Category Archives: education news

education news, local news

WT expanding its footprint in Amarillo

amarillo-center-singlepages-11

Given that I don’t get downtown much these days, I am struck by the progress I keep seeing at the site of an old office building that’s being transformed into something quite different.

Downtown Amarillo is going to home to a branch campus of West Texas A&M University. The Amarillo Economic Development Corporation purchased the old Commerce Building at the corner of Eighth Avenue and Tyler Street. WT will move its downtown campus operations out of the 31-story Chase Tower a block north and plans to take possession of its new downtown campus after raising sufficient funds to pay for rehabilitating the building.

When I heard of the purchase, my initial reaction was: Hey, that’s a pretty modern building. All they’ll have to do is knock out a few walls, re-do some of the wiring and plumbing, fill the place up with office equipment and classroom accessories.

Presto! Ring the school bell and let classes begin!

Not so fast, padnuh.

They’re knocking the daylights out of the Commerce Building location. The exterior of the structure is going to look totally different, near as I can tell. Lord knows what the inside will look like.

I am aware of the questions raised about the sale and purchase of the site. I know about the questions regarding the appraised value of the property and whether it was inflated.

That’s not the point here.

My point is to wish WT well as it continues to improve and increase its footprint in downtown Amarillo.

By having a stand-alone structure with the university emblem displayed prominently to motorists and other visitors to downtown, it establishes its name and brand in the Panhandle’s unofficial “capital city.”

My understanding is that the opening date has been pushed back a bit. No worries there, either.

As long as it gets done and opens its doors to students, I’m more than OK with the progress we keep seeing in downtown Amarillo’s redevelopment and renewal.

education news, State news

Bush, Perry are right about in-state tuition issue

dream

Two former Texas governors, both Republicans, have become targets of the righter-than-right wing of their own party.

First it was George W. Bush, then it was Rick Perry who said that children who were raised in Texas by undocumented immigrants deserves to be allowed to public colleges and universities by paying in-state tuition.

No can do, says the state’s lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who now plans to seek to remove that perk when the Texas Legislature convenes in January.

Bush and Perry were right. Patrick is wrong.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/09/09/dan-patrick-will-try-again-end-state-tuition-undoc/

These students are Texans. They have been raised as Texans — and Americans. They came here as children when their parents fled their home countries south of us. They grew up to become fine citizens, good students and are able to achieve great things for their adopted home country.

Why deprive them of the chance to further their education by removing the in-state tuition opportunity?

Perry was pilloried by the TEA Party wing of the GOP when he ran for president in 2012 and again this year simply because he supports the long-standing tradition of granting in-state tuition privileges to these young Texans.

As the Texas Tribune reports: “Passed with near-unanimous consent in 2001, the policy allows non-citizens, including some undocumented immigrants, to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges if they can prove they’ve been Texas residents for at least three years and graduated from a high school or received a GED. They must also sign an affidavit promising to pursue a path to permanent legal status if one becomes available.”

Regular readers of this blog know I’m no fan of Gov. Perry or of Gov. Bush.

On this matter, though, they showed a humane side to their conservatism that has gone missing in action.

education news, local news

Highland Park goes homework-free

Homework

Four hundred students at Highland Park Elementary School here in Amarillo have received an early-in-the-school-year gift from their principal.

They won’t have homework this year, according to a letter sent to parents from Principal Vanette Barrett.

The letter mirrors an letter also sent out by a Fort Worth teacher, which I noted in an earlier blog post.

This is an interesting trend — perhaps you can call it that — in education.

It fascinates me greatly. I hope that this yearlong experiment that Barrett is conducting at her school works well for the students and teachers.

Barrett told the Amarillo Globe-News that studies have revealed that homework doesn’t necessarily improve students’ academic performance. She also told the newspaper she considered implementing the no-homework policy since the spring.

The letter that Barrett sent had gone viral earlier and it encourages parents to spend more time with their children and to make sure they get to bed early.

“It sounds so simple,” Barrett told the G-N, “but those things truly help the child more than sitting at home and doing a worksheet.”

Do you think?

Good luck with your experiment, Principal Barrett.

 

education news

No more homework? Hip, hip hurray!

Listen up, everyone.

I hereby nominate Brandy Young of Fort Worth, Texas, as teacher of the year. She’s trying something quite extraordinary, in my view. Young has declared her class to be a homework-free zone … mostly.

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/32816219/texas-teachers-new-homework-policy-goes-viral-on-social-media

Young sent a note home with her students declaring that during this academic year, which began on Monday in Texas, she will assign homework only to those students who didn’t finish their work in class.

The note she sent has gone viral.

homework

What a novel notion.

My sons are long finished with school. They’re in their 40s now and have carved out successful careers and lives — and they have become upstanding men. My wife and I beam with pride at both of them.

Did the homework they lugged home each day during their time in school make them that way? I doubt it very much.

Brandy Young seems to believe that homework might actually be a detriment to young people’s development and growth.

The best part of the note is the advice she gives Mom and Dad. Do things together as a family, she says, and make sure the kids get to bed early.

Will this strategy work? Will it allow her students to perform better in class? Time will tell.

