Just look at the Bullard online newspaper at

www.bullardnews.com

and read Lori's article about the excitement of the process the community is going through in selecting a new Superintendent.

The excitement, the committment to community and city co-operation, the excellence of the consulting group they chose to help, and the description of how the citizens are getting to define WHAT they WANT in the superintendent...before the School Board takes ANY steps toward hiring anyone.....It is just a joy to read about a positive environment.

and such a frustration to contrast it with a town that is three times the size, as is Jacksonville, with a town that a short time ago was nothing but a old hole-in-the-road community on the way to Tyler...and how our school board just refuses to create a community bond between the JISD and the citizens.

I have to post a small part of Lori's article for everyone to read...the rest is online...

Firm meets with public

Consultants ask for input on filling job

By Lori Mellinger editor@bullardnews.com


The excitement is evident in Jenny Preston's voice.

Preston, a part of the consulting firm hired by the Bullard school board to conduct a search for a new superintendent, spoke to the Bullard Banner News on Monday of her plans for the evening - presenting a complete analysis of last week's meetings.

The meetings excluded school board members and instead invited teachers, administrators and staff to one and the public to another.

About 14 people came to the community meeting, and Preston said there were about two-three representatives from each campus at the earlier meeting.

"Bullard is one of the most prime districts in the state," she said. "And after listening to the excitement and investment of the members of the community, I believe all of the elements are in place to hire a great superintendent for this community."

While the ultimate decision lies with the board, Preston and her husband James are doing the legwork.

"Tonight we'll give the results of the information provided from the meetings, and then we'll go into executive session to give the board a list of candidates thus far.

Preston presented 19 characteristics and three open-ended questions to those in attendance.

"We asked everyone to rank the characteristics by order of importance to them," she said. "That's been compiled and ready for presentation."

She said her goal in the open-ended questions was to look for "common threads."

"We know the board is anxious to hear the results," Preston said. "The board will use the observations and suggestions to finalize the profile for an ultimate decision," she said.
.....(more)......

Because of the deadlines, there will be more in next week's paper about the board and what it's doing.

Obviously, for competitive reasons, I can't say what happened. And since I was the only media present ... at the Monday meeting that lasted until 10:45 p.m., I didn't have adequate time to put more information in.

I know from talking to board members that this a decision none takes lightly.

And it's true that the community feels a vested interest ... as they should. They know that great schools are the basis for great communities.

And guess what? It's got NOTHING to do with sports.

The Bullard meetings do something I've never seen a school board meeting do every month. At the beginning of each meeting, there's an "educational focus" that highlights a program or accomplishment at one of the campuses. It's a good way to get kids and parents at the meetings, even for just a period of time.

How GREAT it would be if the JISD PUBLIC felt WELCOME and respected at Board Meetings. The board members love to tell folks to go to meetings if you want to know something, and the cold fish greeting they get is just a total turnoff.

Maybe JISD is just a lost cause at the enthusiasm place.

Maybe some JISD board members should go visit a Bullard ISD meeting...shoot, Bird lives right there, and Tarrant's business is practically next door....what could it hurt?

Almost two years ago, I asked a former JISD board member to contact one of our board members who was instrumental in passing our bond.

I don't know why it never happened. He was willing to help, and his help could have made a difference because of his business background.

And honestly, I hear nothing but good things about Mr. Bird ... whom I don't know. People aroud here know him and like him. This makes me think there's a disconnect somewhere.

Here's what I know to be true -- whether it's school board or city council -- those elected provide the vision.

It's the duty of the superintendent or city manager to carry out that vision. So in that way of thinking, perhaps Mr. Bird doesn't know what the vision is because the board doesn't seem to be able to convey it.

And I don't want to point fingers or place blame because I know some of them. But -- as a board -- I believe they've failed you all -- whether by commission or omission.

You make the case for a superintendent living in the town where he has his job, seems to me. Where a person lives is where a person makes social and civic contacts of a personal nature, and how he gets invested into a community. That was his choice it seems to me, and a failing for the board to allow it to happen.

