http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114 According to researchers, teachers nationwide spend $500 per year on school supplies for their classrooms! Many teachers must buy the stamps they use to send notices to parents! If I had my way, and a lot of sports maniacs will hate me for this, all school sports activities would be cut across the board and academics placed at the top of the revenue list! You have got to be kidding me! As much as the taxpayer pays for school taxes and this goes on every day? And we're supposed to have intelligent people on the school boards! Blows my mind! And these are the same people who wanted us to trust them with another $159 million FOR THE CHILDREN! How about doing this for the children; educate them at the cost of the taxpayer instead of the already underpaid TEACHER!  According to researchers, teachers nationwide spend $500 per year on school supplies for their classrooms! Many teachers must buy the stamps they use to send notices to parents! If I had my way, and a lot of sports maniacs will hate me for this, all school sports activities would be cut across the board and academics placed at the top of the revenue list! You have got to be kidding me! As much as the taxpayer pays for school taxes and this goes on every day? And we're supposed to have intelligent people on the school boards! Blows my mind! And these are the same people who wanted us to trust them with another $159 million FOR THE CHILDREN! How about doing this for the children; educate them at the cost of the taxpayer instead of the already underpaid TEACHER!  en-us Well teachers only get a certain amount of money to spend on supplies and materials... Not to mention the whole "VENDOR" list.... "Yes it is cheaper at Wal-Mart or HEB but so and so is our vendor"! We must purchase from them at the inflated price of three times more. The school board is a joke... Did you know they are making teachers give up their christmas break to move back into the new building at Dudley School??? No they would not send help. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_29983 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_29983 Well teachers only get a certain amount of money to spend on supplies and materials... Not to mention the whole "VENDOR" list.... "Yes it is cheaper at Wal-Mart or HEB but so and so is our vendor"! We must purchase from them at the inflated price of three times more. The school board is a joke... Did you know they are making teachers give up their christmas break to move back into the new building at Dudley School??? No they would not send help. I'll tell you like I told my sister who's a teacher! What this state and especially THIS SCHOOL DISTRICT needs is a good old fashioned teacher strike! How you put up with the school board is beyond me! How you put up with parents who fail to demand excellence of their kids is beyond me also! YOU ARE NOT A BABY SITTER! Oops! There I go preaching to the choir! http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_29989 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_29989 I'll tell you like I told my sister who's a teacher! What this state and especially THIS SCHOOL DISTRICT needs is a good old fashioned teacher strike! How you put up with the school board is beyond me! How you put up with parents who fail to demand excellence of their kids is beyond me also! YOU ARE NOT A BABY SITTER! Oops! There I go preaching to the choir! Kenneth, I was married to a teacher for 13 years, and I would think $500 is way low. It is disgraceful that we can fund buildings, but not essential simple tools of learning. But then, school board members and school officials wouldn't have all those fine offices and buildings named after them. Wait until we start paying off the bond issues voted on this spring. Victoria had better grow at least 50% by 2010, or our VISD taxes will sink a battleship. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30000 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30000 Kenneth, I was married to a teacher for 13 years, and I would think $500 is way low. It is disgraceful that we can fund buildings, but not essential simple tools of learning. But then, school board members and school officials wouldn't have all those fine offices and buildings named after them. Wait until we start paying off the bond issues voted on this spring. Victoria had better grow at least 50% by 2010, or our VISD taxes will sink a battleship. This bond issue was Bernie's dream! His vision! The Committee for Victoria's Future(I call them the shakers club) came out of their private obscurity to support the bond issue for the children. Sadly, it'll be the children who suffer most for it. We've needed a third high school for years but the idea of turning the Memorial Campus into something else is a sick joke on the taxpayer. Victoria's shakers club has a long history of wanting pretty new buildings and not caring that the education going on inside those buildings is suffering. Pretty is good for economic development according to them! Truth be told that bond issue dream started out around $200 million. Considering the mentality of this school board I can't believe it was trimmed down. The most terrible threats to our children's education in Victoria today is the promotion of sports over academics and the lack of parents who'll push their children to perform and excel in academics. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30004 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30004 This bond issue was Bernie's dream! His vision! The Committee for Victoria's Future(I call them the shakers club) came out of their private obscurity to support the bond issue for the children. Sadly, it'll be the children who suffer most for it. We've needed a third high school for years but the idea of turning the Memorial Campus into something else is a sick joke on the taxpayer. Victoria's shakers club has a long history of wanting pretty new buildings and not caring that the education going on inside those buildings is suffering. Pretty is good for economic development according to them! Truth be told that bond issue dream started out around $200 million. Considering the mentality of this school board I can't believe it was trimmed down. The most terrible threats to our children's education in Victoria today is the promotion of sports over academics and the lack of parents who'll push their children to perform and excel in academics. As a teacher, I can see both sides of some of these comments.  When surveyed last year so many students commented about not feeling safe and the general atmosphere of the buildings.  Many campuses or 30+ years old building new ones or renovating, either way is expensive.  Yes, $500 is on the low side of what many teachers spend for their classrooms.  Part of the problem is the amount of paperwork it takes to get these things.  Then yes the approved vendors, let's not forget that $$$ contract with Coca-Cola.  Thankfully, the state decided last year to reimburse teachers up to $150 a year for out of pocket classroom expenses.  For many yeas Victoria has been lacking in facilities compared to the schools that we must compete against.  