Who will fill Stone’s shoes?
Re: “A blow to RISD — Superintendent Jeannie Stone sought excellence and weathered turmoil for sake of students,” Dec. 12 Editorials.
I couldn’t agree more with the editorial board’s assessment of Richardson ISD Superintendent Jeannie Stone and her leadership. I believe in local control of schools, but I am tired of social media groups and the power they wield to tear down and chop away at the resolve of dedicated and good people with whom they have disagreements.
In my view, Stone has shown outstanding leadership through the COVID-19 crisis. I am proud of the way she has reached out to all members of the RISD community, giving careful consideration to all viewpoints.
We need strong leaders like Stone, and if the divisiveness that these “social media groups” foster are in fact responsible for her resignation, they may be very sorry for the end result of their short-sighted actions. It will be difficult indeed to replace Jeannie Stone.
Linda Van Der Kar, Dallas/Lake Highlands
How we lose the good ones
Dr. Jeannie Stone has been the symbol of Richardson ISD’s heart and soul for five years. My three children have been students here on her watch. Although statistics, as you’ve reported, show that five years is nearly twice the median tenure of a Texas superintendent, and knowing that Stone’s future plans are no business of mine, I trust that she is doing what is best for herself and those close to her. I’m not so sure it’s what’s best for RISD.
It’s sad to think that someone who’s done so much for this district has reached the point, like Howard Beale in Network of “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” To paraphrase a quote from another film, I feel like Joey at the end of Shane, “Stone, come back.” Fortunately, unlike Alan Ladd’s fictional hero, who left a trail of bodies in his wake, Stone has fought to keep her students alive, growing and thriving.
It’s unsettling to know that enough people — whether RISD residents or state officials — have thrown enough verbal Molotov cocktails at Stone that the only remaining intelligent course of action is for her to get out of the line of fire. But that’s how we lose the good ones, isn’t it?
Michael F. Blashka, Richardson
Call out the ‘loud minority’
Re: “‘A huge mistake’ — Ex-RISD trustee blasts board’s desertion of chief,” by Sharon Grigsby, Wednesday Metro & Business column.
Grigsby’s column on Karen Clardy, the former Richardson ISD board president, is insightful. Clardy notes that her departure last September was not due to parent complaints. Instead, Clardy says that she did not want to be part of the board that would be getting rid of now-departing superintendent Jeannie Stone.
Clardy says that her former RISD trustee colleagues are being increasingly swayed by complaints from a “loud minority.” This is just a microcosm of what’s happening on a wider scale throughout the United States. That “loud minority” is whipping others into a misguided frenzy. I applaud leaders like Clardy who are not afraid to call them out.
Harriet Blake, Grapevine
Give us crime, place, date
Re: “Handling crime data with care — Dallas was right to hide victim information, but it still failed the public,” Dec. 12 Editorials.
As a co-founder and longtime leader of Truett Area Crime Watch and VIP here in Far East Dallas, I would like to weigh in briefly on this continuing effort by the Dallas Police Department and others to hide crime information from everyone, including city leaders, Crime Watch leaders and the general public.
This is not new. It is just increasing. And I firmly agree that the names and addresses, ages of victims and witnesses should not be public information on a broad scale. However, our crime watch members and communities need the following information in a very timely and public form and access: the name of the crime; the block number and name of the street where it occurred; the date it occurred.
That’s all we need. Hide the rest of it if you wish, but it’s silly to deprive neighborhood crime watches and members, residents, media and others of this very basic information in the name of protecting victims, witnesses and sources. Freedom of Information requests should be honored immediately. What is the Dallas Police Department and the city trying to hide?
Ellen Childress, East Dallas
Student letter writers applauded
I’m very impressed with the commentary each Dawson Middle School student wrote about journalism and justice in the Dec. 11 Dallas Morning News. They expressed the importance of journalism and how it seeks the truth.
Ironically, Dawson Middle School is part of the Carroll ISD, which has been in the news regarding diversity and book issues. These students are not afraid of the truth or history. They wrote about racism and its impact on the justice system. Maybe the parents should pay more attention to their students and not the politicians.
Kudos to Josh Ault’s teaching and to his students.
Michael Scott, Plano
Honor Capitol security officer
No one is asking, but my vote for Time’s “Person of the Year” goes to Eugene Goodman, the security officer inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6, who risked his life to save our democracy.
Bob Ory, Elgin
Insight into demagoguery
Re: “Universal suffrage meets Twitter — As generations of presidents mastered mass-media messaging, we’ve arrived where our founders feared: demagoguery,” by Barbara A. Perry and Stefanie Georgakis Abbott, Dec. 12 Opinion.
Thank you for publishing this important opinion piece. It presents an insightful and honest appraisal of how our country got to where we find it today — although I doubt that many Texas supporters of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz will see it that way.
Curtis and Julia Carpenter, Dallas/Munger Place
Too much give and take
Politics for the middle class in a nutshell: One side wants to take everything away and the other side wants to give everything away. The result is the same — everything goes away.
Ted M. Moore, Dallas/Preston Hollow
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