Buna ISD Poor Scores?

 So, to get the Buna ISD patrons and community ready for the upcoming scores for the district, there was a memo sent out to the community, getting people ready for what they expect to be a lower scores for the district. 

And perhaps, the letter grades may have gone down at least 2 letter grades. 

Now, the Texas Education Agency has changed their scoring of schools and school districts in the last school year, and Buna ISD is expecting Buna ISD to go down in their scores. 

And there is a number of questions concerning the TEA's new scoring system. So much so, there are districts suing the TEA. 

So much controversy surrounds the new scoring system, the TEA has announced a delay in the release of the school scores.  

The question is this, Is Buna ISD expecting a lower score, even more than expected? They're trying to lessen the blow of a poor score?

Some in the community are wondering if it is because there are lower scores because there are fewer and fewer certified teachers now being hired? This " District of Innovation" business?

While there has always been teachers getting their certificate AFTER they are hired by a school, it seems, even more people now are are getting certified, many teaching in a field not even related to their original degree, after teaching school for a while. 

To gauge what is going on, look at comparable school districts in the area, heck in the state of Texas. 

When I was teaching I tried to gauge our scores with Bridge City, Orangefield, LCM, Lumberton. Hardin-Jefferson.....See if you are hanging with PNG ISD.

Heck, look at what the districts are doing in Llano ISD or other schools 3A-4A in size near Austin.

If we were scoring as well, or better, I was pretty happy. ( I remember at couple of years Buna ISD had the highest scores in Social Studies in Region V. Heck, we scored 100% pass a couple of years, and Region V had the nerve to ask, " Don't you want to improve your Social Studies scores?" They asked the same of Science and the Buna High  Science scores were 100%. Region V couldn't believe we were doing that well.

So, look at other school districts. If Buna is not better than or at least equal to, I would worry. 

But, I am worried if the district is already making excuses, and the scores are not out yet. As I have said for years, I want Buna ISD to do well.

Don't Ever Do This!

 I was reminded not to do this, even as a joke at a wedding. 

This generally involves the groom. 

In the part were the officiant, minister, priest, etc asks...."Do you take this woman to be your wife, to love, the cherish....etc"

Then, as a joke, or teasing say...." No."

There are denominations who have to take the FIRST ANSWER......They can't take...." I was just kidding." 

Questions may arise later about if they really wanted to marry or not?

This is serious business.

It happened this past weekend to a friend of mine conducting a wedding. The groom smiled, and said, " No." 

My minister friend closed his marrying book, went and got in his truck, and left.  

I think he took the license with him.....If sued, his answer would be, " I was told by the groom no." He mailed the unsigned marriage license back to the county clerk with an explanation letter.  

Folks, this goes under...." Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

S*x, Nasty, Deviate Behaviour, Baptist Preachers

 I have never told this story to anyone before. My wife knows, but she was there.

Years ago when I was in theological school, Southwestern Baptist Seminary often held concerts in both the Bass Auditorium in downtown Ft. Worth and on the seminary campus in the auditorium. 

The concerts every Christmas were the Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestra and the seminary chorus singing Handel's The Messiah. . 

The first Christmas, Deb and I went. 

After the my wife and I ran into people we knew separately in the foyer of the auditorium.  And we were about 20 feet apart talking to our respective friends. 

Deb had dressed fairly nicely for the concert. It was cold, so she wore a nice pull-over sweater, khaki in color, and a nice skirt, which was beneath her knees. This was a " Business Casual" event, so, no evening dress. 

She had " Dolled-up" and was wearing make-up for the evening, and had on a pair of heels, nice necklace. Her clothing for the night was one of my favorite outfits for the time, as it made her look "Preppy."

Nothing too tight, nothing showing skin. 

The foyer was full of seminarians. 

As I spoke to my friend and Deb spoke to hers, I noticed two guy looking at my wife. 

I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but the two guys were looking the entire time at my wife. And it wasn't a normal look. 

They were ogling. And one turned to the other and said something to the other and both laughed.....I mean ogle. Look her up and down, and didn't stop. 

It was the same look I've seem from some guys at a strip club.....Yes, I have been to a strip club. Went during a bachelor party. The groom wanted to go.

