DALLAS — There are have been many changes since Mike Miles took over as superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District.
Some parents say he made improvements. Others say he threw the district into more chaos.
Ola Allen is the PTA president at Skyline High School. "Let me tell you: When your head hurts, your whole body is out of order," she said. "You don't feel well, and he's the head, and we are all out of order because he was out of order."
Vince Murchison's children go to Woodrow Wilson High School. "I think we have seen measurable progress and student achievement," he said.
Murchison said he's pleased with the new principal and teacher evaluation systems Miles implemented, and programs like ACE that moved some of the best teachers in the district to low-performing schools.
But he also believes Miles' hands were tied by politics on the Board of Trustees. "It seems that sometimes individual trustee political and social agendas got in the way of education, and it's a disservice to the children," Murchison said.
He worries about what will happen to those programs, but Ola Allen — whose son goes to Skyline — said Miles came in heavy-handed. He fired teachers and principals, and she thought he made rapid changes based on his own agenda.
"I was very elated because we have had enough — the parents have had enough, the teachers have had enough, staff members have had enough," she said, adding: "He's a bully."
And whether parents like Mike Miles or not, both sides are concerned about who will come in next to try and fix a school district in turmoil.