Here’s hoping it does.

education news, political news

Ken Starr calls it quits at Baylor

starr

Oh, the irony of it all.

Kenneth Starr has quit his job as a law professor at Baylor University. You’ve heard of him, yes?

He once was a special counsel who was hired by Congress to investigate a real estate deal involving President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton. Then the investigation turned into something quite different. He began sniffing around about allegations of an affair between the president and a young White House intern.

His investigation resulted in the impeachment of the president on grounds that he lied under oath about the affair to a federal grand jury. The Senate acquitted Clinton.

Starr moved on, first to Pepperdine University and then to Baylor.

But … while he served as president of Baylor, the university got caught up — wait for it! — in a sex scandal involving star football players. The school was accused of covering up some serious misbehavior.

It all happened on Starr’s watch.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/20/ken-starr-resigns-as-baylor-law-professor-cuts-ties-with-university.html

The head football coach was fired. The athletic director quit. Starr was demoted from president to chancellor. He kept his classroom job.

Now he’s quit the professor post, severing his ties with the university.

Do you get the irony? Sex propelled Ken Starr to a form of political stardom and sex has caused his fall from grace at a major Texas university.

As the saying goes: Karma’s a bitch, man.

education news

WT keeps selection process a secret

wendler

Walter Wendler appears set to become the next president of West Texas A&M University.

He’s a true-blue Aggie. His sons are Texas A&M grads. He’s worked with the flagship campus of the massive A&M University System.

That’s all I know. That’s all any of us know.

Why does that matter?

Well, past hiring practices for senior WTAMU administrators in recent years has gone a bit differently than this one has gone. WT often allows finalists to conduct what amounts to a public audition for the job. They meet with university organizations, such as student government officers and faculty senate officials; then they meet the public in meet-and-greet sessions. All of this gives interested and vested interest groups a chance to size up potential WT leaders.

Frankly, I prefer the old way.

Wendler has been presented by the Texas A&M University regents as the sole finalist for the job that was vacated by former WT President J. Pat O’Brien.

Wendler has a long career in post-secondary education administration — in Texas as well as at Southern Illinois University.

“West Texas A&M University is a beautiful campus with a bright future,” said Chancellor (John) Sharp. “I believe Walter Wendler will accelerate the university’s upward trajectory and make that future even brighter. I am glad he has agreed to serve in this important role, and I am honored to welcome him back to the Texas A&M family.”

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/32696430/wt-names-finalist-for-school-president#.V6ex_1lmMoo.twitter

Is he the right person for the job? The WT search committee, led by longtime Amarillo banking icon Don Powell, seems to think so. Powell is no slouch in determining the best course for WT or for the A&M System, for that matter, having once served as an A&M System regent.

Consider, too, the process that the Amarillo City Council used in selecting a new council member. It winnowed down a list of candidates to five finalists and then interviewed them in public.

In this era in which residents are demanding “transparency” at all levels of government, I believe WT — and the A&M System regents — could have served their constituents even better by presenting a longer list of finalists to the public than simply the lone survivor.

education news, legal news, State news

Campus-carry takes effect … very soon!

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Monday will be a big day in Texas.

Fifty years ago, a gunman climbed to the top of the Texas Tower at the University of Texas campus in Austin and opened fire with his high-powered rifle.

Sixteen people died that day before the cops got to the gunman and shot him dead .

Aug. 1, 1966 is one of the state’s most infamous days.

Texas is going to mark that date by allowing people to carry guns on college campuses.

Ironic, yes? Tragically so? Yes again.

It’s interesting to me — and to a lot of others — that educators oppose this notion. Only one private university is allowing guns on its campus; the rest of them have said “no thanks.” Public universities are required under the law to allow students to carry guns into classrooms.

UT Chancellor William McRaven — the former Navy SEAL and special forces commander — is one of those who opposes campus-carry. But, what the hey? What does he know?

I’ll stipulate that I have come to accept concealed-handgun-carry as a way of life in Texas. I don’t necessarily endorse it.

Allowing guns on campuses, though, does present a unique set of concerns. What if a professor hands out a failing grade to a student who, um, might have a short fuse that could be lit with a dose of bad news? Does that student then pose an extra threat to the prof if he’s packing heat under his jacket?

Well, Texas is about to enter another era on its college and university campuses.

I’m going to hope for the best.

If only the state could have picked another date to allow guns on our campuses.

education news, local news

Now it’s breastfeeding …

WT

West Texas A&M University officials say they’re going to “review” their policy on mothers who are nursing their infant children.

Why? Because a young mother who was visiting the Canyon campus decided to breastfeed her child in the Virgil Henson Activities Center swimming pool.

It sparked a bit of a tussle at WT over the school policy.

From where I sit, I do not believe the school needs to tweak its policy, which appears to be quite reasonable, logical and appropriate. It fits with community standards.

The young mother in question, Alicia Pino, most interestingly, acknowledged that feeding her child in the pool was inappropriate. She left the pool and went to a private room to continue feeding her baby.

