0 thoughts on “North to run for San Marcos school board”

1. Chris, I hope you take a look at the graduation rates and the SAT scores and keep your mind open to the possibility that we do *not* have great schools. There is a lot of data available out there, to show that there are plenty of schools in Texas that outperform us and there are plenty of states that outperform Texas.

2. Where is the line between “excellent” and “good”? Where is the line between “good” and “mediocre”?

   Here are the class of 2007 graduation rates for Hispanic students in various schools around San Marcos and beyond.

   Johnson City 100%
   Ft Sam Houston 93%
   Dripping Springs 93%
   Blanco 92%
   Lago Vista 90%
   North East 88%
   Wimberley 87%
   Comal 85%
   Prairie Lea 83%
   Crosby 82%
   Marble Falls 81%
   Marion 81%
   Schertz-Cibolo 81%
   Navarro 80%
   Katy 79%
   Spring 78%
   Hays 77%
   Leander 77%
   Liberty Hill 77%
   Alamo Heights 77%
   Deer Park 76%
   Weatherford 75%
   Cy-Fair 75%
   Mansfield 73%
   Lake Travis 73%
   Judson 73%
   Harlandale 72%
   Spring Branch 71%

   San Marcos 70%

   East Central 70%
   Seguin 69%
   Del Valle 68%
   Luling 68%
   Austin 66%
   New Braunfels 66%
   Georgetown 66%
   Channelview 66%
   Round Rock 64%
   Pflugerville 64%
   Pasadena 61%
   Lockhart 61%
   Dallas 60%
   Manor 59%
   North Forest 48%

   Here are the mean SAT scores for Hispanic students in 2007:

   Lake Travis 1094
   Dripping Springs 1058
   Wimberley 1058
   Ft Sam Houston 1018
   Round Rock 1016
   Liberty Hill 1005
   Leander 999
   Alamo Heights 985
   Pflugerville 985
   Katy 980
   Deer Park 974
   North East 971
   Mansfield 971
   Cy-Fair 970
   Lago Vista 968
   Weatherford 968
   Navarro 960
   Georgetown 960
   Austin 952
   New Braunfels 949
   Marion 944
   Spring 944
   Seguin 943
   Schertz-Cibolo 942
   East Central 941
   Comal 928
   Pasadena 919
   Manor 917
   Judson 915
   Marble Falls 914
   Spring Branch 911
   Crosby 905
   Channelview 898
   Lockhart 894
   Hays 883
   Dallas 877
   Luling 866

   San Marcos 859

   Del Valle 850
   Harlandale 847
   North Forest 737
   Johnson City N/A
   Blanco N/A
   Prairie Lea N/A

   Perhaps we do an excellent job of graduating economically disadvantaged students:

   Blanco 100%
   Prairie Lea 100%
   Ft Sam Houston 100%
   Dripping Springs 88%
   Marble Falls 85%
   Schertz-Cibolo 84%
   North East 83%
   Navarro 82%
   Spring 82%
   Comal 81%
   Crosby 81%
   Alamo Heights 80%
   Johnson City 78%
   Katy 78%
   Lago Vista 78%
   Del Valle 78%
   Cy-Fair 77%
   Marion 77%
   Deer Park 76%
   Mansfield 76%
   Harlandale 76%
   Hays 73%
   Spring Branch 72%
   Luling 71%
   Pflugerville 70%
   Seguin 70%
   East Central 69%
   Judson 69%

   San Marcos 69%

   Liberty Hill 68%
   New Braunfels 68%
   Wimberley 67%
   North Forest 67%
   Manor 66%
   Channelview 66%
   Dallas 64%
   Weatherford 63%
   Austin 63%
   Pasadena 63%
   Lockhart 63%
   Round Rock 61%
   Georgetown 61%
   Leander 59%
   Lake Travis 55%

   White students?

