So, You Think Teaching in Buna is Easy?

 Actual, while it is difficult, it is easier in Buna than other schools, especially in the Houston area. 

- When I was teaching in Dayton, I had a kid and his friends burglarizing houses after school, he was doing it before people got home before the owners got home and they "cased" the place to make sure no kids were there. 

They were pawning the jewelry they got for pennies on the dollar at a couple of pawn shoppes in Pasadena, East Houston. 

One afternoon, as they were robbing a house, a woman came home early from work. My student had found her revolver in a drawer in her bedroom, and as she came in,  he slipped behind her and [placed her revolver against her head  brought her to the bedroom where his partner wanted to rape her. 

She resisted and when she did, my ex-student shot her in the head, killing her instantly. 

They leave....

The next day, my student comes to school like nothing had happened. 

He had placed the pistol in his book-bag, and came on to school. 

I had even given him hell about something he did in class. He even smiled and we had class. 

About 20 minutes in class, my door was thrown open and about 3 DPS, 4 sheriff's deputies, and numerous city officers ran into my room. All yelling, " No one move." 

One of the DPS put a Ruger Mini-14 against, the student's head and I can't remember what he said, but Jason, the kid, was on the ground, cuffed before I knew what was going on....

Why they did not wait, I am not sure? I am certain it is because of the pistol in the bag. The spent round still in the cylinder.   

Jason's partner had panicked, and went to the sheriff's office the next day with his parents and turned himself in, and told them the story. 

L.L. Walker, a longtime city police officer, was hanging around afterward and he was the one told me the story. 

Of course was former student was convicted and is still in prison....I look him up from time to time on the Texas Dept. of Corrections website and he is due his first parole hearing in 2034. 

He was 17 at the time of the crime. 

And here is the kicker, he was Vice-President of the old Rev. Billy Graham's Dayton High branch of " Youth for Christ."  ( His dad was a Baptist preacher.....)

- I don't know, Let's see how I can start this one....

In the late 1980s-1990s, the HIV, AIDS epidemic was not like it is today. While it is serious, it is not a death sentence like it once was.  

One day, I had a girl who was, well, she was known as a bit promiscuous,  came to me one morning. 

Told me she was positive. A couple of days later, she brought me the paperwork. 

She thinks she got it from anal sex. She swore she had used a " Trojan" during vaginal sex.  

Next two years,  I became the girl's conscious, her father confessor, she was in my room every day, checking on her, her doctor;s appointments, and more importantly, making sure she was not sleeping with people. ( Not going to go into what I did to verify this....)

She moved to Deep East Texas to be with family to take care of her 24 hour needs as she went into the later stages of her life. 

Might have been the most emotionally draining period of teaching I ever went through. I took the next year off from teaching, took care of Reid as he started " Kiddie-garden" had I not left Dayton, well, I quite liked it there. I would have probably moved to Nome and retired from DISD, ...But it wasn't foreordained.....I was supposed to be in Buna, and hell, this blog might have never existed....  

Of course, I am telling an abridged story about the second story. Brings back emotions, well, I don't really want to go there.  

End of Part 1....Part 2 coming soon..... 

 

Info From The Buna ISD....Patrons.....

 I had not planned to blog today, or even the remainder of this week....Unless some dramatic occurred..

I have heard from more people in the Buna Public Schools than in a while. 

Most are concerned about the scores that the schools and the school district received.  And while many, or the people in the community themselves are not throwing a fit on social media concerning the "D" that the Buna ISD received from the State of Texas, I am hearing from them. 

More than I expected. 

As one wrote me and said...." How, seriously, how did Vidor get a "B" and Buna get a "D" from Texas?" 

Another one wrote me and said, " I know people wrote you about moving their kids to other schools, I really wonder if my husband and me should start looking?  Who?"

 ( I really no longer know?)

And the parents in the Buna Community are more upset than you know. 

I often catch more flak that actual people still working for the school. People just vent, and I let them. Often they have kids in the schools and they are afraid that some teacher, some administrator will take it out on their kids.  

One more wrote, " Buna is like Beaumont and Port Arthur ISD on the state points? Did I read that right?" 

