Coming to a School District Near You?

 Reason number 455 to be glad I am retired from teaching....

Dallas-Ft. Worth area school district Carroll ISD ( Rich folks, South Lake Carroll HS) has added a phrase to the teacher's contracts saying-

"You agree to not disparage, criticize, or defame the District, and its employees or officials, to the media,” 

Feck 'em.

They are a government entity. They are subject to criticism by anyone including employees in the district.In this writer's opinion, this is unconstitutional.

Hell, I taught in a district in which the Supt. of Schools got caught in graft and taking kickbacks during a school district bond program. The construction company building the new high school built him a new pool. ( Among other things such as "vacations.")

The Supt. of Schools got to visit the " Texas State Bed and Breakfast in Huntsville" for a few years. 

It was teachers who reported him to the District Attorney's Office. 

With the clause in the contract at Carroll ISD, you can't do that.  

Watch your government entities close....Even if you "know" the people running the entity.

Okay, this is Damn Important.....Pay Attention

 Early voting starts today for two propositions on property taxes. Regular election is May 7th.

Prop. 1

A "yes" vote supports amending the state constitution to authorize the state legislature to reduce the property tax limit for school maintenance and operations taxes imposed on the homesteads of elderly or disabled residents to reflect any tax rate reduction enacted by law from the preceding tax year.

A "no" vote opposes this amendment, which would have extended a tax limit reduction to the homesteads of elderly or disabled residents whose tax rates are frozen when they turn 65 or buy a new property.

 

Prop. 2

A "yes" vote supports increasing the homestead exemption for school district property taxes from $25,000 to $40,000.

A "no" vote opposes increasing the homestead exemption for school district property taxes to $40,000, thereby maintaining the existing amount at $25,000.

I generally don't tell you how to vote. But in this case, I am.

Vote YES on both propositions.  

On Prop 1, I know most of you are not 65 reading this, but it will help you one day. And trust me, you'll be 65 sooner than you know. ( I know my old bald head turns 65 this coming August.)

On Prop. 2, I don't know any of you who will not want an increase in your Homestead Exemption. 

Yes, I know May 7th is a Saturday, so get up early and vote before you go to the lake or start drinking at 8am. ( I know, it's happy hour somewhere.)

And those of you worried about the schools losing money, the state has promised to make up funds lost by schools.

 

So, I've Not Written a Blog in a While....

 I don't know, been in one of the as its been termed " Thomas Moods" for a while now. It's a defect in my DNA that run in a lot of the Thomas males on my side of the family. Surly, don't like nothing or nobody. 

I'm a little better this morning, so I am pounding out a blog. 

First, I am still worried about the economy. The earnings reports are not that good for businesses in the first quarter. We are due a recession. Get ready folks, it could be a doozy. 

- Saw that about half the damn schools were having prom last night. I know my first year retired it seemed odd not going. I did 33 proms, so  many, I really can't remember my own prom too well. I remember some of the ones at Buna better than my OWN senior prom.

- Speaking of schools. I see a number of schools are short people to teach and have all sorts of openings. Including Vidor ISD advertising now for teachers. 

Nope, I'm done. I couldn't teach with the new curriculum, and I'd keep parents mad. 

- Is it just me or is the year blowing by? It will be May next weekend. 

- There is a prayer vigil next Thursday at the rodeo area in Buna at 8:15PM for Cristi Ruso. That mess needs to end and the family needs closure. I get info from time to time and got a couple of tidbits we'll share Thursday on the radio show. Yes, we should be back on KJAS.

- Finally remember our old buddy Matt. I understand that he was moved early this morning to Herman in Houston. But that's the last info I have. Keep him in your prayers.

 

 

So Buna, I Guess I need to Explain

 Or not, I started to say " Feck It" if you didn't understand what we do on the radio, what I do on the blog. 

Last night, after our guest cancelled, we got on Buna again. 

Both Jay and myself have ties to Buna. And believe it our not, we want the place to do well. 

Oh, you have some new commerce in the town, but in truth, there is no real population growth. Look at the high school numbers. And with fuel prices as they are, perhaps no real growth any time soon. 

I don't know, look around, don't take Chamber of Commerce positivity as gospel. There are some problems, and these problems were not there when I was at the high school. 

Oh, there are problems in other communities in SETX, but you know, at one time, I recommended Buna ISD to people for their kids, even for several years after I retired. Hell, I am to the point, I have a hard time recommending it and most other schools in Region V. I generally tell people to " Get the Hell out of here." If we didn't have aging parents here, we probably would.  

This area is really not growing and Jasper, Newton, Tyler Counties lost people, and thus lost their representative in The Texas House. You will be an after thought to your new rep. Everyone in Jasper County could vote against them, and they'd still win re-election.

Look, I am concerned about the school. I seriously am. Parents are about to lose control and you don't realize it. Academics is slowing being pushed farther down the food chain. ( And we're not talking about the UIL Academic Teams) We care more about looks than how stuff really is....( It's called politics folks....always be suspicious) People leaving the Buna classroom is like rats jumping off a burning ship is always an indication. And it is not just money. ( Buna doesn't pay teachers worth a damn, but money is not always a reason to leave. If that was so, I was offered a job teaching economics more than once, the last offer was for $13,900 more than Buna was paying)

Again, Jay and I both love Buna. We really do. We are outside the inner circle and see stuff not obvious to people inside of the circle. Example. How many abandoned buildings do visiting schools see before they get to BHS? Including one on the corner of 62 and FM 253 as you turn towards the schools. 