My one and only time. Most of the girls were either, those who enjoyed it because of the fast money. Others who had to do it for whatever reason, money most, boyfriend, husband, made them, had to pay for kids, they had to work there and it fairly paid well. The second group had sad eyes. They depressed me. I left the club, depressed.

In the crowd were guys who looked at the girls much like a dog looks at a bone. 

This was the way, the two guys at the seminary were looking at my wife. 

I'll admit, my wife can look good when she wants, and when she was in her 20s, she looked really good. ( I still think she's a cutie today.)

These two guys looked at her like " Man, I'd love to get a piece of ass from her." 

I said good-bye in an awkward manner to my friend and walked over and stood between the two guys and my wife. They both sort of smiled and strolled away. 

If it had been in another situation I may have said, or what I really wanted to do, pick up a folding chair and go " Jim Duggan" on both of them.

On the way home, my wife asked why they were staring at her. Naive Deb though she had something wrong, something had spelt on her, something was loose, etc....

No, I told her, those two just wanted to " Run a train on you." " You know, like a spit."

She hadn't a clue what that was.....Naive Deb....I had to explain and she said, " I didn't know how 2 guys did 1 girl, I thought they just " took turns." I said, " That too, but trains are what they generally want."

These 2 fine citizens were both theology majors at the seminary.  One is now a "Lead pastor" at a fairly large church in San Antonio, the other has a denominational administration job in Arkansas. 

This is not the only time I caught a seminarian ogling my wife, while on the grounds of the school. I saw one who couldn't take his eyes off her during another event. I was going over to say something when someone on the loudspeaker said, " Let's bless the event and our meal." 

Now, I am not a jealous kind. I am really not. I understand when people " check someone out." 

We are all human and whether you admit it or not, we've all checked someone out of the opposite sex. Males and females. It know Christ says it is a sin, but you know, if we were not attracted to the other sex, humanity would die out. 

I've seen most of you who I taught " check-out" someone in Buna HS, my class, the hall, outside......Heck, I've even figured out when some of you were gay/lesbian when you gave a person of the same sex "that look. " It's not the same, especially, when you take a quick look at their butt, or breasts, or legs, or whatever and your eyes, well, they give it away..... And we all have look at someone of the opposite sex in that way( or the same sex for some of you), don't say you have not. 

I let the situation cool down, or at least, let me cool down and went back after Christmas for the Spring Term. 

The cafeteria at the seminary sells coffee like mad. there are huge colanders of coffee for seminarians to drink between classes. 

One Wednesday and I remember the day of the week, I was sitting at a table when 4-5 students came, in older guys, all who were pastors at various churches in the area. 

What was their topic? Roman's Road to Salvation? Paul's Letter to Ephesus? The Anne Armstrong Mission Fund?

No, how cute two of the females were in their religious education class. Both apparently blondes. 

One even made the remark, "I'd like to bounce her on my knee." To which another guy said, "Yeah, me too." 

That was a a sanitized statement of basically...." Man, I'd like to fuck her brains out." 

Needless to say, I didn't finish my coffee and left. 

This happened more than you care to know....

Look, a long time President of the seminary in Ft. Worth was finally fired after he covered-up sexual abuse of a music-religious-education minister. He helped the man move 4 churches in 4 states, 4 church jobs before the president, the denomination was not able to keep the man from being tried and sent to prison for sexual assault of an underage teen. 

Look, there is something wrong with the Baptist denomination. Recently, a Baptist church gave a pastor a standing ovation after an affair because he had somehow confessed, never mind the woman, the woman involved will forever be seen as a Jezebel.  

Look, if you are involved with females, and you are an adult male you need to make sure everything is above-board and in the open. ( As a teacher, with females, my door was always open.....Or we went out in front of those massive plate glass windows by the Senior End of the old BHS. The Cuss Porch, and with girls, and they females will tell you this, wasn't any bad words being said.....Now with boys....That's another story.)

And the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio News did a 3 part report on 700 people who were sexually abused by ministers, youth pastors, deacons, but the Southern Baptists have resisted doing anything about it.

( How many more were not reported?)

So, Kerry, Kerry Don, Mr. Thomas, Thomas, The Ole Govteach, what is your point here?

