Fall 2023- Buna ISD Teachers....Heck, All Teachers No Matter the District

 I do this from time to time. I still keep up with Buna , heck, education in Texas, and in truth, all over America, the world. I guess I always will.

This coming school year, I will start my 13th year retired from teaching. It doesn't seem that long ago. 

And to be honest with you, I am so glad I am out. Oh, I could have survived until today, but I would have been so miserable. My last few years, well, I saw the handwriting on the wall. 

First, let me remind you, leave the kids alone. Just this past week a female teacher was arrested for "diddling" her Middle School student in Nagodoches ISD.  I don't know what female teachers, with college degrees, in their 20-30s are doing messing with 14 year old boys. 

In this day and age, you life as you know will be ruined. You are probably going to jail, you'll lose your spouse, your certificate, you'll be looking back at age 45-50 and say, " What the hell was I thinking?"

Second, as I have told you in the past, it is just a job. The administration, the parents, heck the kids, especially the kids, will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat. Oh, you like the kids, you want to do the best for them, but say the wrong thing, the wrong belief and in this day and age, while the ISD may not let you go, there might be enough pressure from the community that you are seeking new employment. 

This is a new day. Watch what you say. Avoid being political as in elected offices. The woke crown is both left and right. I am sure that even though I think I could survive above, in reality, I doubt it. Lord knows my opinion comes out. I got no governor. 

Third, sadly, there are something you just can't do as a teacher. I was sent a newspaper article about a teacher being fired for going to a " Drag Show" then posting pictures on social media. 

And then I read the kicker. She was a 20 year teacher at a Baptist school.....Where did she miss the fact she worked at a Baptist school and she might not post pictures, much less let people go. Come on man, are you that naive in this day and age and people playing " Gotcha?"

Look, years, ago, I had a student, 18 year old senior, dancing " nekkid" in the Houston area. ( No not from Buna, not this one anyway.)

One Friday afternoon, she came by after school and told, me " Mr. Thomas, you should come by and see my show, I'm on at 5." 

There ain't no way I was going. I could just about see her telling everyone about it on Monday. Nor, do I got any business going to one of those places. 

I could just about see what the Dayton ISD would do if I was found going....

There are district still uptight about tattoos, even in this day and age. Tell teachers not to let their kids know they drink, or post bathing suit photos on social media.....It comes with the territory.  

As I told many of you earlier on Facebook I no longer tell people to " teach school." I now tell them do something else. Look, parents now hate you, the Texas State Legislature really hates you. 

They think you're a bunch of wild eyed liberals. And while there are some liberals teaching they generally don't tell you their political beliefs, and in small school districts,especially in rural areas,  the majority of teachers are pretty conservative in their beliefs.  ( That said, the present legislature is about to stop me from voting Republican, which I've registered as since 1976 when it wasn't popular to do so. Scapegoating teachers for whatever reason now.)

But I digress. 

The profession is changing folks. You know it. As a boxing referee would say, " Protect yourself at all times."

Please, Please, Please Buna People, S. Jasper County, S. Newton County, Hardin County People and Stuff and Again I'm Falling from Grace-

 As I posted earlier today, I visited the cardiologist this morning. And nothing yet, I need to have stress test and an ultra sound, both of which will occur in the coming weeks. My EKG of course was clear, and when the doctor checked me over, everything looked " Good" according to him. But, that is without any tests. 

But this is what the blog is about. It seems someone from Buna and knows me from the blog, and Facebook was in the doctor's office, and about the time they were going to introduce themselves, I was called back. 

Please, if you see me, come introduce yourself to me. I'd like to put names with faces in many cases. Also, it has been a while since I have taught many of you, and well, I probably remember the face, but I might be struggling with the name. 

The other day, I was at my GP's ( General Practice Doctor as the British call them, we tend to call the " Family Practice or Family Medicine Doctor" here in America.) and I needed an X-Ray of my neck. The Radiation Technician or Radiation Technologist, as my wife has informed me they are now called, not X-Ray Technician as they once were called..... and my wife who went back to school to become a Radiation Therapist, all that school, all that physics she had to take, to get an addition letter (T) in parenthesis behind their name... The medical field for us laymen can be confusing. 

Anyway, the tech doing the X-Ray was an ex-student. 

And I drew a blank on her name. And she did not introduce herself. I know in professional settings, sometimes you have to keep it, well serious, and professional. 

If I had not had a brain fart, I would have said her name, and hugged her neck...as the late Will Locke told me the last time I saw him, and he hugged my neck. " You never know, it might be our last time." Man, he was so right.    

