Girl Power

In the Dallas Morning News, there was an editorial published about private, same-sex schools. The editorial was titled Dallas ISD should figure out how to expand on this girl-powered success story. The author is directing their argument to the Dallas independent school districts and more so the private schools. You can tell that this is the audience they decided to pursue because of the latest success story explained in their editorial. The author repeatedly talks about the independent school district and the all girl private schools success. The authors credibility comes from the statistics they state in the editorial. They get the statistics from the Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School which they present in the editorial. It states that they have a one hundred percent graduation rate and that over ninety percent of students graduate in six years. The author claims that something remarkable is going on and that the rest of the school district needs to follow.However, when the school first opened in 2004 they were struggling. But as of today, the school is bursting with five hundred teenagers with at least one hundred more on a wait list. With the young women attending these schools and the success it has had they have brought in roughly nine million dollars in scholarship money. They will be opening thirty-five "choice" schools and around eight to ten "brand-new transformational" schools. The author also believes that opening these schools will be the best way to move the needle on closing the achievement gap. I agree with what the Dallas Independent School District is trying to do because it can help result in a better rate of success and close the achievement gap that's throughout the district.

Texas Legislature Tweaks Old Law

On January 27, 2016 I read an article from the Texas Tribune that had the headline Criminal Appeals Court Clears Way for New Trial in Toddler's 1998 Death. The article is about a man named Neal Hampton Robbins who was accused of murdering his at the time girlfriends daughter, Tristen Skye Trivet. The first part of the story introduces us to Mr. Robbins being granted the relief "that he has been due", as well as what happened the day the 17-month old died. Back in 1999 when the tragedy occurred Mr. Robbins was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but new evidence had come to light when the coroner recanted her statement back in 1999 and stated that she should have ruled the death "undetermined" instead of "homicide." Once 2013 came and the Texas legislature moved around a few things in the law that gives defendants a new challenge if they could prove that there had a been a change in evidence, Mr. Robbins took the chance to send again to be relived from the conviction. Now that the new modified law, which gives criminal defendants the right to challenge ther conviction not onily if science behind evidence used at the orginal trial had changed but also if the scientific conclusions by a testifying expert had change, Mr. Robbins was "improvidently granted" his relief and now roams free. I think this would be a a article worth taking a glance at because it shows that although the court, witnesses, and testifying experts are suppose to make sure they are doing everything right the first time this shows that there should have been more done, not just for this case, but for all future cases alike.