Friday, December 1, 2017

Repeat Tweets: 25 Conservatives to Follow on Twitter

Repeat tweets from November, 2017:

  • Nov 1 2017: Salon recommended 25 conservatives to follow on Twitter. One was @JayCaruso of DMN. I'm from Dallas, so I thought, great.
  • Nov 1 2017: It turns out, on Twitter, @JayCaruso doesn't offer facts and logic. His tweets start and end with assertions and insults.
  • Nov 1 2017: Maybe on editorial team, @JayCaruso's partisan viewpoint is helpful to craft a balanced editorial. On Twitter, not so much. Unfollow.
  • Nov 1 2017: How about some sensible gun regulations to reduce the 30,000 deaths by guns in this country annually that are not terror related?
  • Nov 1 2017: @JayCaruso mocks Jimmy Kimmel for blaming the "gun nuts". Who else is responsible for the lack of sensible gun regulation than the people who keep electing politicians endorsed by the NRA?

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017): Bitter mother searches for her daughter's murderer. Black comic elements. Mildly uplifting. No heroes or villains, just broken people. Frances McDormand rules. A-

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Constructing the Building Plans in RISD

The new RISD strategic plan contains six strategies, one of which is "We will ensure that our facilities and infrastructure adapt to support our mission." That's a tautology, but that just gives the action team working this strategy more freedom to come up with plans of their own devices. I've got some advice.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Thinking Strategically About Schools

First and foremost, I am encouraged by the Richardson ISD's outreach efforts to get community input into the district's planning process.
On October 2, district trustees voted to adopt a revised RISD strategic plan, and stakeholders are encouraged to take part in the process by applying to be on one of the six action teams that will develop the specific steps and goals to support the six district strategies:
  • We will ensure that we have diverse and engaging programs and learning opportunities to meet the unique needs of all our students.
  • We will guarantee that all students will perform at or above grade level.
  • We will recruit, retain, and reward quality personnel.
  • We will ensure that ALL families, businesses, and community partners are fully engaged in the mission of our district.
  • We will actively pursue creative funding sources and responsibly manage current resources to support our mission.
  • We will ensure that our facilities and infrastructure adapt to support our mission.
Source: RISD.

Six teams of 35 to 50 community members have been formed. If all goes well, these teams will ensure community support as the RISD makes difficult strategic decisions in the future.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Where All Students Connect, Learn, Grow and Succeed

"Where All Students Connect, Learn, Grow and Succeed." That's the new mission statement for the Richardson ISD. Fifty points if you know what the old mission statement was. It used to be "Where All Students Learn, Grow and Succeed." See the difference?

I'm no marketing genius (my wife always said that if I worked in marketing, our family would starve), but in my opinion, the RISD just weakened a good slogan. Good things come in threes, not fours:

  • Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
  • Of the people, by the people, for the people.
  • Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.
  • Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe

"Learn, Grow and Succeed." Not "Connect, Learn, Grow and Succeed." Not only is it discordant, it's the literal definition of mission creep, which has acquired a well-deserved reputation for ending in "final, often catastrophic, failure." I've got nothing against students connecting, but RISD ought to be careful not to overburden its priorities, lest nothing is a priority.