I think Mr. Bales used to be president of the school board or something like that. Back in the 90′s when I moved out here from Central Austin.

To: Charles Eichman. Having known Mr. Bales all his life let me say that I do not know of anyone who has a better overall understanding of this school district. Not once has he been proven to be wrong in his facts. The traditions to which he refers, I suspect, were the close relationships between the communities and the schools. Beginning in 1997 there was a conscious effort to remove senior teachers from faculties. Hiring practices were altered to prevent hiring local teachers. Administrations have used Confederate issues to smoke-screen incompetence. When he was a member of the school board he was not shy about calling the administration out, although he was not reluctant to support that which, in his opinion, deserved support. Your comments regarding this good citizen are ill-taken. It is not probable that he will get off his soap-box. You will noitice that the over-paid school information office never takes issue with his contentions. That alone is telling, since it is the job of that function to straighten out misunderstandings.

I wish Mr. Bales would be the new Superintendent. I love his way of thinking and he seems to have a clear understanding on what goes on in this district. I am in total agreement with the parents having full choice of which school their child attends.

The problem with Bryce Bales is not the facts he quotes or a lack of knowledge, but the faulty conclusions he arrives at.

To: Long-time resident and teacher: What kind of nonsense are you spreading? Please let us know what conclusions you disagree with. Obviously, attacking Mr. Bales by name while posting anonymously is something that leaves your credibility in question. But, regardless, come on and enrich the conversation by stating just what conclusions it is with which you disagree.

Mr. Brooks and others: Thank you for the background information. Not knowing Mr. Bales’ background, I withdraw my assertion that he is ignorant of the system, since he evidently was a part of it at one time. I still maintain, however, that criticism of small class size has no basis, since it is an idea that has not been actively put into practice (and when I say this, I speak of actual limitations — 15 students per class, no more — not an arbitrary comparison of numbers that are 15 years old, that do not reflect current realities).
Further, I don’t think the lack of response on the part of the school information office proves that anything Mr. Bales says must be true. Silence is not consent, in other words, when your job, as an admin office is not to respond to each and every specific criticism. If that were the case, every information office would have little else to do.

There is a great deal more to be said about Mr. Bales’ contention concerning teacher hypocrisy if one opposes vouchers, but does not live in the system where one works. He seems to believe that geography alone allows one to exercise dissent, when, in reality, there are very real criticisms concerning vouchers that center around transfers that take place on a voucher system that have nothing to do “school performance” (which is, in part, illusory, since the whole testing system is spear-headed by folks who have no knowledge of pedagogy or the realities of the classroom). It would be quite easy, for example, to use a voucher system to transfer one’s student for reasons of race, ethnicity, or religion, rather than dissatisfaction with performance.

In addition, Mr. Bales’ assertion that academic decline is accelerating just isn’t true. If you compare apples-to-apples, our best students perform on par with every other country. The reason the U.S. tends to look worse is that we try to educate almost everyone using a college prep track. Students that used to be ignored, booted from the system , or shoved into easy classes are now tested along with everyone else. This makes our results look much worse than they are. Add to the fact that teachers are handcuffed by state-mandates, not to mention answerable to everyone who has a complaint, it’s no wonder innovation has lagged behind. The system has very little tolerance for anyone who dares to try anything different.

The issue of how much a superintendent should be paid is definitely something the community should weight in on and decide. However, the phrase, “you get what you pay for” tends to hold true. So, if Hays CISD wants someone who is top of the line, it’s going to have to pay for them.

Finally, just as I have made some off the cuff assertions about Mr. Bales (who always seems to be complaining about the school in his letters, hence prompting my reply), several of you have made incorrect assumptions about me. First, I live in the district, in Kyle, and have so for 6 years. Second, I work in the school district I live in (6 of my 16 years in public education). Finally, I haven’t bothered responding to everyone else until now because I’ve been pretty busy living my life (and grading 118 senior research papers).

I understand some of us know each other here, and have for years. But just because my old friend is my old friend doesn’t make him right. Mr. Bales may be right about Super pay (and cronyism), and how, honestly, what happens below the upper echelon has a lot more to do with school success than anything else. But there’s nothing at all that proves he’s right about class sizes. In saying this, I’d like to point out here that I’m pretty successful with the 27-30 I have in every class, but I could do a lot better if I had fewer per class — a LOT better. More time for individual attention. More time to grade and return papers (and assign remediation to close gaps). Fewer disciplinary problems (knuckleheads stand out more in a smaller crowd). These are self-evident truths that Mr. Bales seems to casually dismiss (which is somewhat appalling when you consider his background). In any case, it hasn’t been done yet, and isn’t likely to be. But I’d appreciate not throwing an idea that hasn’t been used in with every other criticism of educational funding and education performance. We take enough heat for things we don’t control as it is.