Information is currency for democracy.
- Thomas Jefferson
A day without sunshine is like, you know,
night.
-
Steve Martin
Education is unique among consumer products;
when it fails to work as advertised, it's the customer that gets labeled as
defective. - Kevin
Killion
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Courage is the most important of all
the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other
virtues consistently. You can't be consistently kind or fair or
humane or generous, not without courage, because if you don't have
it, sooner or later you will stop and say, "The threat is too much.
The difficulty is ...too high. The challenge is too great. ~ Maya
Angelou
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Welcome to Keep Eanes Informed.
Information is essential to public
participation and open government. This site,
created in 2003, is maintained by parent volunteers
as a community service and is a repository of public
information, education news and community resources.
More information
about this site
here.
June 21, 2010
Who is really the "black cloud"? Lisa
Schlimgen ... or Darren Allman?
Link
here to read the Eanes ISD public information.
June 21, 2010
BUDGET? WHAT BUDGET?
Darren Allman's shopping goes over budget and he
sends the bills to the booster club for payment.
The
documents are here.
June 21, 2010
A multi-purpose activity center in Eanes ISD?
Really?
Keep off the fields.
June 21, 2010
5A or 4A ...
Is this why transfer students are
important?
June 18, 2010
Are
compensation
packages increasing for teacher/coaches at a much higher
percentage (since Nola Wellman arrived) than for teachers who do not coach?
Link here to learn more.
June 10, 2010
This begs the question: Is
loyalty to Darren Allman also a job requirement for these
math and science teachers? (See current EISD job
postings below.) And really ... what are the chances that
the best math and science teachers are also coaches?
Math Teacher/Basketball & Football Coach (2010-11 SY) WHS
Chemistry Teacher/Girl's Assistant Soccer Coach
(2010-11 SY) WHS
Math Teacher/Cheer Sponsor (2010-11 SY) WRMS
Science Teacher/Girl's Coach (2010-11 SY) HCMS
And while we are losing teachers through attrition due
to budget cuts, Nola Wellman plans to replace these
administrators:
- Director of Communications
- Coordinator of Records/Legal Services
June 2, 2010 -
THE OFFER STANDS.
Keep Eanes Informed will post the answers to
these questions
if and
when Mr. Perkins (or Eanes ISD) chooses to provide them.
May 30, 2010 - As Eanes ISD
cuts teacher positions through attrition, why is the
district hiring a Communications Director at almost
$60K + benefits per year. This position is one
of
many administrative positions added by Nola Wellman.
UPDATE: Audio posted -
May 26, 2010
How does DUCT TAPE
SYNDROME
affect your child?
In March 2008, Les Reddin, the Eanes ISD Facilities Director,
informed the board that Eanes ISD is suffering from
"Duct Tape Syndrome" He described an unsafe
environment on district campuses including failing
water lines, sewer lines, and even gas lines on top
of elementary schools. Now hear the audio from
that meeting and read excerpts from the meeting. This audio is not on the Eanes ISD website and is only available online via
Keep Eanes Informed.
Les Reddin informed the board
"There are aging
underground utilities at Eanes Elementary, there's pipes
underground over there failing on a regular basis, we
also have above ground utilities such as gas pipes on
the roof that have not been maintained appropriately so
they are failing also."
Meanwhile,
our last bond funded high definition cameras for the
Jumbotron, multiple fields of artificial turf,
batting cages, new coaching offices, and more.
Link here to LISTEN
TO THE AUDIO AND ... READ ALL ABOUT IT
QUICK AND DIRTY
(pretty well sums it up)
Why is Ellen Balthazar, the director
of Any Baby Can, an agency that exists to serve
children with special needs, is so willing, even
eager, to ignore the needs of district children with
special needs?
What do WHS Head
Football Coach/Athletic Director Darren Allman and David
Perkins have in common?
Click here to
find out.
Eanes ISD Proposed
Bond
SO MUCH FOR TRANSPARENCY ...
Why is Eanes ISD
one of only 11 districts
investing classroom dollars in a lawsuit to pass
students with a grade of 50?
And which board members
approved this? And which board member voted no?
