Disd approves longer work day for teachers (Houston, Dallas: crime, hotel)

[CREW747]

A 45 minute longer work day with no additional pay......

DISD approves longer workday for schoolteachers | Dallas-Fort Worth Communities - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News


It seems like the moral in DISD has been down for a while do to a number of growing problems

DISD's Budget Shortfall: Hinojosa's One-Man Gaffe - Page 1 - News - Dallas - Dallas Observer

43 Dallas ISD campuses make list of state's worst-performing schools | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

"Dallas ISD has 43 schools on the list, up slightly from last year's count of 42. Houston ISD, the state's largest district, has 26 schools on the list. Fort Worth ISD has 29 schools on the list, while Austin ISD has 10".


The city of Dallas has also frozen step raises for almost three years for the police.Furlough days were given and overtime stopped.


Why does it seem like the city of Dallas has their priorities mixed up ? I especially do not understand why the police have been treated poorly. Why screw over a small amount of people ( what 2500? ) who have pretty much the biggest impact on the city on almost every level?

The school and police situation would make more sense if parks and bridges were not being built....

[TurtleCreek80]

You just lumped a bunch of unrelated things together- school funding is in a completely different bucket (BY LAW) than police funding, parks & bridges, etc. DISD can't take unused funds from the Hill bridge to close a school funding gap, BY LAW.

Unfortunately, the district, as well as Keller, Richardson, Plano, etv is facing another HUGE funding decrease for the next school year. This is due to declining property tax rolls as well as decreased state funding. They had to balance the budget and make tough choices, same as you would for your family if you were taking a significant pay cut. I don't know that they made choices I 100% agree with, but if your top two line items are teacher salaries and building maintaince, those are the only two areas you really cut down to make a dent in closing a budget gap.

Most of the funds for the Woodall Park and Hill bridge were from private funding. Yes, the CITY - not DISD- paid for some of it, but majority were private. So it's a mostly irrelevant issue.

[CREW747]

They are all related... it is pretty clear that the city of Dallas has priorities mixed up.The value of police and teachers,how the city spends money is all related...

Who paid for this park to open during a recession?

Downtown Dallas Park Turned Homeless Hotel | NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by CREW747

They are all related... it is pretty clear that the city of Dallas has priorities mixed up.The value of police and teachers,how the city spends money is all related...

Who paid for this park to open during a recession?

Downtown Dallas Park Turned Homeless Hotel | NBC 5 Dallas-Fort

Worth

Crew, if your intention here is to just slam the City of Dallas, you're only hurting your own piece of heaven in the long run.

You may not like it, but if Dallas doesn't sustain, neither will its burbs. So better to get on the involved bandwagon to support Dallas and be responsible for contributing positively to its future to insure it is functioning at 100%.

You have nothing to gain by pointing out any of its shortcomings.
..

[CREW747]

Dallas does need to flourish as does any large city...this post brings up a reasonable question.

Tacking on an extra 45 minutes at the end of DISD teacher work days without extra pay is questionable.I am guessing teachers are not thrilled about this.
My point is,why do that in a district that already has some serious issues? Why build a park in a recession ( one example ) yet not compensate your city employees that have a huge impact on the health of the city on a daily basis (police and teachers) ?

[Ablebodied]

It's our governor and his cronies that has it all mixed up. They know teachers are one of the largest democratic voting blocs in Texas and they simply don't care about cutting them off. Of course that means the kids go down the drain with them, but that's how compassionate conservatism works. Make a poor mother have a baby she can't afford because "we love life", then starve that same baby after it's born because "I don't want my tax dollars taking care of it.

[Macbeth2003]

Lord knows that I'm not a fan of the bridge, but comparing that to teacher workdays is crazy.
First of al the expanded workday now requires teachers - who are salaried employes - to put in 8 hours plus a 30 minute lunch. The same as most salaried workers. Most were already doing so, and I have little or no problem with a law requiring those who weren't to do so. Also, as everyone keeps pointing out and you seem to think simply ignoring or claiming isn't true will change. DISD and the city of Dallas are separate entities. This is why people like me got so mad when our current mayor ran making schools a top issue.

As for building parks, that has always been a standard part of what a city does. Now certainly there are other things I think should be priorities -road maintenance, keeping pools open, etc - but teacher workdays, and school closings (which I am also against. Closing 11 schools to shave 1% off the budget is nuts) are unrelated to city priorities. You can keep stating they aren't- without providing any reason or evidence - but the spending comes from different funds, and the allocation decisions are made by different people, so how is that connected?

The positive joy you seem to take in finding - or creating out of whole cloth - something negative to say about the city which makes the existence of the suburbs/exurbs you love possible is strange.

[loves2read]

one reason to put stop to so much overtime in the police ranks was that people approaching retirement were using that means (often fradulently) to pad their retirement account and raise their pensions

frankly I think was positive step--and if the police don't like it--then they should police themselves and people within their profession who are selfish enough to please themselves at the expense of the entire police force...

[CREW747]

I posted this here because it is somewhat of a debated topic.Before I joined this forum, I lurked for advice before moving to Texas.It seems that many Dallas posters have no problem ripping Collin/Denton county suburbs and driving home how they are so far out with little access to amenities and housing that is not "authentic".

This statement is untrue and silly. I won't waste time explaining why most of us in Frisco/ Prosper/ Mc Kinney / Allen never even need to visit Dallas. When Frisco and Mc Kinney are at build out they will be the size of Lexington, Ky and Minneapolis, MN. Many of us in the northern bubs will not be clammoring to work,shop and seek entertainment only in Dallas.Yet when I bring up city of Dallas schools,crime and the way the city compensates employees who have the largest inpact on the city, I am the devil.

The moderator brings up a good point.The city of Dallas needs to flourish and it is not fair for suburbanites to poop on it. It is also silly for Dallas residents to poop on the suburbs. I personally have no investment or interest in Dallas but do understand that many read this forum who are impressionable. I will try to keep my opinions on Dallas to myself because I practically live in Oklahoma ....

The DFW metroplex as a whole is what makes this area one of the number one spots in the country to relocate to,not just Dallas or the suburbs alone.

[skids929]

Originally Posted by BstYet2Be

Crew, if your intention here is to just slam the City of Dallas, you're only hurting your own piece of heaven in the long run.

You may not like it, but if Dallas doesn't sustain, neither will its burbs. So better to get on the involved bandwagon to support Dallas and be responsible for contributing positively to its future to insure it is functioning at 100%.

You have nothing to gain by pointing out any of its shortcomings.
..

Bravo!! Exactly my point in another thread, almost verbatim, where a similar topic was being discussed by the same poster. Sorry to pile on, but this is very true.

I would want any city I lived on the fringe of to be even MORE successful than the suburb I lived in. Then I get the benefits of living in a quiet suburb and reap the rewards of my values increasing because I am close to a desirable city.

I personally don't get all the stone throwing between City and burbs folks either to the extent it exists in Dallas (But I have been given EXCELLENT insight as to the historical reasons why by some of the Dallas folks on these boards). It's one thing if you want to live in one or the other, it's another when you choose a questionable location that won't prove itself value-wise for say about 40-50 years and is really far from where most people will want to be. That argument is sound.

But to point out Dallas' flaws and suggest burbs are better, or vice versa is a silly debate. Each should want the other to succeed, and I would argue the burbs folks should want Dallas to succeed a little more.

Lastly, I have posted on this topic in the past, same general theme anyway. There was a nice healthy, incredibly informative debate from both sides.

Reasons NOT to move to McKinney-Calling all the usual suspects