Whose fault is it?

If you read this column and don’t like it, which one of us is at fault: Me or You?

It could be me, since I came up with the idea, committed my thoughts to written form and then helped put this magazine in front of you.

But it could be you, because you decided to invest your time reading it — I didn’t force it upon you.

Or maybe the fault lies with the editor here at the Advocate who read the column after I turned it in; she must have thought it was OK, because if it wasn’t, she would have prevented it from being published. That way you wouldn’t have had to waste your time reading it.

I received my degree in journalism from Northwestern University; maybe it’s the fault of someone at the school. I took out a student loan to take the writing classes, but if I didn’t learn enough, it’s probably the professors’ fault rather than mine, because I worked pretty hard when I was there. If the professors weren’t good teachers, how could I be expected to learn?

Of course, taking out that loan put a lot of pressure on me; it was hard to concentrate sometimes. Maybe the government and politicians should have made it easier to afford college; it’s not my fault I didn’t have a lot of money.

Speaking of money, my mom and dad could have something to do with this problem, too. When I was growing up, they didn’t encourage me to become a journalist, probably because they didn’t know anyone who made a living writing.

And since they didn’t enthusiastically encourage me to follow my dream, my feelings were hurt, and that put a damper on my motivation to work hard to be a writer, and if I’m not motivated to do something, it’s hard to do it right.

I mean, I don’t see too many people taking responsibility for their actions anywhere — corporate, government or private individuals. All I see in the media is fingerpointing and shoulder-shrugging and excuse-making, and if everyone else can do things that way, I should be able to do the same thing, too.

But you’re diverting my attention here. Let’s reconsider your involvement again: I worked hard on this column, and although I admit this is a departure from what I usually write, shouldn’t I be allowed to try something new from time to time? And shouldn’t you encourage me to do that by giving me positive feedback, even if you don’t really like what I’ve done?

So if it’s not my fault that you don’t like this column, whose responsibility is it to make it better next month?

It could be mine, since I’m the writer, and it’s my job to come up with ideas, but it could be your responsibility to give me another chance even if this column wasn’t what you thought it would be.

Look, all of this has to be someone else’s fault or responsibility, so maybe you should take a good look in the mirror because I can tell you right now, after talking my way through this, I really don’t think any of this is my fault, or my responsibility, and I resent the fact that you’re blaming me

W.T. White is starting the new school year with a new principal. Michelle Thompson is taking over the position after seven years as principal at Lakewood Elementary, a TEA-rated “exemplary” school. The Kansas City native has almost 24 years of experience in the education field, 22 in Dallas. Thompson replaces Anita Hardwick , who was named an executive director in Superintendent Mike Miles’ new School Leadership Department as part of his restructuring of Dallas ISD. Hardwick will provide resources and support throughout the W.T. White feeder pattern. Although Thompson has spent recent years leading at the elementary level, she previously served as an assistant principal at MacArthur High School in Irving and North Dallas High School where she worked in special education. As a teacher, she has specialized in strengthening reading and language arts programs at underperforming schools.

Beyond her professional experience, Thompson also was a parent at W.T. White. Her daughter graduated in 2008, having also attended DeGolyer Elementary and Marsh Middle School.Thompson knows firsthand W.T. White’s positive reputation as the highest-performing comprehensive high school in DISD.

“They must be doing something great,” she says. “I just want to build on that foundation.”

VIDEO Watch this.

The above photo is from a video by Benjamin Hager, interviewing Michelle Thompson about Lakewood Elementary’s learning garden. See the video at prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/video.

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Q&A: Elizabeth Jones

Newly elected District 1 trustee Elizabeth Jones entered the arena during a pivotal time for Dallas IsD as the budget remains tight, and we’re receiving significantly less funding from the state. Nonetheless, superintendent Mike Miles’ sweeping changes are taking effect, and Jones wants to make sure our schools reap the benefits.

Past superintendents have tried to reform DISD. How is Superintendent Mike Miles’ plan different than those that have come before him?

Our new superintendent is approaching a number of things that have to change all at once. The first is that we have to change the quality of the management of our education system. And I think he is very aware of the fact that we’ve been spending lots of resources over the years and haven’t gotten the results that we potentially should be getting. The second is that it’s a very large system, and it’s a highly complex system because 80 percent of it is human capital, so you have to manage people for results — people in a highly complicated system that is already challenged because you’re dealing with a structure that is really quite antiquated. The third is he has to deal with the challenge of restoring public trust and public confidence in a system that hasn’t been managed well. And lastly and most importantly, he understands the urgency, and so do I. We’re at the moment where we must change. The one thing about his Destination 2020 plan that is so compelling is he’s restructured the system to be much more bottom-up than top-down. But the top-down part is now being held to a very different standard of accountability than we’ve seen before ... There’s more transparency and a much higher expectation for performance. If you took a billion-and-a-half-dollar company, you would have similar performance requirements. The investors, the shareholders would demand it.

How are the needs of District 1 different than those of the other districts in DISD?

We have Anita Hardwick [former W.T. Whiteprincipal]andEddieConger [Thomas Jefferson principal] as executive directors in the new School Leadership Department for our feeder patterns. Our executive directors allow us to function more practically as a group as opposed to silos. As District 1 goes, we have so many more choices because of the private schools. We have to be able to compete and offer the best opportunities to families.

Well, as we talked about before, the test scores for W.T. White and Thomas Jefferson are around the same level as the coveted magnet schools.

We’re just not telling the story. We just have not really gone to the public with the strengths of some of our schools. The Chinese program, I know they just did a great article the other day, finally talking about the Marsh Middle School summerprogramaswellaswhat’s been going on at TJ all these years under the guidance and proactive work of Principal Eddie Conger. You want to empower the great principals to come up with these ideas and implement them successfullyasPrincipalCongerhas done. Who else can compete with that in our area?

You have a particular interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education. Why is that area so important to you and how will you help continue to make it a priority in District 1?

STEM is in everything today. I have more than 25 years of business experience and that I went to one of the finest math and science high schools in the United States. Having those skills today is critical. Our student achievement is lagging in math and science, compared to the top industrialized nations. That should be concerning enough. Now, if we’re just testing, and all we’re finding out is students are memorizing but haven’t learned anything, then what have we accomplished? being on the investment side of that, you see that the only thing constant is change. Industry has evolved because of technological innovations. There isn’t an industry out there that hasn’t been affected by it. I’m a product of public schools. I was blessed in

How do you plan to navigate the politics that inevitably will enter these discussions?

I think we have a board with diverse backgrounds and a board that is aligned in this transformation. We may disagree on some things, but we’re in an important place to start moving the district forward. I’mnotinterestedindistractionsfrom that. As I said, we need to take an antiquated system into the 21st century, and anything that distracts from that is the problem.

—Emily Toman