Disappearing From Harrison School District 2.”

Next to a photograph of a smiling Mike Miles in October receiving the local NAACP Freedom Fund Community Partner Award for outstanding achievement in educational leadership, the lead story’s opening paragraph asks:

“Where have the African American teachers gone to in Harrison School District?” the query posed by writer Mike Stahl, executive director of the Pikes Peak Education Association. Since 2006, when Miles came on as the superintendent, “there has been a steady decline in the number of minority and African American teachers” in the district.

In 2006, there were 46. In 2009, there were “only” 27, reports Stahl, citing Colorado Department of Education stats.

Student “minority” populations have grown since 2006, he reports, indicating that Black and Hispanic students now make up 70% of the students in Harrison District 2.

“It would seem reasonable that the district should make efforts to improve minority presence on the teaching staff,” Stahl wrote, adding that “It is reasonable to expect the staff to reflect the community.”

Moreover, he continued, in James Tucker’s African American Voice newspaper, “A declining African American teacher presence in the midst of an increasing minority student population leaves fewer African American role moles for kids to be with every day.”

Articles like this one, and others that criticize and challenge the Harrison district’s moves to privatize the taxpayer-financed public school system in south Colorado Springs, have not endeared Tucker to the elected board members and Superintendent Miles, their principal employee. Nor has The Voice’s criticism of Miles and the board for accepting a $1.1-million grant from the Daniels Fund, a major financier of the charter school movement in Colorado.

In Tucker’s complaint, for example, he insists that he is being retaliated against because he is reporting critically, and taking an editorial position on policies and actions the board and Miles have implemented.

Tucker’s complaint asks the federal agencies to stop Miles from boycotting, and advocating a boycott of his newspaper.

Tucker has reached out to several national and regional organizations about his circumstances, and several have written him saying that if the issues have not been resolved to Tucker’s satisfaction, they are prepared to call for an “economic boycott of all conferences, conventions, concerts” and other public gatherings in Colorado Springs.

A spokeswoman for DOE’s Office of Civil Rights said no date had been set for a hearing on the complaint.

Miles, Forte and Miller could not be reached.