   Alamo Heights 97%
   Blanco 96%
   Dripping Springs 96%
   Navarro 96%
   Wimberley 96%
   Spring Branch 95%
   Ft Sam Houston 94%
   Schertz-Cibolo 94%
   North East 94%
   Katy 94%
   Lago Vista 94%
   Deer Park 94%
   Cy-Fair 93%
   Marble Falls 92%
   Comal 92%
   New Braunfels 92%
   Lake Travis 92%
   Hays 91%

   San Marcos 91%

   Mansfield 90%
   Liberty Hill 89%
   Round Rock 89%
   Seguin 88%
   Manor 88%
   Austin 88%
   Georgetown 88%
   Spring 87%
   Del Valle 87%
   Pflugerville 87%
   Marion 86%
   Weatherford 86%
   East Central 85%
   Crosby 83%
   Johnson City 83%
   Lockhart 83%
   Luling 82%
   Judson 81%
   Leander 81%
   Harlandale 79%
   Pasadena 79%
   Dallas 76%
   Prairie Lea 75%
   Channelview 72%
   North Forest n/a

   Maybe the white kids have good SAT scores:

   Alamo Heights 1162
   Austin 1133
   Dripping Springs 1125
   Spring Branch 1120
   Lake Travis 1112
   Katy 1104
   Dallas 1101
   Round Rock 1099
   Ft Sam Houston 1088
   Lago Vista 1078
   North East 1074
   Georgetown 1067
   Pflugerville 1065
   Navarro 1063
   Cy-Fair 1061
   Crosby 1060
   Leander 1059
   Blanco 1058
   Liberty Hill 1054
   Schertz-Cibolo 1041
   Weatherford 1041
   New Braunfels 1039
   Hays 1033
   Deer Park 1031
   Mansfield 1031
   Judson 1030
   Comal 1025
   Spring 1025

   San Marcos 1024

   Wimberley 1019
   Johnson City 1007
   Pasadena 1000
   Marble Falls 995
   Manor 993
   Seguin 991
   Marion 990
   Lockhart 954
   East Central 941
   Channelview 911
   Luling 895
   Del Valle 878
   Harlandale 853
   North Forest n/a
   Prairie Lea n/a

   Perhaps it is my education that is failing me. Someone please explain where I should look to find the excellence that we offer.

3. Ted, you can’t really run a campaign on “Gee, people think our schools suck, and the’re right.”

4. You can’t run a re-election campaign on that platform. You certainly can run against the incumbents using that message, especially when it is the truth.

5. San Marcos overall mean SAT score: 905
   Texas overall mean SAT score: 992 (actually 999, according to College Board)
   U.S. overall mean SAT score: 1017

   There is not a state in the U.S. with a lower mean SAT score than San Marcos. The closest is Maine, with a mean score of 931. So, we would be underperforming anywhere in the country.

6. Susan & Chris,

   It would be great if both of you had an understanding of substantive issues in SMCISD. Chris, you appear to be running because you have issues AGAINST SMCISD.
   It seems as if you lack an understanding of the district and what you would do to promote POSITIVE change in the district.

   Ted, you seem as if you want to BEAT UP the district because of its ‘poor performance’ on standardized tests.
   What are your plans to help the district? What are your solutions to help move the district in a different direction. It seems to me as if it would be much more productive to be part of the solution.

   I personally would love to see a candidate throw their name in the hat who cared about more than their own pet peeves issues. It would be great to have a real business leader or educator in the community that would be in it for the right reasons instead of a vendetta or personal gain.

   I am hope that someone in our community is up for the challenge!

7. I don’t have any kids and I don’t plan to, so this is not a “pet peeve” issue for me, at least not in the sense that you seem to mean. It does bother me, a lot, that there is a large portion of our population who are being denied the most basic opportunities that some of us take for granted. Beyond that, this is a significant issue for our entire community, which should concern everyone. I have no vendetta and no potential personal gain.

   As for “beating up” the district for poor performance on standardized tests. No. I am beating up the district for poor graduation rates and even poorer preparation for higher education, in a college town of all places.

   Yes, the SAT is a standardized test, but it is a standardized test that determines the fate of the students, rather than the standardized tests that determine the fate of the faculty and staff. Those tests concern me far less and I wish they would go away.

   What would I do? I’d look at the top performing schools in the state, or even the better schools in our area and I’d see what they were doing that we aren’t. I’d forge some relationships with people at those schools, to get an even better understanding of how they have been successful. I’d probably aggressively recruit people who have had success working with economically disadvantaged students. I’d probably push for more interaction with Texas State and with other universities. I’d make sure that the kids understood the ins and outs of getting into and paying for college. Did you know that the university has millions of dollars in scholarship money that goes unawarded each year because there are no applicants? I didn’t. I knew there were millions of dollars in unawarded scholarships nationally. I did not know there were millions sitting right here in San Marcos. I doubt most of the students do either.

