9486 in the collection  

High School Completion and Success Initiative Council members appointed by education commissioner

Texas can be depended upon to be . . . Texas.



• Rod Paige needs no introduction.


• Newsweek named YES as one of the Top 100 Schools in America. So what else do you need to know? The YES charter mandates that students must be accepted to a four-year college in order to receive their high school diploma


• Jim Windham expertise is inpublic accounting, commercial and investment banking, and investment portfolio consulting. His fellow board members at the Texas Institute for Education Reform include Sandy Kress and Rod Paige.


• Don McAdams was elected as trustee to the Houston school board the same year as Rod Paige and worked hard for the Business Roundtable agenda in Texas and for the appointment of Paige as superintendent.


• The Texas Public Policy Foundation is " guided by the core principles of limited government. . . ."
  

  
  It was founded Dr. James R. Leininger, San Antonio physician and hospital-bed magnate, and one of the biggest funders of far-right causes in Texas. During the decade 1987-1997, Leininger "spent more than $1.4 million of his personal fortune to affect how Texans vote and another $3.2 million to change how Texans think on political issues such as tort reform and private school vouchers."
  --SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy
  

  
  And so on.
  
  Note that the council includes representatives from parochial schools and from the Chamber of Commerce, but no one with direct experience in public schools.
  
  Press Release
  
  AUSTIN – Commissioner of Education Robert Scott today announced the appointment of seven Texans, including former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, to the High School Completion and Success Initiative Council.
  
  The council, created by the Texas Legislature in House Bill 2237, will hold its first meeting from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday in the Capitol Extension Auditorium at the Texas Capitol.
  
  The legislation directs the council to improve the effectiveness, coordination and alignment of high school completion, and college and workplace readiness efforts.
  
  The council will offer guidance regarding the development of innovative models for high school improvement and reform, as well as for other targeted intervention designed to improve high school graduation rates, and college and workplace readiness levels.
  
  During this first meeting, the charges for the council will be discussed and members will receive a brief overview of high school completion and success initiatives already under way.
  
  The council is composed of Scott, who chairs it; Raymund Paredes, commissioner of higher education; and seven members appointed from nominations received by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House of Representatives.
  
  Appointees to the council are:
  
  • Rod Paige, former U.S. Secretary of Education and chairman of Chartwell Education Group, LLC.;
  
  • Christopher Barbic, founder and head of schools for Yes College Preparatory Schools;
  
  • Rosa Maria Vida, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Laredo and the former dean of education at Texas A&M International University;
  
  • Chris Patterson, a public education research and policy consultant;
  
  • James M. Windham, president and director of the Texas Institute for Education Reform;
  
  • Cindy Ramos-Davidson, chief executive officer, El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce;
  
  • Don McAdams, president, The Center for Reform of School Systems.
  
  Members serve a two-year term of office.

  — Press Release
  High School Completion and Success Initiative Council
  2007-12-08
  

  ---

  INDEX OF OUTRAGES

Pages: 380   
[1] 2 3 4 5 6  Next >>    Last >>