A Call to the Community

In an effort to gain support from the community, Mark Williams, a resident and member of the Austin ISD Board of Trustees, writes an article for the opinion section of the Austin American Statesman titled “The Austin community can help shape schools’ future.” With the state’s cut to public education in both House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1 being over $9 billion, the Austin school district’s Board of Trustees face the crisis of deciding how to allocate that reduction in funding. The issue in allocating the reduction of public education funding is in whether the state distributes the cuts across-the-board, or to distribute cuts more heavily to districts that are more property wealthy or with a higher target revenue. Superintendent Meria Carstarphen has already raised discussions about staff reductions of more than 1,000 positions held by those devoted to the education of Austin’s children, and other conversations have been raised about underutilized campuses and optimization of these as well as reduced spending. A decision of this magnitude put life-changing decisions in the hands of the Trustees, as district employees face losing their jobs, and children and their parents face losing their schools. Being both a resident of Austin and a member of AISD’s Board of Trustees gives him the credibility needed to call on the community to “give its best advice, guidance, and support” to help shape the future of it’s district. I applaud the way in which the trustees are looking towards the diverse and passionate Austin community to voice their opinions and support towards making thoughtful decisions to cause the least harm to the fewest, a “help us, help you” approach. Although there is a great chance of the unemployment of current teachers, it seems that the Board of Trustees is doing their best in order to hurt the fewest amount of people. This decision will be affecting the collective community over the next few years, and it only makes sense that those willing -- parents, families, students, employees, and any other members of the community -- are able to provide their support.

Sup Egypt?

In an article in the Austin American Statesman titled Tweets, cheers, fireworks: The world praises Egypt, by Raphael G. Satter, U.S. and European officials saluted the demonstrators in Cairo for their efforts in achieving freedom from President Hosni Mubarak. Starting as a peaceful protest, things quickly escalated. Rapidly moving events eventually cause the military to try and defuse popular outrage by promising reforms, but thousands still marched on presidential palaces and the state TV building, key symbols of the authoritarian regime. As things escalate farther, two protestors are killed, and crowds set a police station on fire. The army evacuates the local governor and Mubarak flies to his isolated place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Vice president announces that Mubarak will resign and turn over power to the military and fireworks burst over Tahrir Square and Egypt explodes with joy and tears of relief.

I thought this would be an interesting read for those who don’t necessarily keep up with current events. This shows the power of peoples’ wills and their collective power.  As Eugene Rogan, the director of the Middle East Center at St. Antony's College in Oxford said, “This is the popular demonstration that proves any leader can be toppled,"