Sorry folks if we upset you with last evening's program. We have offered the school administrators a chance to come into the show. Heck, we'll  have members of the Board of Trustees, but so far, 'crickets.'

Last evening's program.

Victoria's Secret?

 Yeah, I am going here today.

And yes, most guys like their wives,girlfriends to wear something like that around the house. And yes, it generally leads to ' Extracurricular" activities. 

But, that's not what I am here to discuss today.....

So, in this climate of "Woke" it seems that Victoria's Secret is including special needs girls in their model line up.

One includes a girl, who has " Down Syndrome." 

And yes, they have her modeling, in a black & white picture, as Victoria's Secret called it, a " Plunge bra."  And yes, there was considerable cleavage. 

The girl is 24 years old, and is not unattractive. 

Trouble is, after looking at her picture, I felt, well, ashamed of myself. 

Maybe it is because even though for 30+ year, my students were adults, I felt like I really must protect my "special needs" students. Heck, all my students. It was why my lectern was in the front corner of the room. So, I could try and protect girl's in short skirt's dignity, and maintain my "innocence."

If you believe that one, I have another one to tell you.  

The British media even said it was okay to " Sexualize people with Down Syndrome." 

I don't know, is that now an "okay" to use these people sexually? There's something wrong there. 

 

 

Okay Buna.....Don't Be Shocked.

 I have heard from several people affiliated with the ISD. It seems I have stirred up a number of people.

My understanding is that people sequestrated themselves and watched the YouTube video of the radio show.  

So, I got thinking. 

This is a government entity.  When I was teaching at the Magnolia ISD( Northwest of Houston in Montgomery County) we had a situation and every teacher expected the district to taken over by the Texas Education Agency, or the district to be absorbed by another school district.( I am not expecting this to occur to Buna)

Prepare yourselves, Buna might try and " spin" the situation.

- They may blame the messengers , which is would not shock me, and if so, I do have a nuclear option I am saving. 

- Deny it ever happened. 

- Scapegoat someone at the ISD. This is the response I expect.

- Saying nothing, and hope this goes away.( This is very likely)

- And there may be other options I've not thought of....

I'm not " taking it out" on Buna. I want Buna to be a quality school district. I want kids to be prepared to do whatever once they graduate from BHS.....I want Buna ISD to be fair, I worked my hardest when I was there to be fair to everyone. No matter who their parents were, their socioeconomic status, their race, creed, religion,( That got me into more trouble than you know because I often associated with kids who had no religious belief.)whether they were first or last in class ranking.

We might very briefly follow-up on Thursday evening, but we have more of an economics/prepare program/guest planned.

Dadgum Buna

 Man, really good numbers for last night's radio show, and we thank you.

Apparently, we're going to need to get all over Buna more often, and last night I bit my tongue. It was hard not to say " Sorry Mother-fecker" on the air. 

And yes, we are going to keep on the Cristi Ruso story. The family need closure. Think about it if it were your child. I can't even imagine what that family is going through.

Again, please like and subscribe to the NOTP YouTube Channel.

Buna ISD

 Tomorrow night, I think we are going to include Buna ISD in our radio show. ( That's the plan, but Jesus might rapture a bunch of you, so, our topic might change.....BTW- I don't believe in a Rapture as such, God just doesn't work that way.....Why are you so special? A lot have been through bad stuff and God didn't intervene....But, I digress. )

I like many of you are unhappy with what is going on in Buna Schools. 

I have a couple of stories already to share....

If you are, and have information, send me a message, as always, no names will be used.

Who the Hell is Going to Do It???

 So, I am reading more articles and seeing more YouTube videos on people leaving the teaching "bidness."

I know I had a "flirtation" with a private school for me to teach in their high school, but you know, even really good kids, well, I couldn't do it, and I doubt they could take my "methods." 

Even the  Drudge Report is starting to have stories about the Collapse of American Teaching on it's website. 

The great experiment to try and place everyone online for education turned into a flop......Now teachers only have to worry about cell phones, and other technology in the classroom competing with the actual lesson.....And training kids to have shorter and shorter attention spans. 

When we went to College Station to to see our daughter-in-law's graduation from A&M, I was somewhat surprised at the smallish number of people who were getting actual teaching degrees. And who can blame anyone  not going into teaching now? 

I don't know, maybe a recession will increase the number of people going into teaching just to pay the bills. ( I've seen that before and a bunch of those people sucked as teachers, and left as soon as they could.) 

At one time I used to recommend people getting a degree and going into teaching. No longer, get a degree in which you can quickly pay off your school debt ( if you have any) and make some actual money.

Hell, I used to be asked from time to time which school district I would recommend in this area. And now, I recommend them a district that's the least bad. 

I don't know. Maybe it's just part of the collapse. 

Hell, I couldn't teach today if my life depended on it.

Economics Lesson- April 1st, 2022.

 And no this isn't April's Fools.( Damn, the year is 1/4th over.)

There are 3 ways for the average person to invest in the US Government......Or, how the US pays the massive debt.

T-bonds( T stands for Treasury, US Treasury) mature in 20 or 30 years and offer the highest interest payments bi-annually. T-notes mature anywhere between two and 10 years, with bi-annual interest payments, but lower yields. T-bills have the shortest maturity terms—from four weeks to one year.

Yesterday the T-Notes inverted. In other words the 2 year note was paying better interest than the 10 years note. 

So, Mr. Thomas, Kerry, Kerry Don, Ole Govteach......What does that mean to me?

It means that there is a real chance of a recession this year or next. 

A 66% chance this year......98% chance next year.  

You might want to get some of your economic debts in order. You never know how it's going to effect you.