And then, I received this..." Kery( Mispelled my name, I am Irish, two "Rs" ) stay after them on 62, my property taxes are G*d Damn high and this is the shit they try and pull ?"  

( I've edited the messages) 

 Let me remind everyone who works for the Buna ISD, heck, any government entity. You work for the taxpayer. Yes, they don't own you, but they pay your salary. And sometimes, those of us around the schoolhouses, administration buildings forget that. 

And I know teachers, you feel like you have been set up to fail. I know this, and  I know if I was having to deal with the new testing system, I would be feeling the same way. And don't get me started on the money from and to testing companies and the Texas Legislature. 

- Last night, at the board meeting there was considerable concern and questions asked of the Supt. of Schools concerning the number of teacher that the Buna ISD has without certification.  

I've been asking that question for a while now. 

Generally, not always, when a person get a degree in what traditionally is an area that is a teaching area, when the person graduates from university, they have already done their student teaching and when they walk across the stage at the college, the state is in the process of issuing them a teaching certificate. Or it was in the past.

More and more, it seems like someone is getting an English or a history or another core academic degree and looking around to see if they can do something other than teaching. It's only when they go into teaching, later they get a certificate. 

Don't get me wrong, many of these get a certificate later turn into good teacher.   And even graduating with a certificate, many people leave the business within 5 years. Colleges just do not do a good job of preparing people to teach. And most of you reading this, do not understand what the job really is like. And as I have said, I could not do it in 2025. ( I promised Mr. Thomas Vaughn I'd tell teaching stories one day in a blog, so those are coming, some of you won't believe some of these stories coming, many happened when I was teaching in Magnolia and Dayton.)

And I wonder what is going on? I have heard from people with certificates in academic fields in which people without certificates were hired over them. 

Contrary to general thought, I really, really want the Buna ISD to do well. You have remember where I retired from. I have a personal interest in the district doing well.   

Please folks, help the blog, like on Facebook.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cracker Barrel and Why They Did What They Did?...... And I Address Men.....

 I seriously stopped going to Cracker Barrel a number of years ago. 

The food was going downhill plus, I had gotten food poison from one of their stores. We wound up at the ER. Two of us had eaten the same thing. 

We switched to the Black Bear, but the last time we were there, well, it was disappointing. 

So, why did they change? 

Here is the economics behind the change, and yes, they chose the wrong person. 

The CEO's glasses hurt the entire change, and don't tell me otherwise. She looks like a CEO of a chic restaurant chain based in New York City, not one based in Tennessee.  Trust me, I wear round glasses because, it makes me look "teachery." Yes, I try often to look like I do, or in my case, taught school. 

I wonder if she had even eaten at a Cracker Barrel before she went to work at Cracker Barrel? 

She needed to go to a stylist from the South to help her media blitz.  

Cracker Barrel's customer base has always been older folks, those with a rural background or wanting a rural background.  Boomers mostly. 

The customer base is starting to die off. Gen Z, heck Millennials generally do want to eat at  Cracker Barrel. 

So, Ms. Glasses was hired to change Cracker Barrel. 

Trouble is, in her attempt to save the brand, she may have killed it. They have run off many of their old base in an attempt to "rebrand" and save the store. Make is more "hip." 

It is a breakfast place. That has rural type dinners. It was built on older senior diners.  

And say what you want, their traditional base is dying off. Literally.  

They have simply in an attempt to save the product, sped up the death process.  

Cracker Barrel is like many other restaurants. Sometimes, you have to close non-performing shops. Sometimes,, many times, restaurants go out of business.  

My favorite hamburger chain of all time was a place called Burger Chef. There was one near Lamar out on what is now MLK across from the football stadium. When I was there, you put you lettuce, tomatoes, onion, mustard, mayo, catsup whatever on your burger yourself.  

But its time like many other restaurants came to an end.  

- We went out of town to celebrate a couple of milestone and chose a place we thought had some form of standards. 

At one one time the restaurant had a former of a dress code. 

And why we drove out of town. 

