[speaker001:] Okay, let's talk about schooling.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Uh, what, what contacts do you have with the public school sy-,
[speaker001:] Okay, well, I have a boy and he just went into middle school, and I have a girl, and she's in, uh, grade school, and then I have a little boy who goes to, uh, they have something just before kindergarten, and it's called Early Childhood, and I have a young
[speaker002:] Oh, okay.
[speaker001:] a young boy in that.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] So I, I have a lot of children in, in the school system down here.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And, um, I think we have excellent teachers here. I am really, uh, like the stu-, like the way the teachers work with the students. Uh, I've not been so, um, happy with the schools [LAUGHTER] themselves, I guess. Like, my, last year, my son and daughter were in the same grade school
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] before he moved up to middle school, and it was just packed. I mean, it was a, a fire hazard if we had any kind of assembly there with parents.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And it was just a real problem. Uh, so we had to do a bond issue and, and, um, vote to take money and either have students bussed to different schools if that's what the prefer to do, or to, uh, work on the, work for another school to be built, which is a good idea, but in the meantime, the school still has lots and lots of kids in it.
[speaker002:] Yeah, yeah.
[speaker001:] So, um, I think one thing is that would, maybe we don't have enough schools, and secondly, when we have enough schools, sometimes we can't get the, the support for the teachers that we need to pay them to keep good teachers.
[speaker002:] Well, I think that's, I think that's, uh, true. I, I've got a little different, uh, contact, but I've, I've got a, one son that graduated from high school last year
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] and another son that's a, a sophomore this year
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and, uh, my wife teaches kindergarten here in Richardson.
[speaker001:] Oh, great.
[speaker002:] Uh, but, in general, I, I think the, the, you know, one of the reasons that we, we, uh, the, chose to live in Richardson when we, when we came here was the, was the schools, and I think that Plano and Richardson in terms of the, uh, things seriously wrong with the public schools are not nearly to the extent th-, that
[speaker001:] We see through the, out the country.
[speaker002:] uh, right, right. And I think, I think part of that is that, is the, the, uh, a big part of that is just the demographics, the population in those schools are, are, typically, uh, people that very much value the education and support
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] the, the school systems
[speaker001:] I think that's right.
[speaker002:] and, and, uh, although there's still some, still some problems, but, uh, I, you know, I, when I was, when I was going to school, I grew up in Iowa, and, and, in my family, school was certainly valued, but if there was ever any sort of a, uh, if ev-, if I was ever in trouble in school, I was also in trouble at home
[speaker001:] Yeah [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] even more so, and I think that part of it is, is not exactly with the schools, but with the, with the, uh
[speaker001:] The home, yeah.
[speaker002:] the culture that doesn't, doesn't value the education and doesn't value the schools and doesn't support, uh
[speaker001:] I think that's right.
[speaker002:] what the schools are, are trying to do.
[speaker001:] It is so hard with a family system, um, either divorced or, or just one parent
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's true.
[speaker001:] or just li-, and then, if both of them have to work, even that is a, a hard situation
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] for the children, uh, to, to have a supportive system around them to make school work for them
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and I think it's real important that the parents work with the school, um
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I think what you said is, is really a pinpoint, though, that the student and the family life really adds or detracts
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] what's happening in the school
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] so, um, what about your wife, is she, she happy at school or [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Well, uh, she, she works very hard as a kindergarten teacher.
[speaker001:] I bet she does.
[speaker002:] She has, she has two half day classes. So she
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] has, uh, you know, on the order of twice as many students as
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] as the teachers in the higher grades
[speaker001:] Right, right.
[speaker002:] and uh, uh, but her, her background is in, is in, uh, child development, and
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and, uh, so forth, and so kindergarten is as high as she, as she wants to teach, and she's
[speaker001:] Yeah,
[speaker002:] she's teaching rather than something else because that, that, that's the jobs that are available and that, the schedule matches, uh, you know, with our kids and things like that.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] So, yeah, uh, and, but, uh, the...