So Longview news Journal is proud to announce that all LISD schools met the state standards. Wilcox is preaching about how much he cares about our children’s education. So from the outside looking in LISD looks great, but what is not being told to the people of this community is the many problems we have in our district. The State tests our children to see how they stand up to other schools in Texas. This is only for money. Our children are learning nothing in school other than test strategies. We may have met the state standards, but we have failed in educating our children with the knowledge they need to learn to live a healthy, productive life. Looking from the outside looking in, it looks like everyone is so happy, and that teachers and staff are treated fairly, and that their voice is being heard by Wilcox. That my friends in a load of cow crap. Since asking teachers and staff to call or write me I have received over 300 emails from teachers and staff all through our district, and checking my phone logs I have taken over 76 phone calls from employees in the LISD district. Due to the fact that they want their identities to be withheld due to fear of retaliation I have decided to speak for them. LISD is not in good shape, contrary to a test. When I sat down and talked some members of the school board I was told that teachers and staff will always have a gripe or a need for something and that this would never stop, and that is true with every job, but their job is to listen to all the needs and make decisions on which ones will truly help our teachers and students learning environment, not just blow them off or threaten them with their jobs. The teachers and staff in our district need your help. They are continuously being ignored and not being supported with the money they need to teach our children. Many of these teachers have told me that they have to spend their money to supply things to their students. I’m guessing that is okay with our board members. Now don’t get me wrong I love some Longview High School football but do you think they have these same issues needing funding. I have a daughter at Longview High School who is a student athlete, and when she was going through the agony of two-a-days I would show up to watch. We offer great physical and medical attention to our athletes, and not to mention great coaches. So why can’t we have both? I want to see our teachers and staff being supported by our district just as our athletic program is. I want our children to be taught by a teacher who will actually teach a subject, not how to take a damn test. As a hole our children are growing up lazy and have no idea how to even carry on a conversation with complete sentences. Our AP program is great at LISD, and all of my girls are a part of this program, but to be honest what they are learning in AP classes was taught to be as a normal student at LHS. Let us give all the children in our district the opportunity to learn, let’s fix the many problems not being told to the tax payers in the district, give all instructors what they need in order to supply our children with a top notch education. We have heard how our state standardized test are failing, and school districts fighting to get away from them, some even refusing to give them to their students. Get back to educating our children, respect our staff, and teachers, and get rid of the many positions at the ESC that are not needed in order to put that money back to our kids. If LISD is such in good shape why do I continue to hear such awful things about our administration? Because they want you on the outside looking in and will do all they can to keep the door locked, But I’m here to tell you I’m going to kick in that door and with your help push out the rotten, corrupt, and abusive wastes of space outside where they can see what a great district can look like from the outside looking in. Thank You, Jason “Bulldog” Bates