Immigration Law

Dallas Morning News Speaks Out On DISD Social Security Blunders

By Robert Kraft

A few days ago I wrote about the absurd policy of the Dallas Independent School District to issue fake Social Security numbers (temporarily) to new employees. Now the Dallas Morning News has weighed in with an editorial on the subject: 

OK, let's see if we understand this. The Dallas school district knowingly used faked Social Security numbers to make the paperwork for some foreign-born hires go through more smoothly.

Really?

And furthermore, after the Texas Education Agency found out in 2004, warned DISD that the practice was illegal and told it to stop, Ross Avenue officials kept right on falsifying records – potentially a federal crime?

Really?

According to an internal DISD investigation reported by The Dallas Morning News' Tawnell Hobbs, the district continued the "systemic" fraudulent practice until this summer, when TEA tipped off DISD's inspector general office. TEA's Doug Phillips told The News: "We just knew it looked bad and smelled bad. That was the first time we'd ever heard of that one."

We'd all like to see innovation in DISD, but that's not the way to do it.

Seriously, the DISD administration continues to make public schooling in this city a laughingstock, and there's nothing funny about that. The more outrageous stories like this get generated out of DISD headquarters, the harder it is for true reformers within the system and their supporters to keep the public engaged. Worse still is that stunts like this wash over any good work occurring in the classroom.

To be fair to Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, the Social Security scam started before he arrived and ended on his watch, after TEA informed the Office of Professional Responsibility – the in-house watchdog he created in the wake of the procurement-card scandal.

Fine. But we have to ask: Who in the human resources department or elsewhere at DISD had a hand in this latest fiasco – and approved it? Do these people still draw DISD paychecks?

If so, why?

Dr. Hinojosa surely knows these scandals are making him the fool, exhausting the patience of his supporters and destroying public trust. He should have on his desk today the resignations of any administrator culpable in this scam.

And if he will not or cannot, he should do us all a favor and pink-slip himself.

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on November 19, 2008 (boomark / email).