As NewsChannel 10 reported: “They said no you don’t have to leave, but we prefer you be covered and if you’re not covered, then you need to go into a room,” says Pino. “And I told them you are walking on very thin ice telling me that I need to be covered or that I need to be in the room. I said it’s my civil right to feed my baby wherever I want to.”

Thin ice? Really?

WT officials say the school policy, which provides private rooms if the mother requests it. If not, then the school asks young mommies to cover themselves.

I must ask: Is that so unreasonable?

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/32250652/wt-reviewing-breastfeeding-policy-after-pool-incident

Let’s all be clear about something. We live in an urban society that over many, many years has imbued in us a sense of modesty. Women generally don’t expose themselves — even to feed their children. And yes,  I understand fully why women have breasts in the first place.

WT, though, isn’t being overly prudish with its requirements on women who have to feed their children. Any parent — mother or father — knows that when a child is hungry, then it’s time for the child to receive nourishment.

Should the school revamp or retool its policy?

No. If it complies with state law and guidelines, that’s good enough.

education news

Teacher of the year now going to teach more teachers

shanna

I have this friend — with whom I used to work in a previous life — who this past year received the highest honor someone in her profession can get.

She was named National Teacher of the Year. Shanna Peeples went to the White House, where she was honored by President Barack Obama, who said many wonderful things about her and the dedication she has demonstrated in educating young people.

Peeples, quite naturally, turned the emphasis on her colleagues who also were gathered on the White House lawn. Shanna accepted the teacher of the year award in their honor, she said.

What makes her such a stellar teacher? Her undying love of the children who learn from her. She teaches English … and until just recently she was teaching students at Palo Duro High School in Amarillo.

Now, though, she’s being promoted.

The Amarillo Independent School District has decided to put her teaching skills to work at a higher level. As Peeples writes about her new assignment: ” … I’ve been trusted with the task that my friend, Jennifer Wilkerson has done so well for our district: Core Curriculum Specialist, ELAR 6-12. For my non-Ed-jargon friends: that’s the responsibility for growing teachers and shaping literacy learning in middle and high school.”

Are we clear? She’s going to teach the teachers how to do their jobs better. At least that’s what I read in what she wrote.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/shanna-peeples/you-cant-burn-the-suit/10209664555035203?utm_content=buffer7daf4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

The next thing I want to say might be taken the wrong way. I do not intend at all to sound like a Negative Norm. There’s a certain irony, it seems to me, in taking a teacher who’s just been told she’s the best in the nation at what she does and then assigning her to do something different.

Shanna Peeples certainly doesn’t dismiss the new task she’s been given at Amarillo ISD. Nor do I. Her many friends throughout the Texas Panhandle are proud of her and proud of what she has accomplished in the classroom.

Her emphasis now will be on helping other classroom teachers become the best they can be, which then will enable them to pass on the joy of learning to the young people assembled before them.

As Shanna writes: “God help me, I’m a teacher. As I told a radio interviewer: ‘It’s like Peter Parker being bitten by the radioactive spider. You can’t just quit being a teacher like I say, quit being a deejay or a short order cook at the bowling alley. You’re a teacher for life.’

“Trust me, I’ll have plenty of assignments for other people. This work is big, important work. And it won’t ever be even partway done before I die. But that’s what makes it worth giving my heart to. And my heart is with teachers as much as it is with students. Always and always and always.”
Well said. As always.
education news, religious news, Sports news, State news

Baylor announces much-needed reforms

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It would seem logical to presume that an institution with Baylor University’s stellar reputation would be among the last places on Earth where one could expect to witness an unfolding sex scandal.

It’s a faith-based university known for its high moral standards. Isn’t that right?

It’s also known as a place where they play some pretty good college football.

So, some football players get entangled in a sexual assault case and the university allegedly turns its back on the complaints filed by students against the athletes.

The uproar has been ferocious. With absolutely justifiable reason.

Baylor now has announced plans to implement recommendations from a panel formed to fix what’s wrong at the school.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/10/baylor-announces-sexual-assault-task-force/

The Pepper Hamilton commission has found a “fundamental failure” at Baylor to uphold federal Title IX provisions that are supposed to protect students from abuses such as what occurred at the school.

One player has been convicted of sexual assault, but the stuff hit the fan after it was revealed that university administrators tried to hide the complaints against athletes.

Head football coach Art Briles was fired. University president Ken Starr was kicked out of his office and he quit his ceremonial job as chancellor; he remains on the faculty as a law professor.  Athletic director Ian McCaw resigned.

All three of those individuals had to go.

Now it’s up to Baylor to pick up the pieces of its shattered reputation.

The Texas Tribune reports: “Let me assure you all that we are deeply sorry for the harm done to students in our care,” interim president David Garland wrote in a letter posted online. “Even during the course of Pepper Hamilton’s investigation, we began adopting improvements to our processes, and now we are pursuing the other improvements remaining in the recommendations.”

Pressure is mounting for the school to release the contents of the Pepper Hamilton report.

That seems like a good start to clearing the air and shining the light of accountability on what has occurred at the school.

I’m sure that somewhere in that report is a stern warning that Baylor needs to heed to the letter in the future: Do not, under any circumstances, even think of covering up a report of sexual assault.