It was not until I got into my vehicle I remember her name, the year she graduated, etc... 

Please, introduce yourself.....Hug my neck. It'll make me happy.

On my way home from the doctor, today, I stopped at Vidor Jack-in-the-Box, it was getting late morning and at that time, they were the only fast food place serving breakfast, and before I did, went to Brookshire Bros. for some Yellow Beans, corn meal, and a little more Beasley green onion sausage, you can always freeze it. 

As I left, a man stopped and asked " How's your son doing?" And I asked, "I think you have us mixed with someone else," Louisiana plates, I didn't recognize him.... 

And I think he might have had a "pop" or two already. 

He insisted that I did.....

So I told him, " As of this past Friday, he is now an Executive at IBM. " Kind of made me proud as a parent. His Mom, 'Debbie the Good, St. Debbie' would never brag, she'd say something like " Oh, he's just working in computers." And why my wife is making it to heaven and my entrance is well, questionable at best. 

To which the man who stopped me, said, "Yeah, don't think it's the same person..."

Okay Buna, Evadale, Mauriceville, Kountze, Silsbee, K-Ville, Ect. This Should Make You Mad

 So, a "modern" country star has rocketed to the top of the charts because of a video they put out of him in front of a courthouse in which a lynching took place in the 1920s. And CMT took the "star's " song off the rotation.

I question the whole damn mess. 

I wonder if said country star is was/is losing popularity and this entire incident was an attempt to give him a number one hit? 

In other words, the entire thing was manipulated? Don't rule out the possibility.  Keep him at the top?

And I know you are saying CMT has killed themselves, but in truth, who really watches CMT anymore? Other than a few hours of country music videos in the morning, most of the day, it plays bad re-runs. Heck, their ratings are in the tube already. Heck, I can see them as going to another format or even selling CMT altogether. 

Look, I can't tell you  another song the country music star in question sings, and don't tell me one, I don't care. 

I tried to listen to the song in question and it was so poorly sung, so poorly produced, I turned it off about halfway through. 

Then, there is the belief that small rural towns are better than big cities. I've lived in both, and both have their problems. 

Look, small towns got troubles, they don't always take care of their own problems....

There has been a girl missing for months and months and months now in Buna. People know where she is, and not one soul has the guts to come forward and tell who, why, and where she is. 

There are meth, opiate, alcohol problems in every small town and they are the cause of 90% of your crime. There are meth labs all over rural counties and people next door won't say anything. They're not " taking care of it." 

There are adults abusing kids sexually in small towns. How long did my former student abuse boys before someone said something? And I know people still too afraid for whatever reason, to say anything, yet they were abused by him. 

Heck, there are more kids abused than we know. There are 3 ex-students of mine sitting in jail for abusing kids. ( Heck, 4 including the one sitting in state prison. And don't be asking me " Who" in today's open records, it is easy enough to find out.) How many moms or grandmas, or Aunt XYZ knowing about abuse, but don't want the family to be embarrassed, or their child, grandchild etc. to go to jail.

Every small town has a clique. Generally run or the leadership is within the church. And it's not always Baptist. I taught in a town in which it was Lutheran. There are towns in the Hill Country in which the clique is at the " New Methodists" ( Why they decided homosexuality was the sin they would split over, it's because they are involved or have been involved with, fornication, adultery, idolatry( think money or possessions here folks) or verbal abusers....I can go on and on here folks....Look, I did not get job in the Vidor ISD because  my family wasn't a " name" in the town. My dad wasn't a deacon at the Big Church...... It about killed me when I didn't get a job I so wanted. It was given to someone else with a "better" name. It killed me. I was sick for weeks. I was a better teacher, no brag, just fact.....It was a fluke I got my position in Buna, and say what you will, I think I was a better teacher because I had been "cast away" by my own school district. ( And do not tell me that doesn't happen in Buna, I've seen it happen. Knew a kid with the certification, degree in their subject get passed over for another person without the degrees, etc. It about killed them. And they were a Buna alumni Again, politics and the clique. I've seen it more than once....)

Now I was never really accepted. I was told that by people from Buna, that even if I moved across the road from the school, I would " never be from here." And other than it was implied by an administrator that " Most of the school people go to XYZ Baptist Church" I was never invited to any Buna church....Except the Mormons. God love the Mormons and their missionary spirit. But I'm not giving up coffee, tea, and alcohol. 

The economics of a small town are limited. Orange, Jasper, Liberty counties etc are close enough to Beaumont or West Orange or wherever to drive to work and still live in a "small town." That said, Buna ISD is still the largest employer in the town.  STI would be there and would help, but town would be hurting. If not dying.