And we expect to see whatever when we dine in Beaumont-Pt. Arthur, heck even Houston.....Men in shorts so short they may have holes in the butt of their jean shorts, tank tops, with your old nasty ass hair hang out.  The last time I was at the Texas Roadhouse in our area, a women had so much chesticals hanging out, I moved because I knew nipplage was going to poke out at any time. More cleavage than at a Hooters. And I changed seats. This was a woman with kids with her and I assume her husband. If she was on a date, later in the evening, I could understand. There was no baby in site and I know babies get hungry. 

And in truth, I don't expect fine dining from the roadhouse.  

This was a nice place we were at. I remember when men were expect to be in a jacket and tie. 

Not anymore. Hell, these guys could not even afford a nice polo shirt and khaki type slacks. 

I walked by a guy who looked like and worse, smelled like he'd been cutting grass all day. Can't you catch a quick shower, a change of clothes before going out to a nice restaurant? 

And here is the bad part, I expect it in the Golden Triangle. I shouldn't, but I do....  

 

 

 

I Actually Had a Buna Teacher Write Me Upset About This.....

 I thought they were either kidding, or it was some sort of satire, or I was just missing something....

 Nope!

The other day I had complained about administrators calling school faculty/staff " family." 

And it isn't. 

They thought the school was a family.... 

It is a different job. Most people who have not been a teacher do not really understand the dynamics. I still keep up with my students, or try to. I still worry about many of them, case in point, I have one in prison, due to be released in '26 I am keeping track of. And want to see her do well in the future. I know she has messed up a few times in recent years. 

Others ex-students, I have not a clue where they are and to be honest, they could care less if I knew. And that's fine, as I have had some literally attack me for some perceived slight I had given them while in high school. And that's fine. In truth I probably don't want to know what your life has become.  

But concerning people you teach school with. 95% of them you are not friends with, much less consider them family. There are very few I hear from since I retired, and don't expect them or me to follow their lives. Others, I hear from, from  time to time. 

I was there for the kids. I was there because I got a check every 20th of the month from Buna ISD. Look, your pastor is the same way, you stop paying him, they're going to find another pastoral job. And I've never heard a preacher leave a job for a new that pays less. " God is calling them to a new church that pays $10,000 more a year." If a pastoral job pays less, well, the church they are at presently, is probably about to run them off.  

In this county, there was a teacher who had a retirement dinner  a few days before she retired...There were only family members at the dinner. 

Apparently a faculty member saw the get together.  

The last week of school at a faculty meeting her principal called her down for not inviting all the school to the dinner, and had the gall to say she "Should have paid for it." 

She got up during the meeting, went to the administration building and retired on the spot. She figured the last week of school, would be a living hell on earth.... ( You can't make this stuff up.)

And this is to everyone. 

People at work are generally not your friends. And if you leave that job, you'll probably never think or hear from them again.....

It's a job. Quit thinking it is something it isn't. 

Think about how many Supt. of Schools Buna has had in recent years who at first told everyone they'll be in Buna for years, and 2-3 years later they are in a better paying job.   

A job will fire you in a heartbeat for you making a misstep...For economics.....For whatever. 

Yes, I was sad when I retired, I knew I was letting several of the Class of 2012 down and several of them told me so, and had more than one tell me how much they hated my replacement. 

But, I had to retire. I had health trouble that was plaguing me. 

My health was so much better 5 months into my retirement. I had a personality change. I was so much happier. 

Folks, it's a job. 

JUST a job.  

 

 

 

Damn Buna Schools....You're Looking Bad....Some People Are Saying You Suck.....

 Years ago when the test was still the old TAKS Exams, I remember a fat bald headed man who was Chairman of the History Department at Buna High School. 

I remember he made the district call the Social Studies Department the " History Department" because, well, it just sounds better. It just does. Never mind while he has a History Certification, and he holds an old school Social Studies Composite Certificate. 

Never mind the Government, Economics, Geography classes were included in the department.  

He was a lot of things. 

He still is. 

He was proud of his department....

He was proud of his history teachers. He thinks he had one of the best group of history teachers in Texas.

He had a coach sit on his desk in front of the kids, rub his bad knees, and just teach the hell out of the French Revolution. ( I include him, because he'll probably read this and I want him to know, I knew.)

The thing I was proudest of was our scores on the state exam. 

History scored a 100 more than once. We had the best scores in Region 5, hell, the state of Texas.  

