Issues & Concerns
I began attending Denton ISD School Board meetings in Spring 2022. Since then, I have continued attending board meetings on a regular basis. Denton ISD aligns very closely with the agendas and board actions happening nation-wide. A few of my primary concerns are listed below—
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Schools are indoctrinating our children and grandchildren in several areas—
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Gender identity and sexualization—creating divisions across students, confusion, often resulting in encouraging a single voice ideology by shutting down alternative, competing views or perspectives through negative consequential actions
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Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)— embedding the content across subjects throughout the school curriculum—circumventing Texas Law
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Changing definitions/language and “normalization” of rhetoric to align with “wokeness” ideology
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Refusal to remove books (including textbooks) from school libraries and classrooms that clearly violate Texas Penal Codes [Refer to: https://txpenalcode.com/]
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Approval process in classroom materials and library acquisitions—failure to conduct a comprehensive review actual book/materials prior to purchasing, which may result in violation of Texas Penal Codes
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Sec. 43.24(a)(2) – “harmful material”
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Sec. 43.21(a) – “obscene material”
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Academic performance, particularly in reading, writing, and mathematics, is dismal at best, and continues in a downward trend
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Accountability and Transparency
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Types of assessments employed, student/faculty data, and policy changes employed reflecting a more favorable, yet inaccurate picture of reported outcomes attained
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Lack of best practices in assessment
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Lack of Board follow-up response to issues/concerns brought forward from parents
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Legitimizing new initiatives/projects without providing evidence-based (research) support and appropriate fiscal management
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“One-stop shop” –school boards attempting to do it all instead of focusing on quality academics and good citizenship