By LINDA P. CAMPBELL
The day my husband took our son and daughter to the middle school around the corner to inquire about transferring them there for eighth grade, the principal was very direct.
She asked each of the children why they wanted to go to that school.
My husband and I wound up mere adjuncts to the conversation Nancy Weisskopf had with our children. They, after all, were the ones whose education was at issue.
That impressed us a lot. And our eighth-grade experience didn’t disappoint.
So when she took over a struggling high school, we trusted that she would apply the same dedication and good judgment that we had seen at our middle school.
But as this school year started, hers was among the Fort Worth schools that had some taxpayers fuming for spending tens of thousands of dollars in federal grants on overnight training sessions at fancy conference centers around the area.
The amounts look head-shakingly large when taken out of context. But context is crucial. For instance, the $45,756 that Dunbar High School spent for 88 people at Rough Creek Lodge near Glen Rose works out to $173.32 per person per day, less than the state-employee limit of $179 for hotel ($85), food ($36) and meeting room rental ($58). The $25,912 that Leonard Middle School spent for 55 people at the Gaylord Texan is a $157 rate; the $34,989 that O.D. Wyatt High School spent for 87 people at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas works out to $134.
Anyone who’s priced hotels recently knows that $85 might buy a night at La Quinta or Comfort Inn, but those hotels aren’t typically equipped for large-group training sessions.
The money for the retreats certainly is tax money. It’s made available through the No Child Left Behind law, passed by Congress and signed by then-President George W. Bush.
The Texas Education Agency designates which schools receive the money (they haven’t met federal standards) and how much — $176,870 each this year, regardless of size. And TEA holds overnight sessions in Austin to teach school representatives how to structure their retreats in compliance with the law.
Grant recipients must hold summer staff training during which they analyze students’ scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to devise improvement strategies. They determine their schools’ biggest needs and do comprehensive planning for the year. They team-build.
In an e-mail, Weisskopf told me that at a retreat last summer, her staff used team-building time to build bikes and sew bears for neighborhood children; this year, they stuffed backpacks with school supplies for needy kids.
"Our staff last year took on the challenge of turning around this school," she wrote. "We work crazy hours, put our hearts and souls into these students and their futures. The three days that we are able to sit down away from here and hold a South Hills Conference . . . is so powerful. Our teachers started the year knowing their data, knowing our school, best practices and emerging trends in our field. They were better equipped for the challenges they face.
Looking for comments?
Share
@Nyx.CommentBody@