Going Door-to-Door

Harry Everett is the co-director of student services for the Richardson Independent School District. He has been going door-to-door to verify students’ addresses. With many foreclosures, parents have been lying about their child's address to keep them enrolled in the RISD district. Many parents feel that particular school district is more superior to the school district that they should enroll their child in because of their true residential address. Everett has even discovered addresses that lead him to local dry cleaners because that is where the parents work. This deception can keep students who legally live in the district from attending an RISD school. The district does make exceptions for students living with relatives or a guardian, but they must complete an affidavit explaining the reason for the living arrangement. Last year, the district received 3,300 affidavits. Everett also makes house calls for excessive absences, to make sure students are where they are supposed to be.

I think this interaction is absolutely needed. The more involved faculty and staff are, the better the success rate for their students. Everett's intention is to get them in school and keep them there, not to run them out. Private schools have such high success rates because the faculty gets involved with the students and their parents. They know everything about families and their circumstances. A friend of mine works for a high school in AISD, and she was shocked at the negative attention that she got from parents when she would try to contact them about their failing child. Sadly, they didn't want to be bothered. I think the grade average of Texas K12 students could be raised if the school faculty and the students’ parents would take more initiative and interest in each of their students/children. I think teachers need more of an initiative to care about each of their students. If teachers were given somewhat of a bonus if none of their students dropped out or failed, I think more Texas teachers would have the same approach of Everett. I feel the more care for their students the higher the success rates for Texas schools. Everyone should be more accountable. Every teacher should want all of their students in class, learning, and wanting to make a difference in their futures. Every parent should want the same educational success for their child, as it leads to achievement and success as adults. If all Texas schools take the interactive approach, I don't see why parents would continue to lie about their child's address in order to keep them in the more prestigious school.

In Who Do We Trust?

GREED, GREED, GREED! It’s a criminal shame that some “resources” turn greedy in times of disaster. And, it’s even worse that, without knowing it, we end up trusting them to handle our personal crisis in these disasters. Most of us assume we will never have a crisis so we don’t do our homework and check out those we are entrusting to help us through our times of trouble.

Greed has hit Texas and it could not come at a worse time. Local television station ABC-13 in Houston is reporting that as many as 75 Pasadena households may have been ripped off by an insurance agent from American National Insurance Company. The agent, Darryl Golter, apparently oversold homeowners windstorm coverage on their homeowner’s insurance coverage then turned around and pocketed the premiums. Conveniently, the agent has been out of town to comment on the matter, probably on a beach somewhere sipping daiquiris.

In the Burnt Orange Report, DeeceX wrote a blog about this unsettling issue on Thursday, October 9th titled “Surprise! People Getting Screwed By Insurers”. DeeceX brings up an interesting issue. What are homeowners supposed to do about the coverage they thought they paid for while they are trying to file claims from Hurricane Ike? The Texas Department of Insurance told them to call FEMA if they have had damages from Hurricane Ike. What? FEMA’s job isn’t to cover for greedy agents who pocketed the premiums and ran. Let’s see how fast FEMA repairs the damages from Ike for homeowners whose premiums didn’t really get paid. DeeceX calls this scandal “a Texas version of the Wall Street deregulation that is blowing up.”

And, about that. Isn’t it interesting how we can watch TV and feel so bad for those poor homeowners who are affected by the housing foreclosures and plunging stock markets yet we never think anything like this can happen to us. Well, it does happen to us!

The consequences of not doing our homework before we sign on the dotted line make us ultimately responsible for our actions. Yes, we can panic now about our large home purchase we made three years ago and now we can’t step past the foreclosure sign. We can regret buying the insurance from the shady insurance salesman who is now enjoying the beach at sunset. But better yet, let’s take a little time and check out the terms we are agreeing to before we actually agree to them to make sure everything is legit. Then we can be our own hero against the greedy villains.