Document 6447032

10A | LAREDO MORNING TIMES
THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008
EDUCATION | Continued from Page 1A
“Everyone assumes all of our
parents are affluent and have all
the money in the world, but that’s
not true,” Vida added. “What is true
is the amount of ownership established by every single one of our
parents. That, I think, is the one
glaring difference between private
schools and public schools. ”
Mandatory parental involvement, where parents are required
to volunteer at their children’s
schools, is one idea Vida will present to her fellow members on the
High School Completion and Success Initiative Council.
The council held its first meeting in Austin on Dec. 7 and is
scheduled to hold its second on
Jan. 25.
Vida will sit at the same table
and review statewide data and
studies with Robert Scott, Texas
commissioner of education; Raymund Paredes, Texas commissioner of higher education; and
Rod Paige, former U.S. Secretary
of Education and superintendent
of Houston Independent School
District, who is now chairman of
Chartwell Education Group.
Others include Christopher
Barbic, head of schools for YES
College Preparatory Schools, a
group of charter schools; Don
McAdams, president of the Center
for Reform of School Systems;
Chris Patterson, research and policy consultant; Cindy RamosDavidson, chief executive officer
of the El Paso Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce; and James Windham, president of the Texas Institute for Education Reform.
In Perry’s Nov. 21 letter to
Scott, who heads the Texas Education Agency, he states that he
submitted Vida’s name, along
with Paige’s and Barbic’s, because
they “bring a wealth of experience
in the field of education.”
From her 37 years as an educator, Vida is convinced that parents are the key factor in preventing dropouts and making a
student and school successful.
“Parenting can be so extremely difficult, and parents looking
for a way out look to the school,”
Vida said.
“So the schools have become
the parents, and parents are walking away Scot free,” she said.
“There has to be something obligatory to get parents involved in
their children’s lives and schools.”
She acknowledges that many
parents have complicated lives,
and some raise their children in a
one- or two-parent household,
sometimes working long hours or
working more than one low-paying job.
But Vida doesn’t accept any of
these reasons as excuses for not
getting involved.
“I don’t buy that,” she said. “Education is a partnership, and you
need parents and the education
system closely involved and focused on the same goals. Otherwise, society is lost.
“We have single parents, but
we require that each parent has to
do some kind of volunteer work,”
Vida said of Laredo’s Catholic
schools. “We let each parent know
they are important to us.”
Examples include cleaning the
campus on weekends, raking
leaves, planting trees and plants,
doing floral arrangements, decorating the chapel, cleaning the
cafeteria, helping with food prepa-
ration, doing clerical work, and
helping staff type or file documents, she said.
Those with financial means
aren’t allowed to write a check
and walk away, either, Vida said.
“Students have to see that their
parents value what we’re trying to
do,” she said. “That’s the perspective I’m bringing to the table.”
While on the committee, Vida
said she wants to figure out why
high school graduates can’t write
well, or compose simple letters.
“Why is that happening? And
why are so many of our kids having to go through remediation
once they get to college?” she
asked.
“If we have kids passing the
TAKS test, but then need remediation, then is there no correlation
between passing the TAKS exam
and being admitted into college?”
she asked. “If agencies are having to retrain (high school) graduates they hire, then we’re doing
something hugely wrong.”
Vida, a 1966 Nixon High School
graduate, began her career as a
fourth-grade teacher at Ochoa Elementary and later spent 25 years
as a professor and administrator
at Laredo State University, now
Texas A&M International University.
She left her post as dean of
TAMIU’s College of Education in
2003 to head the Laredo Catholic
schools.
Vida obtained a doctorate in
education from the University of
Texas at Austin and has three
master’s degrees in related fields.
The second of eight children
born to Ana Maria and the late
Eloy Ramirez, Vida said her parents were “great believers” in education.
Her father was a vocational
teacher who taught auto mechanics at Zapata High School and
earned a GED through the military after serving in World War
II.
“He came back fully convinced
that without education, a person
couldn’t make it in life,” Vida said.
Her mother, who just turned
92, received a degree in nursing
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from Baylor University “at a time
when most women weren’t educated,” and she was on the surgical staff at the old Mercy Hospital,
Vida said.
“We’re seven sisters and one
brother, and we grew up strong
because of our parents,” Vida said.
“When we get together, there’s
always a fight as to who will be in
control,” she laughed. “My parents taught us that everything is
attainable if you work at it, and if
you really want it.”
Vida and her husband, Frank,
a local customs broker, have three
grown children.
(Tricia Cortez may be reached
at 728-2568 or by e-mail at [email protected])
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Black Beauty ››› (1994, Adventure) Sean Bean, David Thewlis.
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Good Eats
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Madonna: Truth or Dare ››› (1991, Documentary)
Videos Rocked
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Two Can Play That Game › (2001, Romance-Comedy)
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King of the Lost World (2005, Adventure) Bruce Boxleitner.
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