Drive through many towns in rural Texas. They are dying. There are no jobs, other than schools, and the best and brightest kids leave. Heck, many of the just regular kids, " just leave." They don't want their kids to live how they did growing up. ( And don't tell me " I did" and yes, there will always be people who make do in their hometown.)

The percentage of murders, crimes are not that much different in small towns than big ones, many small towns it is worse because there are no jobs. And add people on some sort of narcotics, I don't even want to think about it. 

Now, I live in the woods, always have. It has its positives, and it has its negatives. It is 40-60 minutes to an emergency room once you call an ambulance. If I were to call the sheriff he might not arrive( Same thing in an urban area, suburban, much better)...I still don't know all my neighbors and I've tried. ( Most I can call on for help) But in Fort Worth, we lived in a blue collar neighborhood of mostly Latino and Asian families. I knew the kids and I was younger and played with the kids( In this day, I would not do that for nothing for fear I'd be accused of something)....One neighbor had problems with his sewer, water system and everyone turned up on a Saturday morning to dig and help him fix it.....His wife ordered doughnuts and coffee/tea for breakfast and pizza and an Asian fruit drink ( along with Cokes) later in the day. Teased one of the neighbors about him eating canadian bacon and jalapeno pizza, his religion kept him from eating pork, and his reply, " Don't tell my wife." And winked. His wife later made us all chicken kebabs. 

There is good and bad in urban and small towns, don't think you are somehow superior and " take care of stuff"  

And don't fall for hatred or you don't agree with businesses. Pretty soon, people will say, " This business is not Christian enough, or this business is not progressive enough." They are playing us against one another so they can achieve fame, or make a dollar, or control people. 

You can never please everyone. 

  

   

 

Okay, May Need Some Advice...

 I know, I should be able to decide this rather than seek advice. 

Was asked this week to perform a wedding of a couple that I have know, well for quite sometime. It is their second wedding....To each other. 

They had divorced and were a par for a while, and now, want to re-marry. 

The second wedding will almost be as big as the first one, which was performed by an Episcopal priest, a soiree that I know was close to $50,000 in cost, and well, they could/can afford it. She's even going to wear a white gown for a second time. I don't have a problem with a second white dress in this day. So many " first marriages" are now a " practice wedding" for a lot of folks. That said, I performed a " first wedding " for couple in which rather than white, the bride wore an emerald green gown. With her coal black hair and blue eyes, the entire outfit just " popped."  As she walked down the aisle, I saw a couple on the groom's side turn and look at one one another and both mouth " Wow." It was that stunning. I wondered what Miss Debbie would look like in an emerald green dress. No, not Debbie the Good/St. Debbie's color. To my ' to my surprise a super bright colors.' And always have been....I've always wanted her to wear light blue or maize yellow , or cardinal pink button-down shirts, khaki pants, heels or flats, with pearls and have bought her said outfits. She hates them, his told me, " Prep/Trad is Kerry Thomas's style, not mine." And she's correct.....Again,I digress. 

Anyway, I got to talking to prospective groom about the wedding, and in the process, he told me the history of why they had broken-up.

Seems, neither could be faithful. 

He almost immediately after they were married he started seeing an old girlfriend. With the old girlfriend being married also at the time. 

It took a little longer for the wife to start seeing other people. Mostly guys at work. 

As a matter of fact it seems she was carrying on tow affairs all the time she and the husband were regularly, intimate. 

Yes, I know, this was like a confession to me....And you don't know these people, this is from another life. And to be honest, everyone in their inner circle know the history, it is no secret. Heck, everyone knows.

After a pregnancy scare, they decided to "go their own ways" and divorce. 

I have a problem with adultery. Bad problem. It's one of the two reason the Bible gives for divorce. ( Irreconcilable differences is no place in the Bible. I know people who have divorced because one of them had gotten sick. Or they moved up and married someone else with more finances. )

And then from another source, I discovered they often had " relations" after one another had spent the afternoon with their affair partner. I don't know know, maybe it's just me, but that's the last thing I'd want to do is kiss a girl after another man's " equipment" had possibly been in her mouth, possibly even a DNA deposit a little earlier.  

I have not told them for certain I am doing the wedding. They have kids and I really like folks with children to be married, it's just , well, better for the kids to have two parents. 

They are already cohabiting in a home, well, I wouldn't have to clean, or have to pay for a cleaning crew to clean. So there is that....

That said, I am not for sure they are not still seeing other people.  

I doubt Miss Debbie will be my "Plus-one" just the entire situation. and somehow condoning the situation just by being there.

