Residents of our neighborhood have never been shy when it comes to voicing their opinions and one subject that certainly caused my phone to ring at unusually high rates was consideration of the Edison Project, a public/private partnership recently recommended by Dr. Bill Rojas.
This was a partnership that had operated very successfully for him in San Francisco. Student performance increased dramatically. In this proposal, neighborhood schools nominate themselves for consideration to become an Edison School. Once selected, the school has an extended day (8-4 p.m.), extended year (20 more days), fine arts and foreign language instruction in addition to a rigorous curriculum of which the community can customize 25%.
Another special feature is that computers are placed in the homes of all students in third grade and above. There is a network between the home and school so that assignments and other information between the parents and teacher can be shared daily via the computer. Edison estimated spending 30 million dollars in preparing the schools and communities for the implementation of their concept.
The Board has set some lofty goals for the superintendent to achieve. They include a 90% graduation rate and having 90% of our children operating on grade level in reading and math. Dr. Rojas was selected to lead the DISD because he is a change agent with a successful record of increasing academic performance. For me the issue is not whether Edison is good or bad, but does the Board let the superintendent select the educational programs for the District and hold the superintendent accountable for the success of the program?
While there are too many schools in DISD not reaching those goals, most of our East Dallas/Lakewood schools are performing extremely well. One ingredient to that success is the involvement of parents and community. There isn’t a better community-building event than the annual Lakewood Home Festival benefiting Lakewood Elementary. Thanks to Lakewood Early Childhood PTA for their continuing support of the school and the sense of community this wonderful event produces. Just for the Kids organization ranked Lakewood Elementary as a high performing campus among its peers.
And congratulations to Woodrow Wilson’s Jordan Munn for being named a National Merit Scholar. Volleyball Coach Jim Harris has directed his 10th consecutive district championship team at Woodrow. Quite a dynasty has developed with the talented hitters and spikers. And, the J. L. Long Home Run, in spite of the rain, was another success. Representatives of Blue Ribbon Winner Stonewall Jackson recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive their accolades at the White House. Bravo to the wonderful schools of East Dallas/Lakewood!
