Texas Football magazine is on the newsstands, and the local newspaper is already counting down the top 25 college teams. Are “two-a-days” about to begin?
Whenever practice begins you can bet your tailgating money that some coach somewhere is going to remind the players that it’s really a very simple game. It all comes down to blocking and tackling.
“Blocking and tackling” has become a shorthand expression denoting the fundamentals. In any enterprise, we have to get the fundamentals right. And if we do, we are well on our way to success.
When schools are confronted with serious allegations of wrongdoing, they need to employ the fundamentals, the “blocking and tackling” of the business. Those fundamentals are: INVESTIGATE. TAKE ACTION. DOCUMENT.
Good “blocking and tackling” kept the Klein ISD out of trouble when three of its employees were accused of abuse and neglect of a student. The court cited the district’s response to these allegations, which involved a teacher, an aide, and a bus driver:
…the record reflects that, upon becoming aware of the incidents involving [the aide, the teacher] and the verbally abusive school bus driver, both school principals promptly undertook thorough investigations and notified other pertinent KISD personnel. As a result, [the aide and teacher] were immediately removed from the classroom, their employment ended, and both CPS and the KISD police department were notified. Also, the bus driver was immediately reassigned from [the student’s] route.
It’s Harrison v. Klein ISD, decided by the 5th Circuit on April 7, 2021, and it can be found on Special Ed Connection at 78 IDELR 212.
DAWG BONE: WOULD BE EVEN BETTER IF WE HAD NO ABUSIVE TEACHERS, AIDES AND BUS DRIVERS.
Got a question or comment for the Dawg? Let me hear from you at jwalsh@wabsa.com.
Tomorrow: Some big numbers.