So, don't ask how I know these people, or why they asked me. I had another life before Buna. 

As the old joke about the old man working in the sawmill ends..."Oh, these decisions, decisions.... "

Okay Men, You've Got to do Better-

 No, not talking about your dating in 2023. I can't figure out what girls want either, and couldn't figure out what they wanted in the 1970s either. I literally fell into dating my wife, as I've said, my wife either not understanding social constructs of the 1970s, or just being a naive nerd and my wife is pretty darn nerdy, asked me out on a date. She says, " You were who I wanted to go out with, why fool around." And there were several guys who were interested in her, especially a guy who is now a professor of mathematics at a university in the Midwest. But as she says, " Dodged a bullet there, he's on wife three- four."

But I digress.

Men, you got to do better.

When you got to town, you've got to quit wearing clothes that look like the dog has slept on them....Or so dirty it looks like cow fertilizer all over your shirt and pants. 

Now I am not talking about running to the hardware store, or the feed store or even the grocery store or dollar store to grab a few items. 

But if you are going to a nice restaurant in Beaumont or the PNG-Nederland-Pt. Arthur area, good grief men, the stuff you are wearing. Cargo shorts that are so wadded it looks like you picked it up on I-10 after rush hour.. T-shirts that look like the cat vomited on them....And take a shower, use some Old Spice Gentleman Deodorant( Or whatever works for you). And this is more and more of a " thing" I swear some guys have not showered in a week. 

I can wear a pair of khaki Docker's style slacks, and a long sleeve button down shirt and personally feel under-dressed, but still, I am dressed better than a lot of guys in the place. And I am not wearing a sports coat like I normally do, it's too bloody hot. 

And I know this is the time of the tennis shoe, sneaker or as the British call them, " trainers." But some of you are wearing semi-dress style shoes that are so beat up. And I understand the comfort appeal, and I often wear Sperry's, but I generally put  Made in France, Saphir polish( Couple of different coats of different shoe creams/polish) on my Sperry's, mostly to get the color I want, but some of your shoes, boots look like you've tied them to the the back bumper of your vehicle and drug them down the highway. 

And you don't have to go to my level, but at least clean the chicken crap off of them. And a coat of Kiwi polish goes a long way. 

And there is nothing wrong with a pair of dress Tony Llamas( Or whatever boots), nice Wranglers, and a dress cowboy shirt. That is actually pretty classic and classy. It looks sharp. It just says time-honored Texas...... Some of you however, are wearing jeans with holes so close to your "center" I am afraid your equipment will fall out with one wrong turn.

But some of you.....Whew, especially not using soap and water for an extended period of time...And you show up to the Schooner or a steakhouse and you want it to be " an experience." 

Well, it's an experience.....

If You've Asked Me This......

 If you've asked me this, just don't assume that I know. 

Found out this weekend about a wedding I was suppose to officiate....Next weekend. They had asked me to do it....But neglected to tell me the time, or date......Or where....Just it was in the future.

I thought it might have been my fault. I am pretty serious about weddings and have a calendar specifically for them. Even have how I am supposed to dress for some.

So I checked my texts, the calendar again, PMs, the Facebook, my phone calls, my voice mails. No, nothing. 

And sure enough, both the bride and groom had assumed the other would tell me the particulars. Neither did. 

So, check and make sure I have you down. I don't want to NOT show up for something I need attend.

Buna ISD Board of Trustees - July, 2023 Meeting

 Let me remind you, if you give me information about Buna ISD, Jasper County, heck, any government entity, I never reveal sources. I keep you anonymous. Always have, always will.

It's seems there was interest in the board meeting last evening. Full house. So many people, there were folks in the corridor listening. 

The board did approve a raise for people with 20+ years experience, that said, there were people on the board who did not want to give raise to people who had not put all 20+ years in at Buna. If I was there, that would have effected me, I had been at several different ISDs before I came to Buna, trouble is, I would not have not been the " Mr. Thomas you got in Buna" had I not been molded in Magnolia and Dayton. 

It also was learned that the district was told by their attorney that they cannot lock the community out of the building like they did May 18 for two hours.

Apparently there was also " misunderstanding" about corporal punishment( padding, swats, lighting a kid up.) 

The 3 campuses were not on the same page. The powers that be didn't want paddling. But it seems, paddling is okay with the board. 

Finally, and I have heard from 3 sources on this one, allegedly, the superintendent is looking hard for another job. 

If true, I understand. She has spent most career in suburban or larger school districts. It is different in East Texas, it just is. I know there is a rural aspect to it, but East Texas schools are so different than the ones even in the Houston area, heck even Beaumont suburbs.....