Don't trust ministers. Oh, you may have a "good one" or think you have a good one, but don't trust them. Watch your teenage children around them, boys and girls....Husbands, watch your wives. I'm sorry, but most of these guys, if they had the opportunity, they'd screw your wife, especially if they think they can get away with it. A lot of these guys are in a power trip. 

And sex, well, that's part of this power trip. 

 

 

Old Hands and the Buna ISD

 

 Of course the term " Old Hand" means someone with a lot of experience in that field, or on the job. 

I of course, am referring to people who have 20+ years of teaching experience who now work for the Buna Independent School District. 

The Ole "Govteach" of course was an "Old Hand" when he was working at the Buna Public Schools.  Say what you want, I "apprenticed" at several of different school districts, Beaumont, Magnolia, Everman, Dayton, before I was the " Mr. Thomas" you got teaching you Government and Economics at Buna High School.( As I have said for years it was either a fluke or in my personal belief, "foreordained" that I wound up teaching in Buna.)

It seems that the raise that the "Old Hands" or older teachers were promised a raise like the rest of the school teachers with less than 20 years of experience. 

That said, supposedly, the teachers with 20+ years experience are not getting the same raise amount as the people with less than 20 years of teaching experience. The number, I have been told, is $1500 less. 

Needless to say, the veteran teachers are upset. 

Many are talking about retiring. Others are going to look at other districts to teach. 

In this day and age, and this is important, it is getting harder and harder to find people who want to teach school. 

The kids, the parents, society, the media, the politicos, are anti-teacher. 

There are very,very few younger people who are in college and university training to become teachers. They know the score. They see how teachers are being treated. 

Even worse, those in the classroom are getting out to go into other professions, and many if they have the "points" are retiring. 

Others, who are still in education, are looking to get out of the classroom. They are thinking, if I am going to be abused, I may as well get a little more money and go into administration. 

( Lamar University now has more people working on Master's degrees than Bachelor's degrees....And what are they studying? Education Administration or Education Leadership. They are becoming principals, most with the hope of moving up the administration ladder.One of my favorite people, an excellent teacher,  and it was a sad day when she left Buna, got out of the classroom and moved up the school administration ladder. And I can't say I blame her.)

I wonder if Buna is trying to "run-off" their older teachers in an attempt to save a couple of dollars so they can buy solar panels? 

The trouble is...Who's going to replace them? Especially if people find out how they treat teachers when get older?

"Old Hands" and the Buna ISD

 Of course the term " Old Hand" means someone with a lot of experience in that field, or on the job. 

I of course, am referring to people who have 20+ years of teaching experience who now work for the Buna Independent School District. 

The Ole "Govteach" of course was an "Old Hand" when he was working at the Buna Public Schools.  Say what you want, I "apprenticed" at several of different school districts, Beaumont, Magnolia, Everman, Dayton, before I was the " Mr. Thomas" you got teaching you Government and Economics at Buna High School.( As I have said for years it was either a fluke or in my personal belief, "foreordained" that I wound up teaching in Buna.)

It seems that the raise that the "Old Hands" or older teachers were promised a raise like the rest of the school teachers with less than 20 years of experience. 

That said, supposedly, the teachers with 20+ years experience are not getting the same raise amount as the people with less than 20 years of teaching experience. The number, I have been told, is $1500 less. 

Needless to say, the veteran teachers are upset. 

Many are talking about retiring. Others are going to look at other districts to teach. 

In this day and age, and this is important, it is getting harder and harder to find people who want to teach school. 

The kids, the parents, society, the media, the politicos, are anti-teacher. 

There are very,very few younger people who are in college and university training to become teachers. They know the score. They see how teachers are being treated. 

Even worse, those in the classroom are getting out to go into other professions, and many if they have the "points" are retiring. 

Others, who are still in education, are looking to get out of the classroom. They are thinking, if I am going to be abused, I may as well get a little more money and go into administration. 

( Lamar University now has more people working on Master's degrees than Bachelor's degrees....And what are they studying? Education Administration or Education Leadership. They are becoming principals, most with the hope of moving up the administration ladder.One of my favorite people, an excellent teacher,  and it was a sad day when she left Buna, got out of the classroom and moved up the school administration ladder. And I can't say I blame her.)