Lori,

The CSCA did meet with the Bullard Superintendent. I think a good case was made and if 76 votes went the other way the bond would have passed. But since the district did not heed the CSCA's advice perhaps they can put the next Bond Facts on the new sign instead of mailing them. Save some postage.

One of the primary reasons the Bullard community KNOWS to get excited about this process is the coverage provided by Lori and others in their local media.

Part of the disconnect here in Jacksonville is between the local newspaper's local news content (and the "spin" put on it....that hallway was called the "dungeon" 30 years ago, folks) and the perspective that local news coverage allows readers (read: voters).

We have a local newspaper in name only. Bullard's citizens enjoy a truly local paper that concentrates on local news....ALL of it....not just the sensational headlines, but the social events, the organization's activities, etc. The coverage of "community" in the Daily Progress is lipservice at best. Editorial in Jacksonville is trying, but when you have a paper that concentrates their efforts on the bottom line more than they do on researching, writing, and publishing local news (whether it anger a big advertiser or not), then we'll have truly local news and a cohesive force in our town.

As an aside, just for starters, go into the Progress office and see for yourself the conditions these folks work in. Bad lighting, peeling walls, stained carpet. Not much there to get you excited about your work day and the community you're charged with serving.

Hard to get excited about anything in dear old J'ville without a cheerleader (local paper).

Cookie, you are correct. Once I went into the Progress, and a bunch of the walls has some paint smeared on them, others not....I asked what was going on...the employees were trying to paint the public area themselves, but did not have time to stay with it...and they were living in a mess.

All newspapers in the country are having a tough time financially. Those that are owned by local entreprenaurs that are dedicated to their community and active in them are doing well. Those are the ones who are managed by businessmen who know that running a newspaper is not just about getting a regular paycheck every two weeks because you merely keep the doors open, even though readership is drying up and advertising revenue is following it down the tubes. The Jacksonville Daily Progress died when it bacame just another property of a bunch of papers commonly owned by a Birminham holding company, which in turn is owned by the Atlanta Teachers Union investment fund. They have no committment to anything but experimentation with small town newspapers and acting like they have any relevance. None of their local papers has any credibility with their local communities anymore after the buyout, yet they do have some serious reporting and editorial talent. But most of the publishers, including the JDP, have NO experience other than on the job at their paper, or another of the chain papers, and frankly, the lack of leadership is where the leather hits the pavement.

One has only to interview the JDP publisher to understand where the problem starts. A nice person, but too much ego and defensiveness to recognize where the failure is hers alone. The turnover in employees tells the tale. The lack of local stories and the shallowness of content shows that the folks can't do an in depth or quality job...and the on line copy NEVER hits the web on any consistent timeframe, and ofter, just not at all...not much reason to form loyalty to the publication from those that want consistency of availability and content.

See, when a publisher gets a full paycheck no matter what, and the owners are only looking at the bottom line profit, and wanting despirately to win national journalism awards at the same time, the local boss has too many mixed messages to know how to manage cost and to still prosper in a community. The community is always blamed by this publisher as "hating" the local paper. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but that is her "defense". The community has ALWAYS embraced a local newspaper that covers the local news and interests, and that publishes very little wire service items. Why is Tyler able to scoop the JDP consistently, when they have ONE reporter covering all of East Texas outside of Tyler....because they are "connected" and have a vitality and interested in their East Texas Community. The JDP keeps having to hire new folks that are all from somewhere else, and they never get to stick around long enough to know what is what locally.

If the progress were to shut down tomorrow, it might be a slight loss, and certainly it would impact the employees, but would not destroy the town at all. Jacksonville might do better with a weekly that actually covered the town and its businesses, not just its sports, social and church news, and an occasional JISD issue.