I remember the feckin' Supt. of Schools brought in someone to improve our tests scores for the entire district. I remember not going to listen to the person talk/"instructor" us on our scores.....Why should I? We were at 100%. 

Needless to say, it was another time I got into trouble....And was forced to attend the " indoctrination." 

The Region 5 "person" was incensed I did not go, and challenged me why I " Did not care what she was teaching?" To which I replied. You're not going to help us.....To which she replied, don't you want to improve your scores? 

She had not even looked to see we had outscored Region 5. Had a perfect 100. To which I informed her our scores. 

She had no reply. And got mad....

I left during the afternoon break and went with the Chairman of the Science Department, who's department also had a perfect score, and went and got a Coke,( He was, I assume he still is, a Diet Coke man) and rode around town, only to return to school when it was time to go home. 

Did we get some sort of cash incentive for our score?

No.

Did we get a pizza?( Joe Howell was cooking some dog-gone good pizzas across the road during that time.)

No.

Did we get a heartfelt thanks?

No. 

We got nothing. 

We got the same pay, the scrutiny, the same unhappiness that everyone else got because their scores were bad. 

And like the Army, because one was bad, all suffered. 

Hell, I can't remember there being much of a hoopla in the old newspaper at the time. If anything. 

So, my in-box this past Friday was full of messages from people all upset about the Buna ISD making a "D" on their state scores. 

The elementary made an " F" the JH a "C" and the HS a " C".....

Man, that was bad. 

Really bad, and the Supt. of Schools was still praising the teaching in a memo she sent out to teachers. 

Well, you have to tell them that.....I guess. 

Already I am getting ( more than you know) people wonder, should I send my kids someplace else.  Evadale ISD seems to be the district most seem to want to move their children to. And Evadale ISD did score a good solid "B". And a lot of Buna kids I taught ( They are grown ass people now) are sending their children to Evadale.

And my answer is.....You got to do what is best for your children. 

I know we wound up sending Reid to LCM-ISD. Partly because it is more of an urban district, a larger district, and I would have loved for Reid to have attended Buna. Had me for AP Gov. AP Microeconomics, Anton for science, Tandy, Kay, Melissa, yes, even Kathy for English. But it is not his school. He is urban. He thrived at LCM.( And LCM is not really city) He lived downtown in China, in the middle of a 9 million population city and thrived......His mother, father, grandparents all have a horrible East Texas accent.....Reid's accent is a standard American accent. He worked to get rid of the twang. The best I can do is a Cork Irish or a West Coast of Scotland accent. ( Me people) He is not rural. Then again, at age 6 he was reading Machiavelli's " The Prince" because I had left it on the table one day working on something for my AP Government class, I could not find it, and he'd taken it to his room and was on his bed reading it.. ( I don't think you really understand how different my child is. He was never really a child and it concerned his parents, still does. He told us at age 8 that he might like living overseas.....And lived in Korea, China in his 20s for 6 years....I am not going to be shocked if we all don't wind up in Japan or Singapore. April has sort of planned on it.) I digress....

But, you must do what you can to prepare you children for whatever they are doing next. If you feel that Buna is doing okay, stay....If not, find another district. 

Okay, let's talk a little about the Buna ISD. 

Man, I wonder how much the last 2 Supt. of Schools had influence on these scores? The Buna Score certainly won't really follow them as they are both now in pretty big cities as superintendent. Some one wrote wonder about " social experiments" by the school board?  

I know Wichita Falls ISD made a D...... 

I'm going to let you decide yourself on that one. 

And yes, there will be defenders of the Buna district, but if it keeps going down, well, they don't turn it around, the state can come in and take it over. 

It happening right now in Houston at HISD. It's happened at Beaumont ISD. It's happened at smaller schools. 

Okay, let's change gears......

Teachers- I know a bunch of you are doing the best you can. I know this. I know there are teachers down the hall that suck, but they are professional suck ups and they'll keep their jobs. You know this.  Keep plugging away. And if you hate Buna, move. Move. Don't stay and be miserable. I know the kids are different. Hate the job? Get the hell out. Yeah, everyone will bitch about everything in the school business, but everyone bitches about their jobs.  

