Mike Falick's Blog

Stratford vs. Katy

Interested in the game today but unable to make it to watch in person?  You can follow the action online at this link (you will need Windows Media Player to listen).

Invitation to Tonight's Grand Re-Opening Ceremony of the Spring Branch Natatorium

The Grand Re-Opening Ceremony for the W. W. Emmons Natatorium is tonight (September 24).  The ribbon cutting will be at 6:00p followed by tours and refreshments at 6:30p, and then finally a diving exhibition, high school relays, and "big splash" contest at 7:00p.  (Click on the invitation below to enlarge).

Why I Oppose HCC’s Annexation of Spring Branch

On November 3, 2009, Spring Branch residents have an important decision to make – should we approve the annexation of Spring Branch by Houston Community College (HCC)?

Let me start this post with the following disclaimer. The opinions stated here are mine and mine alone.  They do not represent Spring Branch ISD, its Board, or Administration.

In addition, because I have been asked a number of times, there appears to be some potential confusion about this election. To be clear: Spring Branch ISD, our Board, and our Administration have absolutely nothing to do with HCC and its decision to seek to annex Spring Branch. HCC and its Board are completely independent from Spring Branch ISD and Spring Branch ISD’s Board of Trustees.

With that said, after significant deliberation, I am opposed to HCC’s annexation of Spring Branch.

My opposition is not an indictment of HCC as an institution. Indeed, as the proponent on the Spring Branch Board who initially articulated Spring Branch ISD’s “college focus” goal, regular readers know how strongly I feel about the need for students to obtain additional education beyond high school. I believe that community colleges like HCC play a critical role to reach that goal.

Nevertheless, despite my support for HCC generally, I cannot support the annexation of Spring Branch at this time for the following five reasons: (1) the taxes that would be imposed by HCC are too high; (2) HCC has failed to articulate exactly how the money raised by these new taxes would be spent; (3) HCC cannot guarantee that the new taxes raised will be spent exclusively within Spring Branch; (4) unlike Spring Branch, HCC does not freeze taxes on residents who are over 65 or disabled; and (5) it is currently unknown who will act as Spring Branch’s representative on the HCC Board.

Here is the Video of President Obama's Speech to Students

Here is President Obama's speech to students. The text of the speech can be found on my blog here.

Blue Willow Bookshop Presents Stratford Alum and ESPN Analyst Craig James

From the Blue Willow Bookshop website:

All Hail the Spartans!  Craig James of the 1978 Spartan State Champion team and an SMU alum, now a commentator on ESPN, will be in town to discuss and sign his book, Game Day: A Rollicking Journey to the Heart of College Football.

As we anticipate a large crowd for this event, we will hold it in the Stratford High School auditorium.

Although this event is free and open to the public, if you would like to go through the signing line and meet Craig James, you must purchase Game Day: A Rollicking Journey to the Heart of College Football from Blue Willow Bookshop. People who enter the signing line may also have Craig sign sports memorabilia, time permitting.

To order your copy in advance, please call the store at 281-497-8675.

Location: Stratford High School Auditorium
14555 Fern
Houston, Texas 77079

Here's the Text of President Obama's Speech to Students

As you know, President Obama is scheduled to give a speech to students tomorrow at 11a CDT.  The text of the speech has been posted on the White House website, and appears below.

The message in the speech is motivational.  With the benefit of being able to review the text, and in the absence of the political messages contained in the original curriculum posted on the Department of Education website, there is now sufficient information for parents to decide if their student should see this speech during school, should the student's school choose to show the speech.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009
 

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. 

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.   

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year. 

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. 

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. 

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. 

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. 

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. 

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. 

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. 

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. 

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. 

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. 

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. 

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right. 

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. 

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. 

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. 

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall. 

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. 

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. 

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. 

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK.  Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." 

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. 

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. 

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. 

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?  

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Another Local Car Surfing Case

"Car surfing"....If you haven't heard about this ridiculous activity, there was another senseless tragic accident involving it on Friday night in Conroe. 

