As expected, Paul Quinn College is making good on its threat to take the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools all the way to federal court for tossing its accreditation. Two days after the SACS denied Paul Quinn’s appeal, the 137-year-old school sued the association in Atlanta federal court, claiming…
We end the day where we began the day, if only because we’ve finally spoken with Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander concerning the critical internal audit of the Adult Basic Education Program, funded last year with $3.7 million in grant money. We were expecting to post the audit…
The Dallas Independent School District’s Adult Basic Education Program is available to all “adult learners and educationally disadvantaged adults in Dallas and Rockwall counties” who want to learn about, well, you name it — everything from English to math, computer skills to parenting skills. So says this 2007-2008 at-a-glance, in…
Turns out, Paul Quinn College President Michael Sorrell was available to talk to us today, following the news that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools refused to reinstate the the 137-year-old institution’s accreditation. Not surprisingly, Sorrell was defiant in the wake of the decision: “When we went down this…
The president of Southern Association of Colleges and Schools just called Unfair Park with news concerning Paul Quinn’s accreditation status. Says Dr. Belle Wheelan, “The appeal panel did uphold the decision the commission had made.” In other words, Paul Quinn will remain unaccredited. The decision comes two months after the…
Missed this one yesterday, mostly because Dallas Independent School District trustee Carla Ranger doesn’t post to her blog as often as she used to. But one thing’s got her attention: Fellow trustee Ron Price’s proposal to rename schools for President Barack Obama and Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of…
In the comments concerning Mayor Tom’s proposal to limit speakers at city council meetings, Friend of Unfair Park Mike MacNaughton directs our attention to a similar policy change the Dallas Independent School District’s trustees will consider on Thursday. You can read the whole thing here, but looks like the board…
A few minutes ago, the University of Texas at Dallas posted word that over the weekend, one of its programmers made a tiny boo-boo that allowed students to peek at each other’s very private information — such as, their names, “addresses, class schedules, Net identification, UT Dallas ID numbers, and…
Hadn’t intended to look at the Dallas Independent School District board’s meeting agendas till next week — damn, summer break went by in a hurry — but Tawnell Hobbs gives us an early warning: Trustee Ron Price would like to rename some schools for President Barack Obama and your newest…
Here’s a fun weekend activity: Scroll through the Texas Education Agency’s accountability ratings for the Dallas Independent School District, which were released this afternoon. (You can go here for the full statewide breakdown by district, region, etc., while KTVT-Channel 11’s Steve Pickett offers a ratings ranking for area’s school districts.)…
A Friend of Unfair Park with deep DISD roots forwards along the link to the We are Teachers Web site, where Woodrow Wilson High School’s Michael Moran is among dozens of teachers from around the country competing for a Digital Learning Microgrant. And micro it is: $200 and a Flip…
When last we heard word from the campus of Paul Quinn College, local and state legislators had gathered to voice their unconditional support for the college stripped of its accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in late June. While the school works through the process of appealing…
Sorry, that’s hardly as sexy as it sounds. But that is how José Bowen, dean of the university’s Meadows School of the Arts, describes his edict to pull the plug on the technology clogging up the classrooms. Bowen, speaking to The Chronicle of Higher Education, doesn’t buy University of Texas…
More than two weeks after Southern Association of Colleges and Schools removed Paul Quinn College from its membership list by revoking its accreditation, the school now has the support of city and state political leaders who cheer its decision to appeal the move. So said members of the Texas Legislative…
The Dallas Independent School District has just posted to its Web site a report titled Staffing Levels in the Dallas Independent School District Report, which was compiled on the school board’s behalf by the Council of the Great City Schools. The board wondered, quite simply, Is the district overstaffed? The…
More questions than answers remain about the future of Paul Quinn College a week after its president announced the institution’s loss of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Michael Sorrell last Friday explained to gathered students, alumni and reporters that he would be unable to discuss specifics…
A cluster of local educators and politicos — among them Mayor Tom Leppert, Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, SMU President Gerald Turner and DISD trustee Edwin Flores — gathered in the stately atrium of SMU’s Owen Arts Center yesterday afternoon to kick off the inaugural Dallas Hispanic Youth…
On Friday, Kimberly spent the afternoon on the campus of Paul Quinn College, which is appealing the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ decision to yank the school’s accreditation; said president Michael Sorrell, “It is not time to write Paul Quinn’s obituary.” This morning, Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and…
School’s out for summer, but the Dallas Independent School District’s board of trustees has one hellacious evening ahead of it, beginning with a 5 p.m. public hearing at 3700 Ross Avenue concerning the proposed 2009-’10 school year budget. After that’s done, it’s down to big business, some of which has…
So I’m watching the Channel 8 news Monday night at 6:29 and after a sparkling fill-in sportscast by Ted Madden he alerts viewers that: ” … in the game, Texas already trails, 1-0.” To which anchor Gloria Campos valiantly responds, “Aw, but they’ll come back.” Adds John McCaa, “Let’s hope…
While on PACER this morning, I came across a lawsuit against the Dallas Independent School District about which not one word has been written: 55-year-old Lilia Gutierrez, a former principal at Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School, is suing the district, claiming, among other things, that she was wrongfully demoted in…
In a subscription-only story published this morning, The Bond Buyer notes that both Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s have downgraded their ratings of the Dallas Independent School District. Both still consider the district a relatively safe investment, but the downgrades reflect an added note of concern, as evidenced…
