Special Request....I Need Some Prayers This Week......And You Need to Remind Me

 First, I need to talk about high school economics at some point. 

It has changed, and it is not the same economics as I taught you when I was still in the classroom....and it is for the bad and makes me have more questions than actual answers. 

Economics is not really what I taught. It is more personal finance. Including I was told, , they're supposed to teach you things such as how to write a check......I am a senior citizen. I cannot tell you the last time I wrote a check. Maybe 5 years ago. Perhaps longer. I think then, it was paying property taxes, even with them in 2026, we use some form of electronic transfer. I know I paid my Honda registration for the year cash, only because I had been given cash for officiating at a wedding and had the money in my billfold. ( Sorry, I've called it a billfold instead of a wallet for 70 years.)

In my opinion, economics from an academic point of view still needs to be taught. And why your parents have not spent the last 18 years teaching you how to run a household and its finances, well, my parents did, my parents parents did, and we taught Reid as he was growing up.....What happened? 

I have a theory....and it ain't good. We will write on it later with the changes to Texas high school history, government, geography, etc....Remind me to blog on this later in the next couple of weeks. 

It reminds me that I am so glad to be retired.  

- This week, Deb is having tests run at MD Anderson. Nothing new, just a follow up on a problem she has been treated for over the last few years, and the test itself is somewhat in a sensitive area. 

Prayers to the Divine the test runs smooth, that everything is still negative. That we won't have to be treated with chemo once again.  

Just going to Houston, driving to the Medical Center is not fun.  

Again, thank you for reading the blog.  

 

You're Crazy! This is to Disillusioned Buna ISD Patrons

 I had not planned to write today....Got up and the computer decided I need to listen to a mix of the singer Jewel and the band, Coldplay, and well, we just went with it. Then, I have this fat orange cat who has decided he needs to lay across the table between the keyboard and screen while I try and write this blog. 

Apparently he's a fan of  Coldplay. 

And I get messages all the time concerning my blogs concerning the Buna ISD. Most are pretty ugly. 

The last one told me that I am " crazy." 

To do this as long as I have, and going against the clique as it is known, I have to be somewhat " Not quite right." 

But, even as my child, I was "a little eccentric."  

Heck, I taught 17-18 year old people most of my life. It does cause a strain on you, both physically, and mentally. Talking for 7 hours a day gets tiring.....And then, having to be "out front" trying to figure out, catch what some 18 year old is about to pull all day, every day gets wearisome.  Especially mentally. 

You take on a government entity, and trust me, Buna ISD is one, and do it for 15+ years,  you get pretty thick skin. It also helps to actually believe in what you are writing about. 

Several of you have gotten blow-back from either the district or apologists for the school, and in truth,  it is to be expected. 

You have to remember the source(s) of the comments. 

Often they work for the district, or they have family/friends who collect a paycheck from the school district. 

If you're going to take on a government entity.  You are going to get to get fallout. If you get a lot like I often do, you have to look at it in this way, " Maybe I am actually doing some good." 

Keep after it, and let me reiterate. You're not going to ask these folks over for Thanksgiving dinner. You got to do what you think is right. 

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 

                                                                                                        Galatians 6:9 

And computer decided to play Soulja Boy...... Fred is looking like I am crazy because I know the lyrics.....

 

 

Okay Buna This is Twofold....One Serious....One, Well, What You Should Expect.....And it Ain't Good....

 This is serious. 

The State of Texas has removed 1.3 million people from the voter rolls in the state in the last few weeks. That is a pretty large number.

If you've not voted in a while, or you are paranoid of any government entity like I am, you may want to check and see if you are still registered to vote. 

You can check at the Texas Secretary of State's website at this link.  

And remember the last day to register to vote is Monday, October 5, 2026.  

" Just what the truth is, I can't say anymore." 

                                             -Nights in White Satin                                                                                                                                       -Moody Blues

-In the last 24 hours after the last blog, well, I have heard from more people concerning their kids and the Buna Schools.  

Kids want out, parents want the kids out, many urgently looking at another school in which to place their children. 

Some so disillusioned that their kids are going to schools that, well, I would not have sent Reid to on a bet. But desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.  

Then, there are people trying to explain what is actually going on in the district be in the property tax rate,  those trying to explain why they are removing their kids from the district , getting criticized by the school district apologists. 

You must remember, the district employees a large number of people in the community. And they, their family want to keep receiving a paycheck from the district. 

As the Cantonese Chinese would say..." Don't want to break the rice bowl. " ( Outside of the Cantonese coastal areas of China, Hong Kong South, the Chinese mostly eat noodles as a staple. I spent a month in Kunming and this is how many times I had rice.....0 )

Right or in many cases, wrong, they will defend the district. 

And you got to remember, you yourself have to do what is right for your bottom line, your kids....You got to remember, how many people criticizing you, well, you were not going fishin' with them......You're not going to be sitting around a campfire with most of these people smoking an H. Upmann,  drinking a  couple of cool ones.....

Sometimes, you have to do what is right for you and your family. 

As one parent wrote me, their high school age student told them since they left Buna , " My mental health is so much better now." 

Then, there was this....From a couple of parents....Two separate school districts... 

" The teachers in the new district act professional." 

 Again, a school district is a taxing government entity. It really doesn't care about you or your kid in the end. ( Individual teachers actually do. It is why we teach...and many of us have a love/hate relationship with the district in which we work.)

Many of us know what the school district can be.....We saw it first hand.....It's why I write the blog. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buna Schools Hemorrhaging Students?

 I ain't going to lie, I had to look up how to spell "Hemorrhaging" correctly. Spell check couldn't get it correct. 

And thank those of you who have checked on us during the storm. So far, we have maintained lights, and are thankful for it. 