Below is an article from the Chronicle and a report that aired on Channel 11 on this latest accident.

For more information, please see these previous posts about car surfing here and here.

Here is the link for the Channel 11 broadcast.

Conroe man fractures skull 'car surfing'

The brother-in-law of a lawmaker is charged in the accident

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Sept. 6, 2009, 12:11AM

A Conroe man is in critical condition after falling from a car driven by the brother-in-law of a state representative in an apparent drunken-driving car surfing incident Friday night.

Blaze Anthony Benson, 30, the brother-in-law of state Rep. Brandon Creighton, has been charged with intoxication assault, said Warren Diepraam, a Montgomery County prosecutor. Diepraam said Joshua Dawson, 32, fractured his skull after falling from the top of a Chevy Tahoe driven by Benson in the 11000 block of Kentucky Oaks Drive in Conroe. Dawson was unconscious when he was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, Diepraam said. Benson was arrested at the scene and a blood test was ordered, as part of Montgomery County's “No Refusal” weekend, after he refused to give a breath sample. Benson was released on a $25,000 bail about an hour after he was booked into the Montgomery County Jail at 4:42 a.m. Diepraam said Dawson could face intoxication manslaughter charges if Dawson dies.

U.S. Census Numbers for the New School Year

This week's Education Week published U.S. Census figures related to the new school year.  The numbers appear below.

The New School Year, By the Numbers

As the 2009-10 school year opens, the U.S. Census Bureau offers statistical snapshots of the nation’s school population, based on projections from several data bases.

56 million

Number of K-12 students expected to enroll this fall.

11%

Private schools’ share of the elementary to high school enrollment.

42%

Minority makeup of the elementary to high school population, as of 2007.

10.9 million

Number of children ages 5 to 17 who speak a language other than English at home.

31 million

Average number of children each month in the national school lunch program in 2008.

98,793

Number of public schools in the 2006-07 school year.

3,970

Number of public charter schools, 2006-07.

$50,758

National average teacher’s salary, 2006-07.

14.2 million

Number of classroom computers as of the 2005-06 school year.

$9,666

Average per-pupil spending on public elementary and secondary education nationally in 2007.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Chester Finn to Give a Speech on Education Reform on September 9 at Rice University Entitled "Is It Time to Throw in the Towel on Education Reform?"

The Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program (REEP) is presenting what will undoubtedly be an interesting and controversial speech by Chester Finn.  More information, including the link to register to attend, appears below.

________________________________________

From the REEP website:

One of the leading education policy thinkers, Chester Finn, will lead a discussion on why so much reform has produced so little in the way of measureable systemic improvements in educational outputs and what we ought to do about it. In particular, he will examine how our traditional K-12 structures and governance arrangements are showing their obsolescence and frailty; arguing that "local control" via elected municipal school boards cannot cope with today’s realities of metropolitanization, mobility, and interest-group politics. Finns solutions range from our adopting national standards to replacing traditional districts with an array of virtual systems - this is just a taste of the kind of reform Finn envisions. The question is are we up for a revolutionary refounding of this sort? Can we afford not to try?
 
Please join us for what will surely be a thought provoking discussion on the state of education reform and the possibilities for the future.

Date:		Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Time:		6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Location:		Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business, McNair Hall, Shell Auditorium, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005
Questions:		Call 713-348-4341

This is a FREE Event and is open to the public.

REGISTER HERE

NOTE: Parking will be available in the Central Parking Garage - CAMPUS MAP.
 

About Chester E. Finn, Jr. - Chester Finn, Jr. is a scholar, educator and public servant who has been at the forefront of the national education debate for 35 years. He received his doctorate from Harvard in education policy and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colgate University. He has served, inter alia, as a Professor of Education and Public Policy at Vanderbilt, Counsel to the U.S. ambassador to India, Legislative Director for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Research and Improvement. A senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and chairman of Hoover’s Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, Finn is also President of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. He serves on the board of several other organizations concerned with primary-secondary schooling.

