By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A Decades ago, when David Foerch was a young teacher in Dallas, principals had a ready threat for staff members who didn’t pull their weight. “They’d say, ‘If you folks don’t shape up, we’ll send you to Wilmer-Hutchins!’” For years, the Wilmer-Hutchins schools have been a symbol of bad […]
Month: April 2002
New state exam to get a test run; Now that TAAS is done, students will take early version of the TAKS
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A Don’t put down those No. 2 pencils just yet. Many Texas students probably thought that last week’s Texas Assessment of Academic Skills was their last state test for a while. But sometime over the next three weeks, they’ll fill in one more bubble sheet. And this time, it’s […]
State to have ‘dropout czar’; Education chief says disjointed retention effort needs revamping
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 23A Texas will soon have a “dropout czar” to oversee all of the state’s efforts to keep children in school, the new education commissioner said this week. Felipe Alanis, who took office on April 1, said the Texas Education Agency needed to do a better job of coordinating the […]
Tornadoes hit area; Storms rip FW neighborhood, but no serious injuries reported
By Kim Horner and Nancy Calaway Staff Writers Page 1A FORT WORTH – A band of severe storms sliced through East Fort Worth during Tuesday afternoon’s rush hour, spawning at least one tornado and smashing homes but causing only minor injuries. Tornadoes touched down in at least three places in Tarrant County, officials reported, evoking […]
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UT officials pitch scholarship program across D-FW area; In tour of ‘underserved’ schools, they promise aid to all who get in
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 25A Larry Faulkner, president of the University of Texas, had a blunt message for the students of South Oak Cliff High School. “Here’s my pitch: We want you,” he told an audience of juniors and seniors Monday. “We want to see you in Austin, and we’re going to stay […]
Flaws found in screening of teachers; Up to 2,400 with criminal records may slip through yearly; Texas agency urges fingerprinting for all prospective hires
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A As many as 2,400 people become teachers in Texas every year despite having unnoticed criminal records, according to a state agency that is recommending all new teachers be fingerprinted before being allowed into a classroom. “There’s no surefire way of protecting the children, but we want to do […]