Administrators- Hire people with actual certificates. I know in my field, they are not that hard to find. Figure out a way to reward good scores. Recruit better teachers. Retain the goods. Feckin' get rid of the bad ones. Buna should have fired me a few times and crazy-ass me, pushed the envelope even harder. 

Parents- Don't blame the school for your sorry ass kid. You damn well know if your kid is sorry. Don't try and hide the fact. Pay attention to your kid. Get off the damn cell phone, quit looking at Team Skeet and Brazzers and check if your kid can read and write, do their times tables. Hell, parents used to do that. So many of you are more worried about you kid with a damn ball and how many Buna kids now make an actual living playing some sport? 

School Board- It's your job to make sure the school runs right. Sometimes you have to take unpopular stands. Sometimes you need to be an asshole. Sometimes you need to bit the bullet and run people off. Be moral and ethical. If it looks questionable, don't do it. Be fair. Let me reiterate, be fair.  

The world is changing. I no longer recommend college degrees. Trade school, vocational degrees fields in health care. My wife has so many state certificates and national licenses in her health care field, and none required her degree. And she's never gone without job offers. And yes, I know doctors, lawyers, even teachers in the core classes need degrees, but with AI, degrees in the Classics ( What I really wanted to study in school, but 50 years ago, I couldn't get into Rice and could not afford to move to Austin and go to Texas even in the Mid-70s. The nearest schools to me with serious enough Classics programs.) or any degree really, are going to become less and less needed. 

I read where a number of you are blaming the state for this entire mess, and yes, it is a mess, but who elected the Texas State Legislature, the State Board of Education( SBOE) who came up with these tests, rules? Us......We elected the people who established the tests, the rules. And we keep electing the same people over and over again. ( I know no one decent is running against them.)

And I'm no fan of the test, the scoring system, heck, how textbooks are chosen.  Years ago, I was looking at one of the World History texts and included was a map of the Silk Road(s) from China. I asked my then son's girlfriend if they were correct. She had a fit saying, " No, these are wrong." When we visited China for Reid's and her wedding,  she and Dr. Zhou, her father, took me to one of the Silk Roads.( I did not ask to go, they took it upon themselves to correct the SBOE's poor history.) It is a major highway now, and there was a monument marking where it crossed through Kunming. It was no place near the roads indicated on the textbook maps. Thank you SBOE,( sarcasm) and you wonder why I rarely used a textbook. 

Now some of you would love to go back to the "old days" and when I first arrived at Buna I was literally told by some of the "Old Hand" teachers to graduate from Buna High School all you had to do was be able to "Say 'Tater' and wave bye-bye. " 

I took that as a challenge and made my class hard. Let's bring this place up to where I know these kids need to be.  

They should have "Runt me off" at that point.  

I know some of you wish it was that "tater" simple. Trouble is, you will be the same people bitching and moaning saying...." Our damn kids don't know nuthin'"..... 

Buna, you're going to have to quit playing politics. You're going to need to take care of even the least of these. EVEN if you don't like them. 

Okay the clock is running. Buna, you've got to do better. Parents keep them accountable. Teachers, administrators, board, you took the job. Don't sit around and smile thinking everything is okay, or it'll be alright. You may have to step on some toes. And I know that's hard to do, and the good Lord knows I made more enemies than friends trying to do the right thing....And other than myself knowing...I know you all hate the scoring system, but it is the game we have to play. And if you don't do what the state wants, well, you'll fail in their eyes....And fail in the eyes of everyone else. 

I'm sorry Buna, but you know who else in our area made a "D?" In our area? Port Arthur ISD.....West Orange ISD....Beaumont ISD.....People are running away from those districts. Why would anyone look at Buna's scores and want their kids to come there? 

 

  

  

 

I Apologize......And Now for Something Completely Different. ( Old Monty Python Reference)

 Again, I owe a couple of you phone calls, hell, thinking about just showing up at their house , however, if I was them, I'd greet me with a 12 gauge pump. I know a couple of you I owe my time and energy. 

I apologize. 

I have business I have to take care of this week. Literally, I am adulting, and since I retired, well, hell, I have slipped back to 18-19-20-21 year old Kerry Don Thomas. Literally, the girl I started to date made me grow the hell up.....She was barely 18 when we started dating. I mean barely. 

