How should Supt. Hinojosa be evaluated?
The Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees has called a meeting for 4:30 p.m. Monday to discuss and consider approving factors that will go into evaluating DISD Supt. Michael Hinojosa. The biggest factor - 65 percent of the evaluation -- would be based on student achievement, such as test scores and graduation rates, according to the proposed evaluation tool posted online. The second biggest factor - 20 percent - would be related to finances. That area would take into consideration surpluses left over in the district's main operating account, and the number of very negative findi

Teachers: What do you wish for?
One of our blog commenters, mizbennett, brought up a good point in a blog comment this week. Here's what she had to say: "I'm just a teacher. I work in less than fortunate circumstances. I love my students. We work on a lot of things other than our subject matter. We work on manners and being considerate. We work on polite behavior. I have spent more out of my own pocket this year than I've been budgeted. I do this because I love the kids and I don't want them to suffer because of financia

Dallas ISD Daily Dish
Today's tray of hot district morsels ... ** Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert recently urged a group of republican women to get involved in the Dec. 8 DISD runoff election. ** Bill Betzen has more information on his site about progress being made on the dropout rate in DISD. Check it out

Controversy continues in District 3: Ellis' business, Parrott's master's degree
DISD District 3 incumbent Leigh Ann Ellis is operating a landscape and design business that has not been properly registered with Dallas County, according to county officials. The law requires that businesses renew their registration after 10 years, but Ellis failed to do so, according to records at the Dallas County Clerk's office. An intentional violation of the law is a misdemeanor offense, but Ellis says she didn't realize she needed to renew the registration for her business, called Ghost Dance. County records show she registered back in 1990. "I have received no document saying I'm supposed to renew it. I pay my sales tax on it. No one has said it is not valid," Ellis said. Coun

Early voting begins today for the runoffs. And now for a recap...
Early voting for the Dec. 8 runoff election began today and will continue through Dec. 4. (No polls are open on Thanksgiving). Click here for voting information. Also, I thought it would be a good idea to provide links to candidate websites for all of you out there who are undecided. Here they are: District 3 runoff candidates Leigh Ann Ellis, ellisforboard.com Bruce Parrott,