Jim Schutze and I talked for an hour last weekend about DISD: about how Mike Miles actually scoreboarded everyone by year’s end, how you can’t talk about solving problems until you acknowledge the economic issues (89 percent of kids on free/reduced lunch), and how this pain is necessary for systemic change. Schutze railed about Nutall and her stance against Miles’ plan to help troubled schools in her district, as this DMN editorial does today. (I love how the editorial points out that it “respectfully” disagrees with Nutall. We offer no such adverb.)
There are good reasons to listen if you care about DISD. One, I think we give a decent overview of just how complicated the issues are, and how one-plan fixes just won’t work. Two, I yell at a caller who suggests that my ex-wife was pretty smart to divorce me. (Not the reason I was yelling, of course. His point was actually pretty funny.) Three, in the final segment, we talk about how there is a North Dallas board member who is a bigger problem than the southern Dallas reps you’re used to cussing.
Notice I said good reason to listen. Tim pointed out, and I agree, that this KNON show would be much better as just a podcast. Don’t watch the pictures or you’ll be distracted by my wearing a sweater when it’s 100-plus outside, the weird up-chin thing I can’t seem to stop doing, the hostage-video quality, all those things.