I went /am going through a bit of the "blues" as I posted on Facebook due to the loss of high school and a college friend. Both to cancer. 

I had helped the college friend get over a girlfriend who had left him for another mutual friend of ours. They married, and it wasn't long afterward they divorced and she came back begging for him to take her back. 

To my surprise, he listened to me and I told him to " move on." 

I'm sorry, but if a girl or a boy will screw someone else, while they are with you, or leave you for someone else, and want to come back, I am sorry, if they cheat once, there is a good chance they'll do it again....Kick 'em to the curb. 

Yeah, it'll hurt, but you'll be better off. 

My college friend later met a girl a couple of years older than him, and they were the love of each other's lives. 

Then, my nephew has started his first teaching job. I literally have been on the phone with him hours pumping him up. When BHS got me, I was a fully formed Mr. Thomas. I had taught for over a decade before I came to Buna.  And the thing is, he is dadgum me. Literally. Thinks like I do. Acts like I do. Loves History and English Literature like I do....That said, he is like his cousin Reid. Likes the red-headed girls.....But then again, in Reid's case, you never know who you'll fall in love with, a young Chinese girl who literally is the smartest person in the room when  she walks in, and she keeps it hidden. Damn M.S. in AI from Carnegie Mellon .... One of those, old Kerry couldn't get in that college if he tried. 

If I owe you my time, my effort, I will be connecting you in the next week.  

And if you need to hash something out with me, LMK. 

I apologize..... 

So, I Was Looking At The Buna Faculty......

 Especially the high school.....

I swear, I think I taught about 50% of the faculty.  

And it's a damn good thing Buna has alumni, for if not, they wouldn't have teachers. It was a little like this when I roamed the halls of Buna HS, but just a little. 

Today, it's a lot of Buna kids. 

Govteach, Kerry, Kerry Don, Mr. Thomas......Is that bad? 

Not really. 

It is actually good that a former student wants to be in Buna. 

I've been in school districts in which for whatever reason the alumni either don't, or can't get a job with the district.  

Heck, I even ran into it in my professional career. Then, again, as I've said for years, I wasn't supposed to be where I wanted to be, I was supposed to be in South Jasper County. I am convinced of that. 

But, as per norm, I digress....

Buna teachers.....You start tomorrow.  I know it's hard, I know there will be stress, I know you'll wonder if it is worth it? 

Is it worth it? While there has been this idea that somehow teachers are evil, and want to corrupt kids, morally, politically, however, 99.99999% just want the best for the kids. They want the kid to become a meaningful member of society. 

Teachers, and this is important....Be fair. It is hard to do, but be fair. Whether you know the kid, or their family, or don't know them from Adam, be fair to them all, and there will be people who want their kids treated better than everyone else......You can't. You just can't....

Teachers, do your best. I know there will be days you'll be worn out, especially the first two weeks of school and then toward the end of the Spring semester. Keep plugging away. The first two weeks, you literally have to get back into what I called " teaching shape" after you've been off for the Summer Break. It was a thing for most of us. Lecture like I did, 6 periods, 6-7 hours, your voice, your back, your mind, has to build up endurance again.  

If you have seniors, don't treat them like little kids. When I had you , I had married people, seniors with grown ass jobs, grown ass problems.the longer I had you in class during the year, the more I tried to treat you like a grown up.  

Remember teachers, while you are there for the kids, this is also a job. The district will throw you under the bus, let you go in a heartbeat. Watch yourself, and even then, you can get into trouble and not even try. It's just the nature of the business. 

Guys, ladies, and I wrote about this earlier, watch yourself around kids of the opposite sex. Don't put yourself in a place that looks bad, and certainly don't ruin your life over some 16 year old. 

I hope you have a good year. I really do, in 2025, I could not do it. A combo of today's kids and I'm old enough that I remember Augustus Caesar as an undergrad.   

You never know what you're going to get in class. In 2009, my 5th period class was all male except for two girls. Bunch of knotheads. Thought I was going to hate this bunch......It may have been my favorite class of all time. Hell, it WAS my favorite class.   

Again, enjoy the year, and if you're like me, have fun with your kids. It makes the class something for the kids to look forward to...