Smarter Real Estate

WHERE DO YOU THINK THIS PASSION FOR HELPING CHILDREN COMES FROM?

It’s sort of the way I was raised. I was born to two parents who loved me. I attended good schools, and I had everything I ever needed. I had no control over that. It’s sort of the luck of the draw. You don’t get to choose where you’re born. Oh but for the grace of God, I could’ve been born a lost boy of Sudan. It’s on those of us who can do something to actually do something.

HOW DO YOU THINK DISD CAN OVERCOME ITS FINANCIAL WOES?

We’re spending about half our money on teachers. That means we’re spending $700plus million on stuff other than teachers. Now, some of that is needed. But we just seem to have lost our way. If you compare spending in the U.S. to spending in Japan, for example, they spend 77 percent of every education dollar on teachers. They spend less than we do, and they get more for it. Put more money in classrooms. Give principals a great deal more authority to manage their campuses. That brings perils of its own because it requires a skill set that not all of our principals necessarily have. As we move in that direction of local school control, you’ve got to concentrate on their skills and training. Perhaps the most critical ingredient is the principal. If you have 225 world-class principals, you have 225 world-class schools. A good principal can get everyone motivated and focused, to throw out their TAKS workbook and pay attention to teaching kids how to think. This is what a good campus leader can do. That is probably the single most valuable thing in education, but it’s hard to come by.

HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR MANAGEMENTBACKGROUND CAN HELP?

I understand the value of metrics and of having the right metrics. The job of metrics is to relentlessly keep employees focused on the mission. You have to develop metrics that tie them to be relentlessly focused on their mission. Your real objective is not to get people to pass tests. It’s raising sentient beings who can think for themselves. We’ve erred on the side of numeric analysis, and we’ve forgotten that the purpose of numeric analysis is to keep people focused on their missions. And you’ve taken away the human interaction that principals and deans of instruction should have with teachers. The feedback loop is broken. And everybody loses. It is a case study in how to destroy a school system. DISD is losing 100,000 students. That is the legacy we’re leaving to the city of Dallas. There are 150,000 students inDISD.A third don’t graduate. A third do, but they’re not prepared. It’s a catastrophe.

If you’ve got a teacher in there who loves the kids that’s a work of art. It is our job to make sure they’re successful at their jobs. Find, retain and train great principals. And then find, retain and train great teachers.

NO ONEIS RUNNINGAGAINST YOU. NO ONE ELSE WANTS THIS JOB. WHY DO YOU WANTIT?

You know, I get that question a lot: “Why inGod’s name would you do this?” People tell me they think DISD is hopeless and we should just write it off. We’ve come to a point where no one trusts the school district. Eighty-seven percent of our kids are free and reduced lunch. The middle class has left the school district, for the most part. There are great things going on in our schools that no one knows about. Preston Hollow Elementary has 98 percent TAKS passing rates. It has the performance of a good private school. But no one’s putting their kid in that school because they don’t trust it. The DISD brand is so bad that even when good things happen, people don’t believe it.

SO THE SCHOOL DISTRICT NEEDS NEW PR?

Yes. PR is important. We have these things called SBDMs — site-based decision making committees, and they’re made up of people from the community. Well, SBDMs are mostly a waste of time. They’re ineffective and don’t do much to provide managerial support. I would like to see them expanded and given more duties. For example, task an SBDM with increasing volunteerism and doing PR for the school. At elementary schools, they could increase early childhood PTAs.

WHAT CAN THE COMMUNITY DO TO HELP SCHOOLS?

We’ve got to recognize that schools can’t do it alone. When middle class kids leave the classroom, their education continues. But when poor kids leave the class, that’s it for them. We’ve got to recognize that those larger societal factors are part of the conversation: hunger, health, homelessness. My Little Brother has moved 25 times in five years. How are you going to get a good education that way? We should look at extending the school year, the school day, after school programs. These kids are going be 20-somethings working in our city. The mayoral debate is all about economic development, and they’ve got it all wrong. Spruce High School is in a run-down neighborhood. Imagine if Spruce High School was the high school where everyone wanted to send their kids because that’s a phenomenal high school. What would happen to that neighborhood? When you get the campuses right, the neighborhoods follow.

—RACHEL STONE

Caught in the web

tokeepthingswhole.blogspot.Com

On any given day he might be reviewing a movie or a book, mulling over current events or pop culture, or revealing a personal experience, but all Mark Crotty’s blog posts lead to the main topic, education. And despite the fact that Crotty is the Head of St. John’s Episcopal School near White Rock Lake, his outlook on education is not as narrow as reading, writing and arithmetictype schooling. “It’s more about emphasizing that education is a human endeavor,” Crotty explains. “And because we are complex, we should be holistic in our approach to education.” That’s the philosophy behind the school that he has overseen for the past year, where he says the staff works hard to shape character and spirit as well as scholastics. Before St. John’s, Crotty worked at Greenhill School for 20 years. He started the blog (named “To Keep Things Whole”, a line from a poem by Mark Strand) as a way to let people get to know him and to reach more people — professionals, parents or students who are interested in education. He recently won recognition from the National Association of Independent Schools, which named his as a “blog to watch”, but he insists he doesn’t have all the answers. “I hope people don’t think I come across as someone who thinks (he) know(s) all,” he says. “I just want to ask questions, get people to ask questions and to contribute to a larger conversation about the purpose of education.” —Christina

WHAT GIVES?

Small ways that you can make a big difference for neighborhood nonprofits

TEE UP in the Tim Brown golf tournament May 2. The tournament is named after Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown, a Woodrow Wilson High School alumnus. Brown sponsors this annual golf tournament benefiting the school’s athletics program. This year’s 20th annual tournament, May 2 at the Tenison Highlands course, offers sponsorship and playing opportunities, beginning at $200 for individual players. To participate and meet Brown during the event, contact Sam Harrington at 214.558.0582.

PAVE THEWAY to an improved White Rock Lake. A $100 donation buys a 12-inch-by-12inch brick for the new White Rock Lake Spillway. Each brick can be engraved with up to 10 lines of text, containing up to 20 characters, including spaces. For more information, contact centennial@ whiterockdallas.org.

KNOW OF WAYS that neighbors can spend time, attend an event, or purchase or donate something to benefit a neighborhood nonprofit? Email your suggestion to launch@ advocatemag.com.