Who is next?

my article was about the AISD school board the article was called Chronicle Endorsements. On May 8th 2010 Austin voters will come to the polls to choose the next Austin Independent School Board. The Austin School Board has a year of difficult challenges ahead, including whether to tax more in order to provide raises, working with a new superintendent, and facing school closure due to under performance at two Austin area schools. In the seat for south Austin District 6 incumbent Lori Moya is running against Glen P. Mayes. Lori Moya is a State Employee and has served on the Austin School Board for four years. Her website states the she strives to "be the voice for those who don't have one." Glen P. Mayes works as a Juvenile Corrections Officer, working with at risk youth in an after school program.
According to the Chronicle endorsements of the School Board Candidates Lori Moya is the safe and best bet for District Seat 6. And after what I’ve read and seen I have to say I agree. Over the last four years, Lori Moya has represented Austin citizens’ interest with careful balance and tact. Working for a non-profit dedicated to strengthening AISD public schools, Austin Voices for Education and Youth, I’ve seen her at school board meetings, community conversations, and other school events. Moya not only attends these events, but is actively engaged and listening to the community. On the Statesmen blog homegrown the two candidates were asked about some of the larger issues facing AISD. Moya’s answers were not as definitive as Mayes, not out of an attempt to squirm out of answering hard question, but rather to represent the truth and the complexities of the circumstances. On the other hand, Mayes’ answers told the reader what they wanted to here, with no real plans on how he would do it. In the School Board Endorsements, the Chronicle mockingly refers to Mayes as a security guard, a comment I initially found distasteful; although with closer inspection of Mayes candidacy flyer I’m starting to think he may have been asking for it. Mayes’ flyer contained three major grammar errors including spelling impact as impajt, a terrible run on sentence, as well as stating: Glen Mayes is Higher Education of Christian…University. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying good grammar is the most important quality in a candidate, but the man needs to know how a sentence works to be on the school board!

Pta why not?

My colleague wrote a post about the PTA in Del Valle school district and how the administration didnt want the pta to be involved. I would have to agree with what my colleague said and how it is ridiculous for the school to be doing this. This is basically showing how the school district is trying to hide what they really are doing with the school funds and how they are being used. the parents have the right to know what the school is doing with the money that they get taken out of their pay checks for the betterment of the schools. This article made me think about what kind of other stuff they may be trying to hide from the parents and maybe if any other school districts are trying to pull off a stunt like this. it is completely crazy and shouldnt be allowed. I think my colleague did a great job in summarizing and stating her thoughts about this problem and i am right being her about this topic.

Online Books, yes no?

Texas Education Agency says the high school drop out rate for Texas is 10.5 percent. This might all change on what Perry is trying to do with a new text book system. The article in the Austin American Statesman by Kelley Shannon says that Rick Perry is trying to replace text books in schools to online technology. Perry believes that text books get out of date quickly sometimes even before they reach the schools. Perry defended his education record which isn’t great comparing numbers to other states. Perry also says that using computer software to teach students will allow schools to update curriculum and students can learn technology. Perry also wants the switch to be done cost effectively and I don’t know how that would happen without spending some big bucks. Texas is already testing the waters in this area, they let some schools last year spend their text book money on electronic instructional materials. This plan could also be great for students who don’t have computers at home which would teach them technology.
I think this is a great idea for the Texas government to adopt. First students will be able to learn new material rather than what is in the old books in some of the school systems today. When I was in High school a lot of the books were way out of date and didn’t provide information to what we need to know in this new era. For Perry this is clearly a re-election tool because of this track record of education compared to other states is below average, but also a very smart idea his term in office hasn’t been great but this could be a step forward to insure that many people in high school graduate and don’t drop out. The four year graduation rate is only at 79 percent and this could help improve the rate. The only problem is that the government will have to reach in to their pockets and find money to fund all these public schools computers for all the students but this would eventually pay itself. Some students don’t have the opportunities’ others do at home where some students have access to computers. These students without computers at home can take advantage in school and learn technology as it is being used. I think for the first time in a while Rick Perry is taking steps to improve our school system and insure people that students will be getting the best education. I hope that Texas can come up with a way to help our high school students for the future.

Healthcare for texas?

I agree with this author and what he is presenting to the audience about healthcare. Their argument is a very important one for many of us in Texas who need health care and are not receiving it because it is too expensive for some. With the governor trying to stop this from happening may start a lot of disputes with his re election. The author’s credibility is good because they provided what changes and improvement would be implemented with this new reform for health care. The logic that the author has is good because this is something that could change a lot of people lives if this health care package was given to all Texas citizens could save a lot of people from deadly illness’s and what not. The authors intended audience for this article has to be any registered voter who is voting in the governor elections this year and even those who aren’t, because this will impact the lives of everyone not just voters. The author’s main argument is that we are re electing a governor that doesn’t what the citizens to have good health care, even though it has been passed through the president and the house. Do we really want him to be a governor again, is he really looking at the best interests of the citizens?

Voter Turn Out

This year we had the Texas primaries and turn out for it was bigger than ever alone they had count 36,000 voters for Travis county and were expecting another 36,000 to show up on Tuesday for this vote. this vote is important because it is for who our new governor will be in Texas along with other positions for office. The reason the turn out was so huge this year in my opinion would have to be, the lack of support the citizens have for our governor at the moment Perry. outside of Texas the voter count was in the hundreds of thousands for voters who opted to vote early. The author in this article is trying to show how much big of a turn out had shown up this year for this election. This election may bring a lot of change into the office. Changes like a democrat or a republican into the governors position who knows. 

911 in austin?

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/021810-small-aircraft-crashes-into-office-building

Today Austin was struck with fear and devastation by the plane crash into a fedral office off of 183. The plane crash was tied into a house fire that had happened not to long before the crash, they were linked because the father of the house is no were to be found and as record indicate he owns a plane similar to the one that crashed into the building. The reason i think this article is worth reading is because most of us have passed by this building 100's of times but have never known what goes on in there, well now we know it has something to do with the IRS. After an investigation went through the building they found that the number that is on the plane that crashed into the building is the same as the one of Andrew Joseph Stack who owns a plane of his own.
IRS stands for Internal Revenue Service. There are many reasons someone would want to get back at the IRS maybe because of taxes they haven't paid maybe because their house is about to be seized. The reason i found this article interesting was because who would think that something like this would be happening in Austin which always seemed like a nice city were nothing like this happens. What would push a man to be so mad at the government to take it into his own hands to conduct this act of terrorism. well acording to his blog which indicated that he had been planning this for a while. His blog says that he had been struck with financial strugles and has had a hard time finding work. It says that he had started doing well untill this year had hit and landed him with taxes that didnt even make sense so he had to do somthing to get back at the government who he thinks is responsible for this. The crazy thing is that the government had send F16 jets to austin to see what had happened.