I wonder if Buna is trying to "run-off" their older teachers in an attempt to save a couple of dollars so they can buy solar panels? 

The trouble is...Who's going to replace them? Especially if people find out how they treat teachers when get older?

Okay Buna, South Jasper County Folks.....

 I guess I will have to start doing this from time to time as in the last 48 hours there has been a large number of people who have joined " The Govteach Part Deaux" Group on Facebook. 

And to my surprise, there are people who are asking " Who is this cat?"

I was the longtime Government/Economics teacher in Buna, was UIL Academics Director, History Department Chair, heck my proudest moments was when I either won district or had a person advance to regionals in UIL Current Events. Tara Sullivan Laramore was my first to advance to region, and because of that, it sort of morphed into me becoming extremely fond of her and her family. ( As we are apt to say here in the South, " They're just good folks.") I did a little of everything while at Buna, and thus, my interest in the ISD. And I really, really, want the Buna School District to do well, and I make no qualms about calling the school district out. Especially the school board and administrators. 

Yes, I am somewhat religious, and I am still ordained/licensed in a form of Presbyterianism, even though I was raised Southern Baptist and an alumni of one of their seminaries....But, I got well, and left the Baptists, and I am so much happier......I prefer the Presbyterians for several reasons, my genealogy is heavily Scottish-Irish, with a good dose of Coonass and Yorkshire/Devonshire thrown in( Stick around and you'll see a blog or post written from England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales. We've been 4 times in the last few years......Plus my denomination doesn't get upset with cussing, heavy caffeine usage, tobacco, and alcohol.)

I've been married for 42 years to as one of my Honor's Government classes named her " Debbie the Good, or, St. Debbie" mostly because she puts up with the lunacy that occurs around here daily...We had one child, who is now 35, and our daughter in law is from China. Yes, Debbie and I went to Kunming, Yunnan Province for the wedding. I did not see another " round eye" while we were there other than my wife and my son for the month we were there. Kunming is, as my daughter in law calls it is, " One of China's smaller cities." It has 10 million people. By comparison, Houston-Woodlands-Sugarland area is about 7 million. 

The blog has somewhat evolved more and more into information on Buna, Kirbyville, South Jasper County, and especially the school districts. That said, I may cover any topic I feel like writing about. 

I may get rough, I may swear. No topic is really off-limits, and I am working on one concerning divorce right now. ( I've been asked by a couple of people to cover this topic and in truth, I am having a hard time with the subject.)

If you see something about " Morning Prayer" I still arise and have morning prayer at 4AM every day. I have a list of people, some having tenure, so if you need prayer, let me know, there's is always room for one more. 

This blog, in a nutshell, if this.....A warning. I will at some point write something that will upset you. I'm sorry, it is just the nature of the beast.

Last Night's Buna ISD Board Meeting....Sept. 11, 2023

 Again, I surprised at some of the shenanigans that occur at the Buna ISD Board of Trustee meetings....

And I guess, I should not be surprised. 

Apparently they have decided that the school district needed to get in on this " Green" business. ( I seriously am hoping to live long enough that " Fossil Fuels" are still a thing.) 

They have spent $5 million American dollars to hire a company to 'renovate' the old field house, install solar panels at the elementary school....And place the solar panels on top of the high school....The $5 million will include some HVAC and plumbing work. 

So, the real question is this....How long will it be before the solar panels pay for themselves? 

Apparently, the answer was....20 years. 

I wonder how many times they'll have to be replaced, we're going to have a major hail storm, Category 4-5 hurricane in that time period....

The vote only had one board member voting against. 

Then the board was " Bitchin' and Moanin'. " about the low appraisal values of the houses in Jasper County. 

Yeah, I said " Bitchin' and Moanin'. "

Come on man, you want more tax dollars? You know what that sounds like? 

If there was party affiliation with board members, like there is in other states,( Texas, there is no affiliation with local elections.   That said, there are people running for these offices who " say" they are associated with one party or another.) The way they are wanting more money, they might have a "D" behind that name. ( And trust me, at this point in my life, I hate both sides....D's and R's equally. So, don't bitch at me about that....Listening to Jimi Hendrix this AM, just makes me a little anti-establishment....Or a whole lot anti-establishment....)

I understand there needs taxes to be spent or the whole thing falls apart...But.....

