WISD $170K Bid for Summerbridge

The Waxahachie Independent School District has a bid properly before it requesting $170K for a product called Summerbridge. This is a product that is supposed to help children retain what they had learned in school between grades. My letter to the school board and superintendent detail my feelings on the matter. This is all part of a $2M honeypot for “products.” My feelings are deeply negative for several reasons.

First and foremost, the bureaucrats are always complaining that teachers cannot be paid a sufficient wage. This is poppycock; if we have money for useless products, we have money for teachers. Secondly, the administration’s wages are bloated. Again, and again, and again, no bureaucrat in the State of TX should make more than the Governor. One cannot convince me otherwise. The Governor’s salary is about $173K; WISD has loads of folks making more than that!

The most important and striking reason for my negativity is that the products always push to parents what we pay the school district to do. They give students take home, over the summer work rather than providing the supports necessary to provide adequate instruction for students. Most people either have no degree or a useless degree - most parents are unequipped to teach their children chemistry, physics, calculus, and music.

Currently, we have the RINO, Greg Abbott, asking us if we want out money back so we can leave the public education system. That is EXACTLY what his version of school choice is asking. My issue is I have no counterargument. When our public schools would rather tell parents “here is a backpack full of shit you cannot understand, teach it to your child over the summer”, Abbott’s plan to give us our money back seems like a ray of sunshine in comparison.

WISD needs to do better than this if it wants to prove that public education and those who work within the system have our children’s best interests at heart.

David Averett, Republican

I wrote Dr. Averett a couple weeks ago and expected to be ignored. This was not the case. He agreed to meet with me and we had a long conversation about his frustration with certain factions within the political environment and what “best for Waxahachie” might look like should he be WISD Superintendent for an extended period of time. The meeting was fruitful.

We spoke briefly about Party business as the reason for my reaching out was directly related to his outburst on Twitter mischaracterizing the Party. Then we quickly moved on to speaking about local issues that should be non-partisan.

Dr. Averett has a strong commitment to the community. This, of course, is not enough to be an effective political leader. We must always remember the path to hell is paved with good intentions, so further inquiry was required and had. FWIW, I believe that Dr. Averett’s commitment is full of positive motion and can manifest in positive change for our city.

One topic that we discussed was School Choice. I explained to Dr. Averett that I believe public school choice should be afforded to every parent and school transportation should accommodate this within reason. I do not believe we should subsidize private education with public money, just allow parents to send their children to a different public school if the situation warrants the move. For example, if a student is bullied or there is a particular special needs therapist at one school not available at another school. I see no reason that a public-to-public transfer system cannot be operated, maintained, and welcomed in our city and our State. Dr. Averett expressed concerns about the potential for moving public money into the private system; I hold the same concerns and am prepared to defend my position against public-to-private funding in any forum.

We continued to speak about the district and what kinds of actionable plans there might be for growth while maintaining the same or a greater level of professionalism. Dr. Averett spoke of the tradeoff between building more, smaller schools or fewer, larger schools. Larger buildings reduce administrative overhead as more students can be served by the same administrative staff. More buildings are more convenient and students can be educated nearer to where they live. The man had clearly put some thought into things and is prepared to execute on a vision. He plans to explain what he has in store at the next school board meeting.

I think some grace is in order. Dr. Averett had a momentary lapse in decorum. He cannot be boiled down to two statements made on social media; he is a whole person. I think he is well-fit for the appointment, and I am glad I took the time to find out who the man is before rushing to judgment.

David Averett, Acting Superintendent

The WISD School Board has installed David Averett as the Acting Superintendent following Dr. Hollingsworth’s departure. This is concerning. First and foremost, no one knows anything about Mr. Averett. I have asked around, the only real information is that he has connections to the School Board President. Second, he is evidently prone to emotional outbursts and ad hominem attacks against the very constituency he proclaims to serve.

As I was getting nowhere asking around about the man’s background, I decided to open direct lines of communication. I sent my first letter to Mr. Averett as a sort of olive branch, simply asking him to apologize for or explain away his remarks about us, lowly constituents.

We’ll see how it goes.