Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and most Dallas City Council members Thursday signed a letter to school trustees supporting Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles.
It came on the eve of a special Dallas ISD board meeting Friday to consider firing Miles.
“Any vote to terminate his services would gravely damage the performance and perceptions of a district we care deeply about,” the letter said. Read the letter in its entirety below.
Miles said Thursday he has produced results in his three years on the job and deserves to stay.
“There will be no 'mission accomplished' sign for us, but we can say we’ve made a lot of growth and we’ve done the hard work that needs to get done, all for the benefit of kids,” Miles said.
Three trustees critical of Miles sued to force the meeting after Board President Miguel Solis declined to schedule their February request until after the May 9 Dallas ISD elections. Two of those three members on the nine-member board could be replaced in the election.
A teachers’ union leader said keeping Miles would be a mistake.
Rena Honea with Alliance AFT said Miles created turmoil with a list of controversies and headquarters scandals, while failing to produce the academic results he promised.
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She said 34 Dallas ISD schools were rated as low performing by the state before but 43 are now.
“It has been tumultuous and we don’t want this to be about personalities,” she said. “This should be about quality leadership for the education of our students in this district.”
Honea said teachers and parents critical of Miles will rally at district headquarters Friday in support of firing the superintendent.
“It’s time that we have someone come in that will treat our educational system here in Dallas with respect, with dignity and with integrity,” she said.
A group called “Children at Risk” released a separate review of Dallas ISD performance Thursday, indicating improvement in school performance.
“We’re seeing some of these schools formerly not very good, that are moving into these categories of not just being OK, but being excellent schools, a type of school that any parent would be happy to send their kids to,” said Robert Sanborn, president of Children at Risk.
His review of state records found 25 Dallas ISD school with 90 percent or higher poverty-level students are now also rated as high performing. Sanborn said that is more high performing schools than past years and more than other Texas urban school districts.
“We still have too many under-performing schools, but the difference is that Dallas seems to be moving in the right direction,” Sanborn said. “We see this in Dallas ISD, but we see it in very few other ISDs across the state of Texas with performance going in the right way.”
Miles said he is anxious to continue and blamed hard feelings on the reform measures underway.
“No question we’ll be better for it. You lay a good foundation and you build a better building and that building will be strong,” Miles said. “I probably look beaten down because my hair is grayer than it was. But the passion is still there. I come to work every day and the conversation we have with staff is, ‘What are we going to do for kids?’”
A closed door executive session is scheduled to begin the 4 p.m. Friday meeting. Action if any will be taken in public afterward.
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