Gehrig Salda?

It's been a couple of months since I've posted anything on the DISD. Much as I would like to leave it alone, the DISD administration keeps mucking it up and the students, parents and taxpayers keep coming up short in (1) expectations fulfilled for every student in every DISD school to receive a quality education and (2) efficient, effective, ethical administration of hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

DISD Residency Policy: Word is that the school board will soon consider waivers that have been filed regarding the residency policy. About 12-15 administrators out of 70 who are required by school board policy to live in within DISD boundaries have applied for a waiver to that policy. That's about a 20% ratio -- 20% of the high-level administrators want special treatment. They want to live wherever they please, even though they knew when they took the job or got their promotion to a higher level job the position required them to live within DISD boundaries.

Why are we good enough to earn a paycheck from (take the money and run), but we're not good enough to call home for these high-paid administrators and their families? It's a good thing the school board took away Hinojosa's authority to grant a waiver to the residency policy and that now they are the ones who will have the final say-so. High-paid administrators must have a bona fide address within DISD boundaries.

How do administrators prove a bona fide address -- through their voter registration, drivers license address, tax rolls? We know how Hinojosa treated this issue. Residency policy? What residency policy?

It's now up to each school board member to make sure high-paid administrators actually live in Dallas. Those who actually live in Dallas have a much more vested interest in the success of our kids and our communities, at least that is the hope.

DISD Human Resources Top Exec's Residency: It will be interesting to see if a majority of school board members cave in and give a waiver to Kim Olson because she is also a school board member in Weatherford ISD. You know, professional courtesy? Olson is the ex-military person who left the military under a cloud of accusations regarding her ethics in awarding contracts in Iraq. She has allegedly told others the superintendent has given her permission to remain on the Weatherford school board until May, but that she now lives in Dallas, supposedly has rented an apartment here.

That raises some interesting questions:

Does the authority reside with the superintendent on where the school board member from another city can reside, or does that authority emanate from state law?

How can she live in Dallas and yet still serve on the Weatherford ISD school board as an elected official from Weatherford?

Sounds like someone might be breaking the law here, and the superintendent might be complicit in it. Hopefully, some investigative reporter who has the expertise to put the pieces of this puzzle together will get to the bottom of this before May. DISD board members would be wise to apply this policy equally to all, regardless of elected position in another city.

DISD HR Top Exec's Hiring Decisions: When the transformation first occurred at DISD, HR HAD NO HISPANIC EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS who reported directly to the top HR exec. Dr. Hinojosa and his nepotism-challenged transformation guru actually allowed this to happen. She feigned innocence claiming these decisions were made before she actually came on board. However, now that she has had a chance to hire individuals who report directly to her, Hispanics have been left out in the cold! Her hiring decisions do not show a commitment to equity or that she knows any other than a black/white world.

She should stay in Weatherford, and we should get someone in that position who

(1) has solid HR experience;

(2) has knowledge of DISD demographics, is committed to equity in hiring, and that that commitment is evident by hiring actions, not just by empty words.

Being that Dr. Hinojosa hired this individual who had no HR experience and no apparent commitment to equity for all groups, an opening in this position does not guarantee that we would get any better because the sad truth is that Hinojosa also has no commitment to equity -- just look at his top tier team.

Commissioner John Wiley Price has often stated, "You may be my skin, but you're not my kin."

Hispanics can certainly say that about Dr. Hinojosa.

Gehrig Salda?/font>a