Plano ISD Sends Wrong Message About Theft

We need to rear up a new generation of leaders who will be better able to deal with the complexities of the world. Today's leaders are failing at every level: the local level, the state level, and the national level. Many failings are ethical failings, so we need to ensure our children are well grounded in good ethics.

But the Plano ISD is sending the wrong message to our children. The message the Plano ISD sends is that it is okay to steal if you have influential friends.

The Plano ISD named McCall Elementary after David McCall, even though he was a convicted felon.

On February 9 & 10, 2008, Channel 8, WFAA, reported that Plano ISD Assistant Superintendent Roxanne Burleson interfered with school discipline at Plano Senior High. The story run by Channel 8 can be found on their website when you search for "shoplifting cheerleaders." The school put the four JV cheerleaders off the squad and the PISD Administration put them back on the team. This constitutes a Moral Hazard for these cheerleaders. The Administration did not do them a favor by excusing their crime, it may have done them harm, according to the concept of Moral Hazard.

It is one thing for an Assistant Superintendent to make a mistake. People make mistakes. It's another thing for the Deputy Superintendent and Superintendent to both let the mistake stand. This means there is a systemic problem at the PISD Administration, and the Board of Trustees is responsible for systemic problems within the PISD Administration.

Back in June 2007 McKinney had their cheerleader scandal. There it was the school principals who interfered with discipline and it cost the McKinney North High School principal her job. Now that scandal is becoming immortalized in a TV movie about the scandal.

If we want our children to have the best future possible, they need firm grounding in good ethics. They should not be told by the PISD that stealing is okay if you have influential friends. We should vote out the incumbents on the Board of Trustees and set higher standards for the PISD Administration.

Robert