I was reading some archives on the Advocate website when I learned that VISD did not get back as many responses as they had hoped on the “Affinity Question” that encouraged the community to comment and provide suggestions and solutions for the future.

Superintendent Bob Moore put a challenge to get 20,000 responses, but they only got 7,200. While that is still a large number it is less than half of what they originally expected. It should concern us all because in Texas, one third of high school kids probably won’t graduate, and in major Texas cities less than half actually do.

I have my own reservations for VISD since this year. I have voiced them before, and while my logical solution of privatization will never become a reality, I do think that it is important for the public to voice it’s opinion because in theory, this school system should be working for us since they are educating and empowering our youth for future generations…



So why wouldn’t you want to go to their website? Why wouldn’t you want to comment on it?



My answer was that, until my rant on privatization and the comment that a VISD employee left, I did not know they were actually searching for people’s opinions. In fact the only way I knew the outcome of this was by looking through the Advocate’s archives.



If you want to get the word out, especially one that affects the community as a whole. You should probably take on a massive attempt to reach the community. Let’s face it, most people are apathetic by nature. It’s sad but ultimately true. While most parents and community members are good in nature, the stresses of everyday life probably don’t let them look at every community posting or news story. To launch a massive campaign, you need to engage your public. I’m sure your website is very nice, but if you want to reach the public, you have to do more than putting up a site and writing a guest column in the local newspaper.



1.Get local TV involved: You know what 90% of Victorians do when they get out of work? That’s right… they plop down and watch their favorite reality show. If I wanted to reach my fictional city, I would contact my local TV stations and ask them if they could run a PSA (public service announcement) most stations run PSA’s as part of their duty to their community in place of some commercials. That means it’s free

2.Get a Street Team: I’ve been playing in bands for over 12 years. One thing that we always did was have a “street team” which is a group of volunteer people loyal to your music (in this case a cause) to go about town, contact radio stations, post fliers or pamphlets, and even go door to door. Did anyone stop to think about the citizens in Victoria that did not have access to a computer? They are a minority, but they do exist.

3.Send literature in the report cards: Every six weeks, VISD sends report cards home to parents. Why not include the affinity question attatched to something a parent has to read and sign anyway.

4.Bring this up in parent/teacher conferences: I’m not sure if this is true in high school, but many elementary school parents are required to go to parent/teacher meetings. Why not bring up the need for input at that time and have the teacher record and send the response back to you.


I guess now it’s a little too late, but I just wanted to provide some solutions the next time VISD decides to do something like this. As a former inmate of the school system, I know that vast improvements need to be made, and especially the former students should take note to improve it. Don’t get me wrong, I think Bob Moore has his head in the right place. He has stated he wants to talk about the “good, bad, and ugly”. Which is a lot more than the propaganda that most heads of organizations would care to do.