The story coming out of the Buna ISD is the number of students who have left the district, school year 2026-2027. 

From a couple of different sources, the district has supposedly lost 139 students or about 9.5% of the student body.  

10% loss would make any business in the real world to sit up and pay attention. The business leadership would look up and go, " What do we need to change?" " Where do we cut?"

In many cases, leadership is the first to go. It's under the leader realm that we are losing "customers" in this case, pupils. 

And while a government entity is not run like a business, sometimes you need to look at school like a business. What do we need to change? And the voting public needs to look at what/who needs to go.....

The apologists for the last couple of years have told me, the new present leadership will make Buna ISD a desirable district for parents to move to and bring their students. 

( I do not think you know how much grief I have gotten over the last couple of years criticizing the present school district leadership. Being someone's buddy often clouds one's judgement. ) 

Yeah, tell the parents of the 139 who have left the district how great leadership is.....

Working on a blog to explain the "lower" ISD property tax rate......Don't take everything a government entity says at "face value." 

 

So, Ex-Students, I Was Minding My Own Business......Giving up on Buna ISD?????

 Proving I will listen listen to pretty much any type music, I am listening to Estonian "Pop Music" this morning.....Yeah, I have an eclectic taste in music. 

This morning I get up for 'Morning Prayer' felt really good afterward, and I do my normal routine....Check the weather, check the overnight news, put on some music, and check Facebook,  and often FB stops me dead in my tracks. 

I see that a former student is talking about how their child has a 100 in their Economics's Class.  But the child is going to school in Hardin County. I don't want to know what is going on in Hardin County educational or governmental authorities.....

And that the class was nothing like Gov/Eco back in the day, with my teaching....

Education is so different than when I was teaching, and I have said this many times before, I could not teach in 2026. 

I could not be the Mr. Thomas you had when I was teaching school. I seriously would be sent home at about 9am. 

They'd have me explaining why I "bled like a stuck pig" on your essays......Why I put you in the hallway....Why we had a " Cuss Porch."  

Heck, I couldn't have the mess and bologna we had going on in Gov/Eco class.  I know I often picked and teased in classes, and I did it to one student so much I stopped. I better quit I told myself......About a week after I stopped she came by after class and asked, " Mr. Thomas are you mad at me?" 

I'd have to be " Nice." ( I'll look in Webster's and see what the term " Nice" means.....) 

No, the kids, the parents, society has changed dramatically since I retired. It is part of the reason why I do not hardly leave the house anymore. I don't have to "put up with it" anymore, so I just stay away. 

It's like, at some point I will give up on Buna Schools, declare it an officially a " Lost Cause" and try and not look back.  

But not yet.  ( At some point I will decide it's so FUBAR I need to just stop for my own sanity. )

 I could just about see what would happen when today's Seniors found out I liked tobacco, alcohol, firearms.....Again, they'd let me go in 2026. 

No, since the COVID fiasco, the world changed. And don't tell me it hasn't. And it has messed up more kids than we want to admit, and education, good or bad, has adjusted to the kids in 2026. And perhaps not in a good way. 

Old Kerry Don, while he sometimes misses it, couldn't do it today.....BTW- The lectures this week in Government class would be " British Backgrounds."  

 

 

 

Been a While......

 Sounding like a " Staind " song in the title this morning. 

Believe it or not, I am somewhat a private person. Unless it is to the doctor's, grandma's, I rarely leave Orange County. If there is a trip and the UK, or Europe is involved, well, I keep literally a bag packed for that. I am so wanting to go to either Scotland or England I could spit.  

But, right now, with the global situation, we are just a little hesitant. When there are rumors, threats that either Russia or Iran may " do something" to England, well, I don't want to get in the middle of World War 3. 

No, again, I am somewhat of a recluse. Always have been. 

I should have called the Compound the Hermitage instead.

Still there are people who think they somehow think it is okay to just show up here at the Compound.  

Doesn't happen often, but on a rare occasion,, well, someone with " More problems than a runt over dog." with the school district become embolden, desperate, they show up here to tell me their story. And generally by the time I hear it, it was past time to do something about it..... 

If you want to talk to me, call me. Then again, if I don't answer, leave a message. Unless it is family, or close friends, I may not answer. 

I really prefer you send me a message on FB or email. 

I appreciate you reading the blog. I seriously do. But, I have got to keep some sort of distance. It is just my personality. 

Again, thank you for reading. As always, all information received is confidential.  

 

 

 

So, I Was Reading Buna ISD's Facebook Post(s)

 ( I am writing this with an Orange Cat laying across the computer. If you are not listening to Gov't. Mule and Warren Hayes, or Blackberry Smoke with Charlie Starr, you don't know what you are missing....)

I often am inundated by Buna ISD's propaganda machine, and I can't think of anything better to call it. 

It so reminds me of the old Soviet apparatus of TASS, Pravda, Izvestia.  Then, again, most states have a form of press to make themselves look good. 

In the late 1970s, I often went to the university library to read old copies.  I had just taken a history class called " Russia Since 1860."

But I digress once again....

I read most of the posts from the Buna Schools if for nothing to look at see what they are pushing this week. 

In one of the posts was a well, " Reunion Reminder." 

Included in the post was the fact the Class of 1997 will be celebrating their 30th reunion and the Class of 2007 their 20th. 

I taught both classes. 

I am so tempted to show up about midway, make fun of everyone in those classes for about 10-15 minutes and then like a " Thief in the night" disappear into the dark..... 

It is at the junior high, the old high school for most of these classes.  

Why 10-15 minutes?

You've go to remember I am Persona Non-Grata....  

I figure it'll take that long for someone to snap and call the police.  

And don't think some Karen won't.