Here’s my story from today’s front page. It feels like a culmination of a lot of other stories I’ve written:

For the fourth time since November, Wilmer-Hutchins teachers will have a new superintendent to call boss. But this time they’ll have an entirely new school board, too.

State Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley swept into the troubled district Thursday and swept out the seven-member school board that has overseen the district’s financial collapse.

The district’s new leadership has been assigned a pressing task: Determine quickly whether there’s anything salvageable in Wilmer-Hutchins schools, which are swimming in debt, indictments and scandal. Otherwise, Dr. Neeley said, the district will be shut down, perhaps very quickly.

‘This community no longer trusts the sitting board with its children or its money,’ she said. ‘Whatever decision the team makes, the decision will be one of permanency. No more Band-Aids. No more quick fixes.’…

Dr. Neeley had first proposed the housecleaning in March, when a Texas Education Agency investigation found that 22 of the district’s elementary school teachers were helping students improperly on the state’s TAKS test. That investigation was prompted by stories in The Dallas Morning News that alleged widespread cheating in the district.

‘This is inexcusable, illegal, unprofessional, unethical and unacceptable behavior,’” Dr. Neeley said.

13 May 2005

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