Link
here to learn more ...
THE EANES EDUCATION
ALLIANCE
April 21, 2010: New
Political Action Committee calls for fiscal
responsibility in Eanes ISD:
www.eaneseducationalliance.org
And this just
in from the superintendent who wants a big new
administration building, a new swim center, and an
indoor football field (voted down in the 2006 bond) with
an elevated running rack: "This
(2010-2011 school year) is going to (involve) some
strong tightening of the belt and make some people
uncomfortable,” she said. “We’ll have some squealing.
When we get to 2011-12 and 2012-13, it’s going to be all
out yelling.” -
Nola Wellman
April 20, 2010:
Where
did the money from our last bond go?
April 8, 2010: FISCAL
RESPONSIBILITY?
AS TAX REVENUES
DECLINE,
EANES ISD SEEKS A NEW ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
ADA LAWSUIT:
Family sues Eanes ISD:
March 2010
Updates
50% INCREASE IN SALARIES FOR EANES ISD ADMINISTRATORS:
Since Nola Wellman was hired,
central administration salaries have increased by 50%.
While the number
of
transfer
students has
increased by
hundreds
since
Nola H. Wellman
was hired, there
has been a
significant
decrease in
the population
of children with
special needs
in Eanes ISD:
04/05-11% —
05/06-10% —
06/07-9% —
07/08-8%
More
Questions Here
"Sometimes the questions
are complicated and the answers are simple." ~ Dr.
Seuss
Why does Nola Wellman want
to hide
her travel receipts from the public?
Read more here.
WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?
Link here to learn more
about the
Eanes
ISD Proposed Bond ...
And while certain
facilities in the district are held together by
DUCT TAPE,
why is the district
focused on building more and better athletic
facilities?
Take a look at how
the district spent the prior bond money in this
construction audit.
July 10, 2009
Westlake Picayune article
regarding the anonymous email attack
on an Eanes ISD parent.
Eanes ISD private law firm (Walsh
Anderson) in the news ... and it
isn't flattering.
News a rticle
cites Keep Eanes Informed website as
resource.
June 8,
2009 --
An article that again highlights the
familiar problems in Texas public
school districts:
Throughout the
months it has taken to piece
together this miserable tale, school
district officials have obfuscated
and stonewalled, always waiting to
take action until somebody else
disclosed what they had known all
along.
Why? I have no idea.
Maybe it was some misplaced sense of
compassion for a popular coach who
had won them a state title.
But maybe it
was an arrogant, we're-the-boss
sense that this was private business
and nobody else's – their
employee, their missing stuff
– as if they weren't a government
agency at all, as if taxpayers
didn't pony up for all those oddly
disappearing laptops and camcorders.
Maybe it was an
attitude that if pesky reporters
would just confine their coverage to
sunny features about "striving for
excellence" and "reaching for the
stars," disagreeable problems would
just resolve themselves.
Read full article here.
Dianna Pharr is an Austin, Texas native and
mother of two. She has resided in the Eanes ISD community for almost two decades. Dianna served on the board
of the Eanes ISD Talented and Gifted (TAG) committee and was appointed by
the district to the Bridge Point Elementary Campus Leadership Team.
She was also appointed by district administration as Chair of the Eanes ISD
SECAC. Dianna volunteered many hours on district booster clubs (K-12)
and volunteered as a substitute teacher at Bridge Point Elementary and Hill
Country Middle School. She also served as Chair of the Westlake High
School Safe Homes Program.
Dianna now volunteers as a
court appointed special advocate (CASA) for children
and serves as an Advisory Board
Member for Austin Gifted. She holds a B.A. from
The University of Texas at Austin and attends U.T. Austin Graduate School. She also maintains this site and appreciates hearing from others who have
comments or questions.
Contact:
keepeanesinformed@gmail.com
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Westlake Picayune comment:
"On the Friday preceding Memorial Day, Lisa (Schlimgen) received her job evaluation. She was told that she hadn’t been “loyal” to Coach Allman. She was given this choice: resign or be fired the following Tuesday when she returned from the Memorial Day holiday. She resigned fearing the implications that being fired would have on her future job prospects."