Again Buna ISD, You Don't Want This....

 I had not planned to visit this topic again, at least, not so soon.

This weekend, the Washington Post had an article about absenteeism in the schools of America. 

It seems there are about 33% of students in the U.S. who would be considered " Chronic Absentees." 

1/3rd of the kids. I am not shocked. There were so many kids in school, especially high school, who, " Just don't want to be there." Let's face it, school lots of times suck. There are rules that suck. Teachers that suck. Administrators that suck......But then again, so much in the real world sucks too. 

And Buna Schools are looking at " doing away with" one of the few things that works for kids, letting them be exempt from finals for actually coming to class. 

I don't know anymore, the older I get the more stuff " Just makes no damn sense." 

Rumors, Stories, Innuendo, and Buna ISD

 Well, hell, I had not planned to write another blog this week. After all it is the July 4th " Short Week" as Tom Keen on Bloomberg calls it. 

I was informed by at least 4 different people concerning this story and the Buna ISD.

This began when I was still with the ISD. 

And whoever dreamed it up, well, it was brilliant. 

There is a process in which a student can be exempt from the final exams if they are passing, and the number of absences is limited. 

Trust me, it gets kids to school who normally want to lay up in the bed on Monday morning. Or hell, Friday morning....These kids are not like Honors kids who come to school with Cholera, Malaria, and Smallpox. 

The senior class in order to get everything organized to make sure they all pass, and to get them the hell off campus, take their finals a week early. The senior teacher have to work on graduation. That shit doesn't get done on its own. 

And then there dealing with seniors for a week in which they know they are " Dead Man Walking" and are as worthless a human being can be. 

The rumor is, " Powers That Be" is trying to eliminate the exemption from finals, and seniors to lose that week of early release from school.....At present, they have to drive to school to check-in and when they get to school, they are given a doughnut.....And, they are counted for the day.

Why?

Just why get rid of something that gets kids to school? Why keep seniors on campus an extra week? They are a waste of oxygen that last week. They are often looking for trouble.  

I don't know, it seems to be " Fixing something that ain't broke."

 

 

Flat Earth Theory, CCP, Prayers, Quick History Lesson

 -Yeah, when you wake up and get a 2653 word essay( I put it in a word counter just to see) in your mail about why " Flat Earth Theory" is correct. 

The essay ignored stuff like.....Basic physics.....

Then, I get PM's from people who think the earth is flat......At least they didn't send me a 2600 word dissertation. 

Was sort of glad that the essayist deleted themselves...They had to go. 

-Disturbing news from the People's Republic of China. The U.S. State Department is warning people not to go there. 

I understand, we hold Q2 Chinese Visas (Chinese Family Visa) which pretty much lets us come and go as we please to the People's Republic, but I don't see me visiting anytime in the near future. The last time we went through I didn't think we were going to get out, the security system in Kunming was that complicated and was patted down....twice.....Even Israel wasn't that hard to enter and leave. And when we went to England in April, we just ran our passports through a machine, not a soul asked us a question, we could still be there....( American citizens can stay in Great Britain for 6 months, most places, it is 3 months....)

China is a different place, politically than when we visited. This round blue-eye has no business visiting.

-Remember the Grizzle Family in your prayers.  

-Finally, Happy Treason Day! Death to George III.....Death to Lord North.( Quick history lesson, North was British Prime Minster during the American Revolution, he was blamed for losing to colonies.)

Where the Cornbread Feck?

 I was minding my own business this morning, reading the news, nothing good, don't waste your time...

That's when I started reading an article about where people want to vacation around the world.....

The top place Americans want to visit? 

Santorini.....

To where you ask Mr. Thomas......"Where in the cornbread feck is Santorini?"

In classical Greek it is Thera....Yeah, I know, you still don't know....Well, most of you anyway.....

It's a Greek Island 120 miles Southeast of the mainland of Greece. 

I've kicked around Greece before, but not really Thera. 

I don't know, I am not really an "warm island" person, perhaps it is due to living in an area in which it might be 90F on Christmas Day, or at least seem like it stuffed in a house with about 70 relatives. 

As many of you gather, it's England, Scotland, Ireland......rinse, repeat, England, Scotland, Ireland for us...I'd rather stay in an old house in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales with sheep all around. Again, the hillbilly coming out in me, and in parts of the UK, you see where we got it from....

I don't know, we are kicking around the next trip......Norway? Iceland? Back to Ireland to visit me people? Alaska?

So, just curious this morning, if you could go anyplace around the world......

Where would it?