What Does $60 Million Buy?

$60 million buys an 18,000 seat high school football stadium. That's the price tag approved by the voters of the Allen school district for a new stadium for the Allen Eagles football team. The Eagles' first game in their new stadium will be Friday night against the defending state champion Southlake Carroll Dragons. Naturally, it's a sellout.

After the jump, what $60 million does not buy.

Continental Inn Opens In Richardson

That's right. A new hotel. In southwest Richardson. And what a nice hotel at that. "Handsome." "Beautifully decorated." "Contemporary design." "Tropical surroundings." I don't know how I missed this news when it happened, but better late than never. Here it is. Enjoy.

October 12, 1960

The Dallas Continental Inn, recently completed in Richardson, opened to the public last weekend, and Texas-Oklahoma football fans quickly filled the handsome new Electronic City motor hotel and gathering place to capacity.

Dallas Continental Inn is located on the west side of Central Expressway off Floyd Rd., only a few minutes from downtown Dallas. There are 60 rooms now, with ground space for an additional 40. The rooms are beautifully decorated in either turquoise or

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Source: The Richardson Echo.

Magnet Schools and Racial Segregation

Last week, I blogged about one person's fear that the Richardson ISD (RISD) is restricting enrollment at one elementary school to students who speak Spanish. (That person was misinformed, but it did prompt some good discussion about the RISD's enrollment policy.) Yesterday, I blogged about the efforts of the RISD to get out from under decades-old federal court supervision regarding racial segregation.

All this talk made me wonder about the effects of magnet schools in Richardson. After the jump, what I always thought the purpose of magnet schools was and what now has me questioning that.

Racial Segregation and Richardson Schools

That sounds like a headline out of the distant past, right? If you consider 1970 ancient history, then yes, it would be. But I'm talking about 2012. The Richardson Independent School District (RISD) is *still* under the watchful eye of the federal courts, as this news item from the RISD explains:

05/31/12
Richardson ISD has been operating under a federal desegregation order since 1970, which imposes federal judicial supervision on various district operations. Many school districts around the state and country have operated under civil rights-era desegregation orders.

Over the years, many of those districts have successfully sought unitary status -- which is the process through which a district asks the court to dismiss the desegregation litigation.

The RISD Board of Trustees authorized the district to begin the process of seeking unitary status in 2009, so that more local control would be returned to the district, which will enhance operational efficiency and flexibility.

To obtain unitary status, a school district must establish that it has eliminated the vestiges of past discrimination and that is has complied with the court's orders.

The federal court has set this matter for trial beginning June 11, 2012. RISD is hopeful that the court will agree that the district has attained unitary status and that federal supervision under the 42 year old court order no longer is necessary.

Source: RISD.

After the jump, what's new in the case and how it ties in with a recent discussion on these pages.

Guess the Park

Which Richardson park is this a photo of?
After the jump, another perspective of the same view.