This publisher is not a cheerleader at all. She is just a boss-placeholder....no journalism experience of any consequence, and very little community involvement outside of raising a baby and watching the paper's financials...and telling the community how much they "just don't understand" about running the paper. I think the community understands a great deal more than a LOT of folks want to believe.

Ahhh ..... We used to call our department the Bat Cave. No windows. No sunlight. That's funny. I'd just about blocked it out.

Except for the almost two years we went without heat and had to use space heaters .... and subsequently overloaded the breakers at least twice a day. Cookie obviously knows a lot. I'll leave all the astute observations from other posters alone.

As an aside, it wasn't just Mr. Wright who offered his help. It was Sam Smith, CEO for Mercy Ships. It was Smith, John Alexander, Darren Davis and other dedicated volunteers who spent tireless hours going door to door, holding community meetings and standing outside Brookshire's talking to people about the financing, planning, and work that went into the reasoning for the bond.
They got out the vote and got the community invested in the greater good.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lori Mellinger,

Lori, thank you for the enlightenment regarding Bullard's "real" cheerleaders. Perhaps this IS the way to communicate, the old fashioned way...one on one, citizen to citizen. These gentlemen (and ladies?) are terrific people for giving their time, energy and resources to their community for the betterment of the whole.

Jacksonville's ISD could take a clue from this...perhaps even a couple of Board Members could post themselves outside Wal-Mart and Brookshire's and spread the word, answering questions and alleviating concerns. Teachers, administrators and citizens could all get involved and help in a grassroots campaign. What a wonderful idea!

I bet that none of the JISD trustees shop at Wal-mart or Brookshires. They hold themselves above that crowd in the social and financial community. That is why they do not represent the locals....they just went to JHS, but they don't really want anyone to know that in the outside world.

Here is why it matters so much.

http://www.2mminutes.com/

New documentary 2 Million Minutes, a film that tracks the educations of six high school students: two Americans, two Chinese, two Indian. The film's title references the amount of time a typical teenager spends in high school, and asks the question: How will they spend their time?

If you want to see why American students are behind their peers globally, watch the trailer. Scared yet?

The film's producer, Robert Compton, a venture capitalist by trade, was moved to make the movie after scouting investment opportunities abroad and seeing first-hand the kids Americans are competing against for the jobs of tomorrow.

so argue all day about the importance of football coaches, new buildings, and who doesn't speak English....if JISD does not understand what it HAS to do for the kids....then they doom the kids with their own personal prejudice and naivite.

without serious attention to EDUCATION...these kids will be on the butt end of a world economy...and no matter how great they enjoyed winning sports and playing video....their lack of discipline and knowledge will do them in...

I picked up a copy of the JDP's weekly newspaper that's distributed in Bullard to see if they had gotten the story that I alluded to in my first post here. Don't know why I worried.

The story they found wasn't the one I'm leading with. And the "facts" (about the proposal for a new baseball/softball field) were not, IMO, the sentiments expressed by the board during Monday's meeting.

You guys should be able to read it in an upcoming issue of the JDP.

quote:

Originally posted by Lori Mellinger:
I picked up a copy of the JDP's weekly newspaper that's distributed in Bullard to see if they had gotten the story that I alluded to in my first post here. Don't know why I worried.

The story they found wasn't the one I'm leading with. And the "facts" (about the proposal for a new baseball/softball field) were not, IMO, the sentiments expressed by the board during Monday's meeting.

You guys should be able to read it in an upcoming issue of the JDP.

What is the story on a weekly edition of the JDP you talk about....never heard of it! Does it have any More news about Jville, or just a summary of an entire weeks stuff that is copied from the Daily JDP. If so, who really would care about stale news?

It's called Snap, and it's a free weekly tabloid sized newspaper distributed free in Bullard. You can get them at the gas stations, post office, etc.

While the focus is Bullard news, I think it's sometimes filled with other JDP stories.

I might be mistaken, but I believe they also run many of the Snap stories in the JDP.

It's a good attempt to take our newspaper's market share.

Doesn't bother me, I think competition keeps us on our toes.