Waco Breaking News

By concerned waco citizen

July 23, 2008 6:08 PM | Link to this

This is excellent news. I am very glad that community leaders pulled this off. Wiley should be given one more year. Lets give the children another year.. I am sure they will make it.

By Vgirl

July 23, 2008 7:17 PM | Link to this

I think the WISD needs to start adding addtional teachers, additional teaching methods or something. There is no other middle school in that area, so what do they expect all those parents to do. But deep down I know they wont close that school down because it keeps us blacks on our side of Waco, which is under funded and dilapidated.

By Diane Washington

July 23, 2008 10:21 PM | Link to this

Vgirl, Closing the school has nothing to do with race. If the current students are moved to a school that can teach perhaps those students will know the differece between wont and want. Let me guess… you attended Wiley??? Neighborhood schools are great only if our children are learning at the same level of students in other schools. Leave no child behind? Lets not leave a whole school behind. Diana Washington

By Volunteer

July 23, 2008 10:32 PM | Link to this

I think Vigil meant to said ‘will not” and was not meaning ‘want’ as Diana tried to point out. And, I’m sure the teachers are doing exactly what they are suppose to be doing because the student’s scores have risen since the previous year AND a majority of them passed both the reading and math test. It’s not the teacher’s fault, it’s not the parents fault, and the children are not to blame. It’s a combination of a lot of things and I would suggest that before anyone have any bright ideas of what should be done or what the cause is, they should volunteer at Wiley afterschool …

By Diane Washington

July 23, 2008 10:39 PM | Link to this

Volunteering at Wiley is a great idea. I have volunteered both at Wiley and at Carver. This experience is the reason I know that the students would be better off elsewhere. Diane

By Other Side Of Waco!

July 23, 2008 11:03 PM | Link to this

Vgirl… that race card is so played out! To be honest, I am sick of hearing that kind of talk coming from the black community. The east side of Waco is under funded because there are a lot of (great) grandma’s and (great) grandpa’s raising their (great) grandchildren on their hard earned Social Security or welfare. Instead of maintaining and keeping up their homes and keeping things looking nice, they are burdened by their children’s irresponsibility and neighbors that would rather steal or sell drugs, than work and just be productive citizens. Shut that hell whole of a school down and move on. The mindset of folks like Vgirl will complain even if their children are bused to any school in America. People please take responsibility for yourselves and quit blaming others for your poor decisions in life. Take an interest in your children’s lives and their educations and maybe… just maybe they won’t be shutting down your local school. Oh…wait that is only what we do on this side Waco! Come on! How ridiculous does that sound?!!! You are might be thinking it and you are right… I’m not black!

By Educated Negro

July 24, 2008 2:44 AM | Link to this

People like “other side” should mind their own business and learn how to correctly use the word “whole”. They should have used “hole” in this case. G. L. Wiley students 6, 7, and 8th grades know this and they proved this by out scoring many of the “acceptable” Middle schools in WISD in Reading. Maybe “other side” learned about homonyms on the other side of Waco.

Wiley students fell short in one tested area, Science. Most public schools statewide scored poorly on that test. Those Wiley students also beat other area schools in Math and Social Studies, but that point has received no media coverage. Folks, have we lost sight of the fact that education is so much more than a test?

I am rather disappointed that even though Diane volunteered at Wiley, she couldn’t see that the typical Wiley student couldn’t make it anywhere else. Because of the small class size, the student receives a level of interaction and instruction from highly qualified, experienced, and dedicated educators that they couldn’t receive anywhere else in the district. In fact, the reason they came to Wiley is because they have been “left behind” for so long and, so sorry to have to disappoint you, “other side”, it is typically the African American males. Yes, Diane it has everything to do with race. Maybe Diane would be better off elsewhere.

This year, Wiley with help from district officials will put the Science interventions in place necessary to get the test scores where they need to be, as will every other school in the state and we probably won’t ever have this conversation again. Yeah right. “Other side”, stop making blanket generalizations about the East Waco neighborhood that are neither accurate or appropriate. You’re part of the problem and you should be ashamed of yourself. People on both sides of the Brazos care about their children’s educations. We, the entire Waco community, have to come together to fix the problems that are so evident in our schools. More than you realize, the same challenges that our students face on the east side of town, they face on the west side also. The only difference is media coverage. WISD would make a grave error by closing its only secondary public education facility succeeding in educating an historically underserved segment of our society.

By Other Side Of Waco!

July 24, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this

Educated Negro… PLEASE!!!! I am minding my own businesss the same way you are. We all have an opinion and if you don’t like it… don’t read it. As you so eloquently expressed, the whole WISD school system is out of wack… stop making this a color issue! That is what I am trying to say. Don’t be disappointed and ashamed of me… I’m handling my household. Be disappointed and ashamed of those that aren’t doing their job. It is a family crisis. How many of those parents at Wiley actually attend PTA meetings? Don’t tell me it doesn’t have to do with family. Education starts in the home. Home training… manners… respect for authority… self respect… etc. You can brow beat me for not being black and making this comment, but I just don’t care. Other ethnic groups deal with the same mess and we don’t always throw out the race card!

By Other side also

July 24, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this

Educated Negro: I also had a comment for “Other Side of Waco” and “Diane Washington” but your statement was sufficient. I commend your response.