If our students are going to be successful we have to have adequate facilities for preparing them whether that be on the athletic fields or in the classrooms. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30022 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30022 As a teacher, I can see both sides of some of these comments.  When surveyed last year so many students commented about not feeling safe and the general atmosphere of the buildings.  Many campuses or 30+ years old building new ones or renovating, either way is expensive.  Yes, $500 is on the low side of what many teachers spend for their classrooms.  Part of the problem is the amount of paperwork it takes to get these things.  Then yes the approved vendors, let's not forget that $$$ contract with Coca-Cola.  Thankfully, the state decided last year to reimburse teachers up to $150 a year for out of pocket classroom expenses.  For many yeas Victoria has been lacking in facilities compared to the schools that we must compete against.  If our students are going to be successful we have to have adequate facilities for preparing them whether that be on the athletic fields or in the classrooms. Ah yes! "...adequate facilities..." I'll buy that. The Memorial Campus is indeed an adequate facility. The idea that we've been buying more and more portable buildings for years is crazy. Our middle schools, not to mention elementary schools, have been over crowded for years. That's insane! It's not a good atmosphere to learn in! However, let's be honest, at this moment only 41 people have read this blog thread! Had it been about a football game the number would have been more than double that. People don't care enough about the academic part of their children's education! http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30032 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30032 Ah yes! "...adequate facilities..." I'll buy that. The Memorial Campus is indeed an adequate facility. The idea that we've been buying more and more portable buildings for years is crazy. Our middle schools, not to mention elementary schools, have been over crowded for years. That's insane! It's not a good atmosphere to learn in! However, let's be honest, at this moment only 41 people have read this blog thread! Had it been about a football game the number would have been more than double that. People don't care enough about the academic part of their children's education! I couldn't agree more about the sad state of our priorities, Kenneth. Our schools should be, first, institutions of learning and while sportsmanship certainly has its place in the learning environment, without the basics of reading, writing and 'rithmetic 98% of these kids shuffled through the system will have little or no chance to succeed. What I fear though is that the number of functional illiterates graduating today is as much symptomatic of our society as it as about fancy new buildings, overcrowded classrooms, underpaid teachers.... and new uniforms for the football team. Discipline is key to creating a learning environment . Teachers must be able to create an orderly atmosphere in the classrooms if any student is to be given the opportunity to learn. Having observed some local classroom sessions when my wife's nephew was living with us I find it amazing that anyone could learn anything in that environment. And while discipline must reign in the classroom, all the order in the world, the best and most capable teachers and the most current faciilities simply cannot force any person to learn. Discipline must also reside in the student and I found that discipline, the desire to learn and respect for the learned, most lacking in local classrooms. I'm afraid that trait is acquired - or not - long before a student's first hour in a classroom and all the money in Victoria won't fix it. Sadly, the teachers are not wholly blameless either. In a recent poll I don't have the time nor the inclination to look up again at the moment something over 50% of teachers admitted to cheating on certifications, continuing education requjrements and their students' stats - all to make themselves look better. And that's just the ones with the chutzpah to *admit* it! When kids see their parents skimming a little of the top at home whether it be playing fast and loose with the tax return or milking Workman's Comp for a couple of extra weeks they start with the disadvantage of having little respect for the rules. Add to that seeing the authority figures at school similarly playing "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" with integrity and how are we to expect these kids to react? Is it any wonder they adopt an attitude that any mean is acceptable as long as the end is met? Ernie http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30066 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/KennethSchustereit/6114/#c_30066 I couldn't agree more about the sad state of our priorities, Kenneth. Our schools should be, first, institutions of learning and while sportsmanship certainly has its place in the learning environment, without the basics of reading, writing and 'rithmetic 98% of these kids shuffled through the system will have little or no chance to succeed. What I fear though is that the number of functional illiterates graduating today is as much symptomatic of our society as it as about fancy new buildings, overcrowded classrooms, underpaid teachers.... and new uniforms for the football team. Discipline is key to creating a learning environment . Teachers must be able to create an orderly atmosphere in the classrooms if any student is to be given the opportunity to learn. Having observed some local classroom sessions when my wife's nephew was living with us I find it amazing that anyone could learn anything in that environment. And while discipline must reign in the classroom, all the order in the world, the best and most capable teachers and the most current faciilities simply cannot force any person to learn. Discipline must also reside in the student and I found that discipline, the desire to learn and respect for the learned, most lacking in local classrooms. I'm afraid that trait is acquired - or not - long before a student's first hour in a classroom and all the money in Victoria won't fix it. Sadly, the teachers are not wholly blameless either. In a recent poll I don't have the time nor the inclination to look up again at the moment something over 50% of teachers admitted to cheating on certifications, continuing education requjrements and their students' stats - all to make themselves look better. And that's just the ones with the chutzpah to *admit* it! When kids see their parents skimming a little of the top at home whether it be playing fast and loose with the tax return or milking Workman's Comp for a couple of extra weeks they start with the disadvantage of having little respect for the rules. Add to that seeing the authority figures at school similarly playing "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" with integrity and how are we to expect these kids to react? Is it any wonder they adopt an attitude that any mean is acceptable as long as the end is met? Ernie