Trust me, I was a teacher for a long time and still can't figure what some of the money is going to be spent on, and why the district needs this person(s)?

Dammit....I'd Not Planned to Blog....But....

 It bothers me from time to time when you find out about people who read the blog. And some folks, well, you'd just as soon, not read, but hey, it's the nature of the beast. 

But, that's not what this blog is about....

No, it's about books. 

I don't know. You've got to remember I am pretty open about books. Ain't no such thing as a "bad" book, well there are, but not in that way. 

I don't know, we were pretty open about books we had around the house when my son was growing up. 

Hell, we had books that are now banned. Stuff like " Work is Hell" ( Matt Groening of the Simpson's fame) even had " Maus " at the house when it first came out.

Shoot, had a student bring "Maus" to class at Dayton HS when it first came out and we discussed it in an Honors World History class I was teaching at the time.  

Reid read them both, then again, our son decided he needed to read at age 2. So, we gave him a little help and he was off and running. 

And we never stopped him from reading anything. 

Then again, we encouraged him to travel and it's why he wound up in Asia for 5 years. It's not like his Mom and Dad have a fear of getting on an airplane and going someplace. 

But, people who want to ban books scare the hell out of me. 

It's thought, it might be different, but guess what, not everyone thinks like you do. Nor should they. It'd be boring as hell if they did....

This banning books can " get out of control" very quickly. 

I was reading the other day about a parent who wanted a book about wolves removed from the library. It seems, the family were vegans and their daughter, who had checked out the book was traumatized because the girl discovered that " Wolves eat meat." 

Well, yeah, they do. 

I don't understand the religious people who get all upset about books....Some of the roughest stuff ever is in the Old Testament.  

I remember being in one of Dr. F.B. Huey's Old Testament classes when I as in theological school and reading, really reading the " Song of Solomon." It's about Solomon's obsessions with one of his wives. ( Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.)

The entire book, "Song of Solomon " is sexual. And the damn Baptists avoid talking about what it really like for fear they might let someone know..." They like sex too." 

What she had the other 999 didn't, well, one could only speculate?  

And a younger Kerry Thomas did....

All I could think was " What did that one wife do to him, that got Solomon's motor running?" And then thought, the man had a 1000 women.....How'd he get anything done? 

It was at that point I realized, "I don't need to be a minister. "

 

Does the Community Trust the Buna ISD Board of Trustees???

 

 Small town politics is retail. Heck, all politics is retail, but mostly, small town is as I learned in Dr. Glenn Utter's government classes ( Lamar still called it government back in the 1970s, and to be honest, it needs to change from from the now term "political science" back to government like it is still at the University of Texas.....But, I digress) local politics is the most "Retail Politics" there is....  

To define " Retail Politics" it is simply....The politician is in direct contact with the voters in his or her district, community. They get to speak one-on-one with the people they represent. 

There was confusion the other night at the " Special Board Meeting" to discuss the budget.

Say what you want, in any political entity, budgeting is a major function of that body. It should be a major concern for the people of the district. It is mostly your tax money being spent.

In the " Special Meeting" it seems that members of the board did not want people to speak or ask questions concerning the ISD. 

Allegedly, there was a document that said that the community could speak at this special meeting. 

There were questions where the document came from, how it was placed, et cetera. 

Right now, the community is upset with the board members. Very upset. I hear from people at least once a week. 

Board, you are in small town politics. You have to try and please your community's patrons.

And I know it is hard to do in 2023. In this day and age, ain't nobody happy. 

But you ran for the job. You should have known that it was going to be tough. You're going to hear stuff you wish you didn't hear. 

I don't know, perhaps it is time for a complete change in trustees? 

Jefferson once said, "Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."( "I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude.")

Let folks speak. You stop them, and stuff gets worse. It is often a safety valve. It's good to let off steam. 

Right now, there is a number of people who are unhappy with the ISD. Even more so than normal. And the trustees need to try and try and stop looking as the British would say " At Sixes and Sevens." ( All confused.....And to be honest, I don't know what the hell is going on up there.) 

I don't know, I've been saying this for a while, if you are unhappy in the community, perhaps it is your turn to run for the board. Who knows, perhaps in an op-ed piece, I throw my support behind you, or not.