It seems that some of us have forgotten what the current race is about. Yes, it's good to see all of you again too.
It’s election season. Go vote.
Now that we have covered that and everyone has agreed to go vote, let’s talk about what you are voting for.
We have so many reasons to go to the polls this year. There are several contested City Council races around town that deserve your attention. My heart is in education, but city stuff is important too. Trustee Miguel Solis will be returning which is truly fantastic news for our kids. Trustee Joyce Foreman looks to be headed toward reelection in the District 6 election. I won’t count my chickens and congratulate her just yet, but I will say that her recent vote to make suspensions for level 1 offenses more difficult to impose on PreK-2nd grade students was one I agreed with and thank her for.
Trustee Dustin Marshall is facing a challenger in the District 2 election where he is seeking to win his first full term. That is the race that has the vast majority of my attention and based on how people have been writing about it, I'd guess you are in the same boat.
Let me help clear this up for all you angry people out there that are letting anger confuse your vote. Things this election isn’t about:
This is what the election is actually about: Kids, Policies Dallas ISD Trustees can control, and that's about it.
Which candidate will do the best for kids and our schools? Do you pick someone with functional knowledge and understanding of how the district works or someone with a superficial and shaky understanding of our school system? Do you pick someone running a campaign on positivity and hope or someone running on anger and fear? Do you vote for what you know or take a gamble on something new? All of these are personal questions you will have to answer for yourselves, but remember that your choice will determine the trajectory of our kids and our schools.
Seriously, is it too much to ask for someone that rejects an existing policy (health care, TEI, etc) to have an idea about what to replace it with? Whatever happened to evidence based arguments?
Watching this election season and all of the campaigns that are occurring simultaneously, I have to say that while many of the campaigns out here are having a positive impact on our communities city-wide, there are some that are continuing the same destructive politics that continue to do our communities harm. Candidates that are willing to bend the truth or outright make things up are not who you want representing you. Period. I don’t care if your vote is a protest. I don’t care if you don’t like the other candidate for personal reasons. This is about kids. Get off your high horse.
I’ve always said that if you have to lie to win in politics then you have already lost. That statement may not be true anymore, but our students, parents, and everyone else in this city deserve better. It seems that there are some candidates this year that are willing to muddy the waters to try and manipulate the very real fears and anxieties of the people they are supposed to serve just to get elected. It’s shameful and embarrassing.
The fault with this doesn't squarely fall on the candidates. We are the voters and the consumers. The people writing about it want you to read. Most of the coverage has been pretty solid and even. Shout out to the Dallas Morning News for solid reporting. To the writers that have hopped on the click bait train and have wasted an opportunity to create something fair, balanced, and informative for people just trying to do their homework and make a decision, shame on you. I'm not a journalist, but if you consider yourself to be, perhaps it's time to turn in your gun and your badge. I'd call it journalistic malpractice to try and make a local race about things that are out of the control of the seat the candidates are pouring their hearts and souls in to winning.
No, I haven't been writing, interviewing, etc. That's on me. What's on you is taking your time and wading through all the nonsense to find the information on the issues. Whether it's district 6 or 2, if you like Pre-K, dislike suspensions, believe in holding Dallas County Schools responsible for the safety of our children, think DISD should be welcoming to all of our students, etc., then you have the choice to vote for the people that voted for those things or someone else. It's up to you.
We don't endorse here, but we do take a stance on truth and bad politics. Once you go into win at all costs mode, you've made this election about you and not about the kids. That's not someone I would support. Ever.
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Now that we have covered that and everyone has agreed to go vote, let’s talk about what you are voting for.
We have so many reasons to go to the polls this year. There are several contested City Council races around town that deserve your attention. My heart is in education, but city stuff is important too. Trustee Miguel Solis will be returning which is truly fantastic news for our kids. Trustee Joyce Foreman looks to be headed toward reelection in the District 6 election. I won’t count my chickens and congratulate her just yet, but I will say that her recent vote to make suspensions for level 1 offenses more difficult to impose on PreK-2nd grade students was one I agreed with and thank her for.
Trustee Dustin Marshall is facing a challenger in the District 2 election where he is seeking to win his first full term. That is the race that has the vast majority of my attention and based on how people have been writing about it, I'd guess you are in the same boat.
Let me help clear this up for all you angry people out there that are letting anger confuse your vote. Things this election isn’t about:
- Vouchers
- Partisanship
- The State Legislature
- Donald Trump
- Betsy DeVos
- Having a referendum on anything and everything else in the state or the country that you are upset about
This is what the election is actually about: Kids, Policies Dallas ISD Trustees can control, and that's about it.
Which candidate will do the best for kids and our schools? Do you pick someone with functional knowledge and understanding of how the district works or someone with a superficial and shaky understanding of our school system? Do you pick someone running a campaign on positivity and hope or someone running on anger and fear? Do you vote for what you know or take a gamble on something new? All of these are personal questions you will have to answer for yourselves, but remember that your choice will determine the trajectory of our kids and our schools.
Seriously, is it too much to ask for someone that rejects an existing policy (health care, TEI, etc) to have an idea about what to replace it with? Whatever happened to evidence based arguments?
Watching this election season and all of the campaigns that are occurring simultaneously, I have to say that while many of the campaigns out here are having a positive impact on our communities city-wide, there are some that are continuing the same destructive politics that continue to do our communities harm. Candidates that are willing to bend the truth or outright make things up are not who you want representing you. Period. I don’t care if your vote is a protest. I don’t care if you don’t like the other candidate for personal reasons. This is about kids. Get off your high horse.
I’ve always said that if you have to lie to win in politics then you have already lost. That statement may not be true anymore, but our students, parents, and everyone else in this city deserve better. It seems that there are some candidates this year that are willing to muddy the waters to try and manipulate the very real fears and anxieties of the people they are supposed to serve just to get elected. It’s shameful and embarrassing.
The fault with this doesn't squarely fall on the candidates. We are the voters and the consumers. The people writing about it want you to read. Most of the coverage has been pretty solid and even. Shout out to the Dallas Morning News for solid reporting. To the writers that have hopped on the click bait train and have wasted an opportunity to create something fair, balanced, and informative for people just trying to do their homework and make a decision, shame on you. I'm not a journalist, but if you consider yourself to be, perhaps it's time to turn in your gun and your badge. I'd call it journalistic malpractice to try and make a local race about things that are out of the control of the seat the candidates are pouring their hearts and souls in to winning.
No, I haven't been writing, interviewing, etc. That's on me. What's on you is taking your time and wading through all the nonsense to find the information on the issues. Whether it's district 6 or 2, if you like Pre-K, dislike suspensions, believe in holding Dallas County Schools responsible for the safety of our children, think DISD should be welcoming to all of our students, etc., then you have the choice to vote for the people that voted for those things or someone else. It's up to you.
We don't endorse here, but we do take a stance on truth and bad politics. Once you go into win at all costs mode, you've made this election about you and not about the kids. That's not someone I would support. Ever.
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