Lightening DISD's load

EDUCATION: City has the supplies but no formal way to help district elevate itself

Ida Willingham looks lost and alone at the ninth annual Mayor's Back to School Fair as a crowd surges past her.

The 61-year-old is one of more than 50,000 people who will pass through three cavernous buildings at Fair Park today, collecting school supplies and information about community services available to poor school-age children in Dallas.

This event demonstrates both the potential for success and the systemic failure of the city's support for local schools.

Even though a staggering 80 percent of students attending the Dallas Independent School District are economically disadvantaged and nearly a third have limited English skills, they city does not have a system for supporting local schools, or a person in charge of making it happen.

Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said it makes sense for the city to help DISD – middle-class families are fleeing for the suburbs because of the troubled school system – but City Hall should not be held accountable for the district's failures.

Ida Willingham opens the door for 1-year-old Dazia McCarthy at her home near Fair Park in Dallas. Once a DISD student, Mrs. Willingham dropped out of school in the fifth grade to work with her family. Also pictured are (from left to right) Dedrick Kindle, 14; Shirley Gene Kindle; and Richard McCarthy, 7.

"Just like DISD can't tell us over here what's going to make code enforcement work better, we're not equipped to tell them what's going to educate their kids better," she said. "So the best thing that we can do is to help make their neighborhoods safe, make their schools safe ... and make sure the schools are an integral part of the community."

The Booz Allen report says the city does not control the quality of education in Dallas, but it can do more to help. A vibrant, successful school system is essential to recruiting businesses and strengthening neighborhoods.

There is no "strategic plan to support DISD with best practices used in other similar communities," according to the report. "There is no platform for community involvement, no systematic approach to seeking state funding, no private local education fund, no support of teacher recruitment, no regular meetings with DISD."

Mrs. Willingham said she doesn't know how to fix DISD except to "make the children go to school and make them behave."

She navigates the crowd and the maze of booths at the fair, pausing before a blue and white sign that reads: "DISD psychological and social services." Her brow is furrowed because she cannot make much sense of the letters.

Once a DISD student, Mrs. Willingham dropped out of school in the fifth grade. She chopped cotton with her family in Oklahoma, and later worked in tomato and okra fields in Ellis County.

She carries a wrinkled piece of notebook paper in her purse with the names and ages of 10 nieces and nephews she cares for. They range in age from 5 to 14.

Today she's looking for help for one nephew, who has been depressed and talking darkly about death. His father, grandmother and aunt have died in recent years. Mrs. Willingham is afraid he will commit suicide.

She walks up to a man in a polo shirt with a fistful of fliers and speaks in his ear. He summons Dr. Jane Blair, a DISD psychologist, who guides Mrs. Willingham to a folding chair.

Dr. Blair kneels, holds her hand and nods.

"He's real sad," Mrs. Willingham says, tears leaking down her cheek as she explains how she sits her nephew down at the table at night and talks to him.

"That sounds like a really good response," Dr. Blair says. "So we need to help you come up with a plan. We'll see what we can work out. We'll take your name, and we'll be in touch."

A few minutes later, Mrs. Willingham is waiting at a counter to pick up school supplies for her children. A woman who works for the city hands her a customer satisfaction survey and one of those stubby little pencils used to keep score at the miniature golf course.

Mrs. Willingham acts as if she's reading the questions. She marks two 4s, a 3 and 5 on a scale in which 5 is "very satisfied."

EDUCATION

DISD commended for its management but city gets bad marks for supporting role

By SCOTT FARWELL / The Dallas Morning News

Dr. Michael Hinojosa, DISD Superintendent: "I'm an immigrant child. My parents had a formal third-grade education. People make excuses ... but I don't buy it. There are a lot of little Michael Hinojosas running around this city waiting for somebody to turn them on."

Public schools are magnetic – they either attract industry, professionals and money, or they repel them.

The Dallas Independent School District, one of the lowest-performing public school districts in Texas, is attempting to reverse its polarity.To do so, according to a report from Booz Allen Hamilton, Texas' largest school district must overcome the gravitational pull of poverty.

