Our editorial board just spent an hour with new Dallas school Superintendent Mike Miles at our newspaper offices.
Some highlights:
– On whether the district can make it with the current tax support from state and local sources: “I don’t know the answer to that exactly. It will take more time for me to see what TEA can do … Some of the mandates of the state I have to learn. …
“But if you want a general sense of whether or not we have the resources, my initial glance at the budget and the things we are able to spend money on, I think we have about the right amount to do what we need to get done. I think if we get cut a lot more it will be tough.”
– What he expects from parents: “We want no excuses around three things” : 1) Get their kids to school on time, every day. 2) Have their kids read every day, even if it’s not in English and even if it’s a TV Guide, comic book or cereal box. At every age. 3) Get them to do their homework. Set up a quiet place at home for study, the kitchen table for example.
– On new new school feeder patterns that don’t coincide with board trustee districts: “It has an additional benefit that the trustees will be now engaged, it will help them be engaged in a broader area, rather than a more parochial more look at the district, or their area of the district.”
– On feedback from trustees: “I have not had one trustee say that’s a bad thing. They seem to like it.”
– On teacher raises: Barring surprises, “This coming year, the budget we will build a straight 2 percent, 3 percent, 4 percent, across the board.” Performance pay would wait another year.
– On the number of teachers who may not be up to his standards: “I would expect that a third of the teachers in the district will need more training to become more efficient.”
– On whether he expects each teacher’s evaluation grade to be publicly available: “I try to do things that help the education institution, that helps kids. I’m not sure that the public always understands the numbers. … That’s a lot of information for the parent to absorb. If there’s not a good explanation, data is misused, the teachers get hurt for no reason. …”
– So those evaluations should not be made public? “Well, I think, initially no, they should not.”
– On what keeps him up at night: “What keeps me awake — if I could stay awake – would be the time, the sense of urgency. We’ve got kids in Dallas who need us to be at the time of our game yesterday.”
My impressions: He’s self-assured, doesn’t require a lot of trappings. Analytical. Draws on his military experience for organizational philosophy. Has high expectations. Challenged, but not awed by the challenge. Results-oriented. Earnest.
PHOTO CREDIT: DISD superintendent Mike Miles, left, meets with The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board at the DMN offices in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 (Brad Loper/The Dallas Morning News)