   I’m not sure what else I would do, because I am not running and as such, I have not dug too deep into the underlying causes of the problem. I’ve dug enough to confirm that there is a problem, though and I am going to push until I start seeing acknowledgement of the problem and an concerted effort to fix it by those who did run for these positions.

   Last year, when I finally got one of the board members to admit that we’re underperforming, her response, in a hushed voice, was that “a lot of these kids are economically disadvantaged” as though that were a valid excuse. So, this year I dug up some more data, to show that there are districts out there who do a far better job of serving those economically disadvantaged children.

   And here’s something to thinks about: most of those economically disadvantaged families have parents who went through the same school system and were equally underserved.

   So, now you have generations who do not know that some colleges put more weight on interviews and others on SAT scores, that there are countless options for financial aid, that you can start at a community college or junior college and transfer to a 4-year university and get the same degree everyone else gets, that there are colleges out there for everyone.

   Getting into college can be confusing and stressful even for a teen with two college educated parents. When I was in high school, there were tons of resources available and college prep (finding the schools, visiting campuses, SAT practice, application, financial aid, etc) was all a mandatory part of our curriculum. In my opinion, there is no such thing as too much help in this area, especially when working with families where nobody has ever been through it before.

   I don’t have all of the answers, but pretending there is no problem sure isn’t one of them.

8. Oh yeah, I’d probably talk to the mayor and city council about getting a similar down payment assistance program to the one being offered to university professors, which we could use to recruit and retain the teachers and administrators who had significant positive impact.

   What about you Susan, do you have any ideas, other than telling others to come up with ideas?

9. Great discussion – I encourage anyone running for school board – “go get ’em tiger!” You will find the problems are not hard to identify and the solutions are readily defined and even available. The problem is implementing the solutions.

   For example, read about KIPP schools (http://www.kipp.org/) and ask yourself why we don’t do these things here in San Marcos.

   Ted’s posts above (Thanks Ted!) show the statistics – plain and simple. Next time please add our rate of teen pregnancy – “kids having kids” – how we compare to the rest of TX and the USA.

   We (as a community) know what needs to be done…. Why don’t we (as a community) do it?

   Many parents try hard to bring about community change in our public schools but are eventually overwhelmed – “Tick Tock” – for every minute you spend trying to make the schools better you could have spent that minute with your own children making THEM better. To make matters more urgent, our children are getting older by the minute – there is no way to reverse the clock or slow down time. 5 years of the unsuccessful volunteerism in our public schools is 5 years of missed opportunities with your own children.

   I’ll end with a suggestion: Each semester EVERY parent should spend at least 1 full day WITH their student (K-12) in our public schools – go to EVERY class, eat in the cafeteria, go to PE or recess, use the student restrooms and (if possible) ride the bus. Start when your student starts and end when your student ends. Take paper, pencil and a watch to record the day’s activities – how much time is spent actually teaching/learning, how much time is wasted. Record your observations and thoughts throughout the day. Imagine the impact of this simple act…..

10. To Susan R: I don’t agree with you that Ms. North is running for the SM School Board for reasons of “vendetta or personal gain” as you accuse her of. To my knowledge, she is involved and aware of things that occur in the schools and would like to change them for the better. She is a parent and wants the best education for her children and all of the district’s children and is willing to put her time, effort, and skills into the position, which I applaud. I remember numerous school board elections where no candidates put their name forth other than incumbents, so elections were canceled. I thank Ms. North for stepping up and suggest you communicate with her directly about her ideas and plans for our schools.

11. Yes, great discussion. Ted, could you tell me the source for the statistics? I’d like to mine them myself. And I encourage anyone with concerns, ideas, or a story to tell to get in touch with me. I’m in the book, and my e-mail is chrisnorth@grandecom.net. Admittedly I have much to learn here, but I am a pretty good student!

12. The numbers for Texas school districts came from the 2007-8 Academic Excellence Indicator System Report, on the Texas Education Agency website (http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis/2008/district.srch.html).

    The stuff about the SAT scores for the rest of the country came from the College Board website (http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/cb-seniors-2007).