Nearly 80 percent of DISD students are poor. More than 30 percent do not speak English fluently.

"We can all make excuses for our plight ... but I will not accept that" said Dr. Michael Hinojosa, a former DISD student who often invokes his journey as inspiration for others.

"I'm an immigrant child," he said. "My parents had a formal third-grade education. People make excuses ... but I don't buy it. There are a lot of little Michael Hinojosas running around this city waiting for somebody to turn them on."

The challenges are immense.

Not only do three out of every 10 students enrolled in DISD take English as a second language classes – the highest rate of any large city in Texas – but historically the district has spent less on ESL and bilingual-education programs than its peers across the state.

"What you're seeing in this city right now is a massive migration of the middle class to the suburbs, and the influx of what's coming in is mostly migrants from South Texas, Mexico and [elsewhere] in Latin America," DISD trustee Joe May said in April. "Those leaving are very well-educated, and those coming in are the least prepared for the American economy and workforce."

If immigration patterns hold, in 35 years Hispanics will make up more than 52 percent of the population in North Texas.

Dr. Hinojosa sees that as both a challenge and opportunity.

"You know what, wouldn't it be a wonderful workforce if all our students were bilingual?" he asked. "What company wouldn't want to come in and get that kind of workforce? That's not going to happen overnight ... it will require some committed individuals to come in and believe like I believe."

In terms of student performance, Dr. Hinojosa inherited a sickly public school system when he was chosen as DISD's superintendent in March.

Booz Allen's report suggests the district started the right dose of antibiotics about two years ago. "The DISD has an elaborate and extensive scorecard targeting improvements in educational achievement, administrative efficiency, safety and the like."

DISD teachers are among the highest paid and most experienced in Texas. The district spends more than 85 percent of its budget on educating and taking care of its students, approximately 6 percent more than high-flying school districts in Highland Park and Plano.

Representatives from Booz Allen said they were impressed with the process DISD has set forth, which sets clear goals, measures its progress, and appears to be putting money and manpower behind its priorities.

Aimee Bolender, president of the Alliance AFT teachers association, said the school district can't do it alone.

"Schools are the proverbial microcosm of society," she said. "I hate it when schools are underperforming and people act like teachers are bums. I promise you, if they knew anything else to do, they would."

The state Legislature has responsibility, she said, as do the city, community and parents.

Although the city is not responsible for educating Dallas's children, it can help. Robust before- and after-school programs keep kids off the streets. On-campus social services provide a one-stop resource for families. Local education funds could help teachers fill in the gap for classroom needs.

Healthy cities take a holistic approach to support their schools, according to Booz Allen. In Dallas, City Hall doesn't have a system for supporting the schools, or a person responsible for making sure the relationship works.

"Community leaders have to agree their personal political gain is secondary to our kids," said Dianne Birdwell, a DISD teacher and board member of the National Education Association in Dallas. "You know what, if those kids aren't successful in life, who are they really leading?"

Other big-city public school systems have faced similar problems. In the early 1990s, nearly seven of 10 students in Chicago's public schools were flunking the state's basic skills test. In response, the state Legislature granted Mayor Richard Daley control over school appointments and some policy.

He immediately mandated summer school for 150,000 students, ratcheted up accountability and began shoring up underperforming high schools. Four years later, standardized test scores had improved three years in a row across the district, according to Booz Allen.

Chicago's public schools are now supported by the Chicago Public Education Fund, a nonprofit, private fund established to improve the leadership skills of teachers and principals.

Dr. Hinojosa said Dallas and the school district should work toward substantive projects, rather than events organized for publicity, such as the Mayor's Back to School luncheon this summer at City Hall.

"Those things are good, and they're good public relations and good coordination," he said, "but as far as how much substance is there ... there's probably not a whole lot."

He said the city and schools should continue to work on projects, such as the joint operation of libraries at school sites, as has been done over the last year.

Everyone benefits if the city helps the schools.

"Economic development in this city is our responsibility," he said. "If not, companies will come in and relocate to Collin County ... it could be happening right now. I'm not naive, but I want to change that perception."

E-mail sfarwell@dallasnews.com