Dolly

Dolly Parton is no longer with us. She left us yesterday. Sad news for sure. I was a Dolly Parton fan since her days with Porter Wagoner.

9 to 5.

Her collaborations with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt and with Kenny Rogers.

Steel Magnolias.

“I Will Always Love You” when she sang it in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

 I still have a couple of her albums on vinyl. See the featured photo.

When they start playing the Christmas tunes in a couple of months, I am sure I will hear Dolly’s version of “Hard Candy Christmas,” also from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

One of a special kind. A great one. Dolly Parton.

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This is from the Chron:

In 2017, the Texas legislature passed House Bill 22, which mandated the creation of the new A-F accountability system in Texas. Under this law, the Texas Education Agency was not allowed to make major changes to the metrics used to evaluate school performance for the first five years to allow for easier performance comparisons year over year.

And this:

The Texas Education Agency assigns ratings to schools every school year based on student achievement, academic growth, relative performance, closing the gaps, graduation rates and statistics on how prepared students are for college, careers or the military.

The ratings are derived from the school’s overall score, which is calculated from the scores schools receive for three performance evaluation categories, or domains: Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gaps.

This is also from the Chron on the moronic Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick:
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick gave Texas school districts an ultimatum on Wednesday: remove graphic books or risk moving closer to a state takeover.

“Districts, be aware — next session, if these books are not off the shelf, we will pass a law that will knock your grade letter down one,” Patrick said at a press conference, referring to the state’s A-F accountability rankings. 

The state senate leader was joined by conservative activist Bonnie Wallace, a member of the Christian group Recover America who has traveled across the state to highlight what she and Patrick call violations of a state law that went into effect last year mandating school districts pull books with “indecent,” “profane” or “sexually explicit” content from their libraries. 

The law, Senate Bill 13, also gives elected board members veto power over new purchases. 

Patrick can’t unilaterally change the accountability ratings, but he vowed to push through legislation that would mandate it for districts that violate the law. The ratings are used to measure student academic achievement, and districts with schools that repeatedly receive failing grades are eligible for a takeover by the Texas Education Agency. 

Check out the last line again:

The ratings are used to measure student academic achievement, and districts with schools that repeatedly receive failing grades are eligible for a takeover by the Texas Education Agency. 

Please tell me how books in a school library measure a student’s academic performance. How do you knock down a letter rating on measuring a school’s academic achievement rating based on “The Color Purple” sitting on a bookshelf in the school’s library. The moron Patrick has lost his marbles. Every public-school teacher and administrator ought to vote this punkarse out of office. What a dumbsh_t for sure.

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The owner of the Astros said yesterday that no decision has been made on Manager Joe Espada. If you say so.

The team responded with a win over the Yankees last night to regain first place in the AL West. 30 games remain, including 5 more in New York City this week.