DISD probably is a small reason why the dropout rate is so high. Cultural lack of educational priority is a much larger one. Poverty, gangs, and peer pressure can be overwhelming to a child. Most importantly, there is no one telling these kids that there’s something at the end of the road that makes staying in school worthwhile.

It’s a cultural failing that nobody has the courage to address.

And if you look at the news today, the good DISD schools are going to be losing teachers so that will only cause more students to leave because they are BORED and NOT LEARNING.

We need to hold DISD accountable. We should have a curfew on DISD Supt. Hinojosa and the school board so that they are not permitted to leave the admin building until they come up with a real solution to educating our children as opposed to destroying good schools for the almighty dollar.

DISD fails to instill a sense of learning in our children and then when they leave the school there’s the city ready to pounce and lay a $500 fine on the families. Seems like easy money.

Way to go DISD and “education” Mayor Leppert. The city will make up the shortfall in the city budget in no time.

Hood Jr. High

(!)

Although crime has lessened considerably in Southeast Dallas, the issue is profound here, in no small part because of the huge # of immigrant households with large families. SE Dallas has many HUGE parks from Crawford to Gateway, etc and throughout the day, it is not rare to see groups of teens in the parks or the greenbelts that feed the forest. Among other things, this has lead to quick break and entry theft in cars, etc. In fact, mine last week whereas this never happened prior to the proliferation of truants. Too, I speak to teens that have had their first brush with the law, at the MLK Center on MLK south Dallas. And they confirm that truancy is their first step to problems. (Not to mention not getting an education, but that’s another post.)

Most of the home burglary crime stats show they take place in the weekday daytime. And when you see the 12-15 yr. old kids that are supposed to be (for instance) in my neighborhood’s Hood Jr. High that day instead in the alley, you have a one plus one=two. The older at-home retired persons who spearhead the local crime watch groups inevitably recount this exact correlation. ‘Freedom’ never meant I was able to roam the streets when I was a young teen in Dallas during school hours. Now it’s a ‘don’t tread on me’ right?

Bottom line is that unless you are a drop out or homeschooled, you have no ‘right’ to be roaming the streets as a 14 yr. old kid in school hours. Our local police leaders came and spoke to our Homeowner’s Ass. And the stats and issues they delivered were noteworthy. It would not be tough to have clearance as a homeschooled or other. The police are not looking to become Gestapo. But they seek more ‘teeth’ re: truants. Those who see this as a non-solution to a problem they do not see as relevant perhaps live in neighborhoods that are not the natural target of this proposed curfew.

DISD also has a little known ankle bracelet program for truants, that to be honest, I can’t believe hasn’t led to an Al Sharpton march on City Hall.

The city and county leaders are grasping at straws, knowing that if we don’t get this education problem under control we’re going to end up with a generations of misfits, criminals, and welfare recipients that will make the gory drive-by days of the 80’s seem mild.

In addition to the homeschooled and private school kids, how many college freshmen are going to be harassed, just because they look young? I had just turned 18 when I started college the week after I graduated, so I know I didn’t age that much in a week.

Don’t forget the effect on homeschoolers with such truancy laws, such as the one proposed for Dallas. We home school our 4 children plus another one from our church and we are often finished with our school day by 2 PM, before the local schools are finished. Would my kids have to stay in the house until the publik skool kids are released for the day? And what if you attend a private school that may take a day off that the Guvmint schools don’t? Do these kids also have to stay hidden under their beds to avoid being arrested by the Educational Blackshirts?