 
The author of 16 books and more than 400 articles, his work has appeared in such publications as The Weekly Standard, Christian Science Monitor, Commentary, The Public Interest, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Education Week, Harvard Business Review and Boston Globe. Dr. Finn is the recipient of awards from the Educational Press Association of America, Choice Magazine, the Education Writers Association, and the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.

Thoughts on the President's Planned September 8 Address to Students Including Spring Branch ISD's Posted Statement

As you have probably heard by now, President Obama is planning to deliver an address on Tuesday, September 8, to school children.  Many people, including me, believe that while the President's stated intent of inspiring children is clearly a good message, the speech may be political in nature delivered to a captive audience of students.  This concern was heightened by the posting of curriculum on the U.S. Department of Education website that suggested students should write a letter to themselves about "how they can help the President." (Click here (grades pre-k - 6) and here (grades 7-12) to see the curriculum originally posted on the Department of Education's website.)

Spring Branch has posted the following on the District's website about this issue:

SBISD Statement on Sept. 8th Presidential Internet Address

The U.S. Department of Education has posted on its website information stating President Barack Obama will broadcast an internet address on Sept 8, 2009, about the importance of education for today’s students.

SBISD is not requiring school-wide or individual class participation in this particular internet broadcast.

The President’s address, like Presidential Inaugurations and other national broadcast events, is only relevant when it is completely aligned to a teacher’s lesson for the day. Our principals in collaboration with teachers will use their professional judgment to determine if this particular broadcast enhances planned curriculum and instruction. For our schools and teachers to stop instruction to watch any broadcast or national news event is extremely rare.

As has been done in the past, in the event that a teacher broadcasts the President’s message as part of a planned lesson, campuses will honor parent or student requests to opt out of this part of the lesson.

I have read a number of articles this morning on the controversy caused by this issue.  The one that synthesizes the issue the best for me is below.

This Week's Quiz: What Can Your Child Do to Help the President?

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Sep 2, 2009 at 10:42 am

The White House has announced that on September 8, President Obama is going to address the nation's schoolchildren on the importance of education. As explained in an open letter by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, "The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning."

Presumably, the president is going to advocate for self-discipline and reject excuses, a message that Mr. Obama, as the nation's first black president, can deliver powerfully and well—especially to black youths—as he has demonstrated repeatedly in the past few years.

So far, so good. Things get a bit dicier if we contemplate the president addressing what will be a captive audience in many schools and classrooms, as it is unclear how meticulously his speechwriters will steer clear of partisan or political subjects. After all, the secretary of Education's letter announcing the speech lauded the president for "repeatedly focus[ing] on education, even as the country faces two wars, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and major challenges on issues like energy and healthcare." It's not clear how narrowly the president will choose to focus, or what opportunities for expression or debate might be available to faculty or students who disagree with the president on particular questions.

Things get downright disconcerting when one eyeballs the federally approved lesson plans that the Department of Education has cooked up to support the president's speech. The preK–6 lesson plans, which were developed with federal funds, devised on taxpayer time, and made available on the Department of Education's website, exhort teachers to extend the impact of the president's speech by having students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president." This clumsy bit of cheerleading shows no awareness that "help[ing] the president" might be construed as an invitation to engage in advocacy rather than instruction or that it might worry those who are not Obama partisans. What's truly remarkable, however, given recent concerns about intrusive federal government this past month, is the lesson plan's directive that "these [letters] would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."

It all sounds a touch Orwellian, no? "Redistributed" to whom? "Accountable" to whom? Accountable for which "goals" exactly—the ones that involve "helping the president"? I'm sure the intentions behind all of this were decent enough, and that this whole effort was intended as a pep talk dressed up with innocuous materials. The lesson plans were likely drawn up by a couple of low-level staffers and slapped up on the department website without a careful look. But this all points to some of the perils posed by the growing presidential inclination to serve as superintendent-in-chief, and it highlights the kind of hubris that has fueled concerns about the implications of the federal government's growing reach.