Why is Hays CISD failing to achieve sustainable academic improvement? How many times have you heard a losing football coach say, “Our game plan was sound – we just didn’t execute it very well”? You don’t toss out a game plan just because it wasn’t executed properly. Is the district’s game plan sound and we are having poor execution or is it a faulty game plan or a combination of both?
We have to dig dipper, ask the uncomfortable questions people do not want to answer. For example: Is a $185,000 superintendent with a guaranteed 4% minimum annual raise, additional $110,000 teacher retirement buyback plan for out-of-state services not rendered to the district, expensive deferred compensation plan, defined benefit plan, lots of time off, life insurance and expense allowance with a $66,000 specially created position for his spouse backed by a Central Office with 46 mostly non-resident bureaucrats working harder than a $120,000 superintendent at a smaller school district that doesn’t have this kind of support staff?
If all these highly paid superintendents do is operate on a five year horizon, hoping to hang on until their personal financial enrichment plans are complete, we’ve failed taxpayers and students mightily. Exactly what sustainable improvement did Hinojosa and Lazy London achieve?
I wouldn’t have a problem with these lavish compensation packages and surging Central Administration employment if we were doing more than kicking the can down the road. We’re spending over $140 million annually. SAT and ACT scores are dropping. Standardized test scores, including subgroups, are stagnant. The district has added a new program for every problem to no avail. Everyone should be deeply concerned.
Maybe administrators need to get out of the way and let teachers teach what works instead of forcing them to teach a diverse student population with individualized learning styles using a standardized curriculum?
Failure to stem academic decline is having devastating consequences for our district. The majority of the professional staff do not want to live here. They are communicating this message: If you are middle class, stay away!
Education is Everybody’s Business!
Bryce Bales
Manchaca
