Jimmy Carter High School rated "persistently dangerous"

Posted Fri, Aug 18, 2006 at 1:52 am
This is a serious story, but I just couldn't resist with the headline. Anyway:
Almost 5,000 Rio Grande Valley high school students will begin the new school year at campuses rated "persistently dangerous" by the state education agency.

Jimmy Carter High School in the La Joya school district and Todd Ninth Grade campus and Donna High School in the Donna district received the "dangerous" designation this year from the Texas Education Association...

...In Texas, a school receives the dangerous rating if, for three years running, it has reported expelling three or more students per 1,000 for any of the following: felony-level drug or alcohol offenses; possession or use of a firearm, club or weapons; murder or attempted murder, arson, aggravated kidnapping or assault; sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault...
School officials say they're actually safe and it's just because of a high number of drug and alcohol incidents.

Comments

petit bourgeois (not verified)

Fri, 08/18/2006 - 17:25

Or the devotion to the nation-race of the administration...I might add, which is a much more broad class of "familia." Blood is thinker than water, and your extended family can be quite large in clan-based societies like the mexicans and chinese have.

perroazul del norte (not verified)

Fri, 08/18/2006 - 08:41

I would say it is likely that the change in the 'educational soundness' of the schools there has a LOT more to do with demographic change than it does with "nepotism" amongst administrators. In their ranks there has also no doubt been a demographic transformation.-eh

Right, but it is also true that nepotism- broadly construed,where it is axiomatic that family interests always take precedence over those of community or civil society -is intrinsic to Latin American society.

eh (not verified)

Fri, 08/18/2006 - 05:47

There seems to be a serious problem with the administrations down here.

Maybe so, but...

Oh come one.

I would say it is likely that the change in the 'educational soundness' of the schools there has a LOT more to do with demographic change than it does with "nepotism" amongst administrators. In their ranks there has also no doubt been a demographic transformation.

GawainsGhost (not verified)

Fri, 08/18/2006 - 05:10

I live in the Rio Grande Valley, and I've taught at schools in Weslaco, La Joya and Edinburg.

I can state with certainty that, while there are serious problems with some students, the schools are fundamentally safe. They are not, however, educationally sound.

There seems to be a serious problem with the administrations down here. It wasn't that way when I went to school, but over the past two decades, there have been credible reports of nepotism clouding several administrations and a complete breakdown of discipline at many campuses.

eh (not verified)

Fri, 08/18/2006 - 04:22

Surprise!