DISD to hold community meeting for next bond program

DISD Superintendent, Dr. Michael Hinojosa, has taken an aggressive stance on improving our school facilities by pushing to have another major bond program on the ballot this November. This new one follows very closely on the heels of the largest school bond program in DISD history. Largest by a huge margin, I might add, with some aspects of it  still in progress.

The DISD has been holding a series of community input meetings to gather information in preparation for this effort. The one for the northeast quadrant of the DISD, which will include all of the East Dallas and Lakewood area, is scheduled for this Wednesday, June 20 at 6:30 pm at McShan Elementary, 8307 Meadow Road, Dallas, TX 75231. A lot remains to be done in our part of town so I hope for a good turnout.

Comments

[Jeff Siegel]

So will our new mayor be there?

[Norman Alston]

Good question. I am a believer that while the DISD is run by it's very own set of interesting elected officials, there is actually a significant amount that the City can do to support the educational experience. I have long been a proponent of focusing City initiatives on individual schools and the neighborhoods that surround them. Provide additional police support and patrol to help fight drugs, gangs, other predators and to provide a sense of security for everyone; Code Enforcement to eliminate drug houses, squatters, overgrown property, stray animals, rodents, dangerous burned-out structures and other things that detract from a neighborhood and foster illegal or dangerous conditions for the children; redevelopment and tax incentive programs to promote home ownership, property maintenance and general beautification of the neighborhoods around the schools to both enhance safety and to foster a sense of pride. The Leave It To Beaver image of kids walking to and from school through an attractive, safe neighborhood shouldn't be left only to a black and white, 60's tv comedy.

All of these things the City currently has and does. It's just a matter of where you do them. It seems to me that we would better leverage our existing tax dollars if done this way.

So yea, Mr. Leppert should probably be there.