8 OctOber 17 - 23, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents more conservative party values in order to remain as incumbents,” Voth says. “In some important instances, Republicans were swept aside if they were not conservative enough. This does add to the problem [for Allred] of trying to use national crossover Republicans within the state. They can in fact galvanize conservatives within Texas who perceive the political effort as non-na- tive and outsider politics.” ▼ STATE FAIR ‘WELCOME TO SEC COUNTRY’ NEWSY PHRASES WE THINK BIG TEX SHOULD UTTER IN 2024. BY KELLY DEARMORE B ig Tex may not be fireproof, but he is timeless. As the official greeter and proba- bly the biggest photo op of the State Fair of Texas, the Dickies-clad icon has been a wel- coming presence since 1952. But he’s a gen- tle giant, the sort of cowboy who uses only a few words. A few specific words, at that. “Howdy, folks.” Isn’t it time Big Tex speaks up a bit more? Visitors from all over the state come to Dallas for the fair, but if we have such a mas- sive captive audience, it would be helpful to hear a more Dallas-centric message from Big Tex. Let’s clue in our neighbors from the rest of the state and beyond about what makes Dallas tick and highlight some of our more pressing matters. After all, even com- pared to teens who communicate in short, emoji-filled texts, Big Tex has a tiny vocabu- lary. Here are the relevant news-forward phrases we think Big Tex should charm visi- tors with at the 2024 State Fair of Texas: “City Hall is looking for a new City Manager and Police Chief. Apply Now!” “The city of Austin is trying to hire me.” “Hey, developers, you can start building multi-family residences in single-family neigh- borhoods now.” “At least the Texas Rangers were really good last year, am I right?” “The Dallas Zoo hasn’t had any animals sto- len in a while now.” “You’d think as tall as I am, I would be able to see all the Venezuelan gangs infiltrating Dal- las, but I can’t.” “You might or might not be able to own and operate an Airbnb here.” “Welcome to SEC country.” “Our mayor’s office is nonpartisan, but the man who works in it now is the most vocal Re- publican mayor in the U.S.” “The DART Silver Line might be ready be- fore the 2054 State Fair.” “Jerry Jones the owner should fire Jerry Jones the general manager.” “Get your zoning application in now. It might take up to 53 weeks before City Council takes action on it.” “Leave those guns at home, partner. Unless, that is, you’re a law enforcement officer. Sorry, Ken.” ▼ CRIME DON’T GET OUT OF JAIL FORMER DALLAS COP AMBER GUYGER DENIED PAROLE AFTER SERVING 5 YEARS BY KELLY DEARMORE F ormer Dallas police officer Amber Guyger has been denied parole, ac- cording to the family of her victim, Botham Jean. Guyger, 36, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019 after being convicted for Jean’s 2018 murder. In her trial, Guyger’s defense argued that she mistakenly identi- fied Jean, 26, who was unarmed, as an in- truder in her apartment when she opened his front door while thinking it was her own apartment door following one of her patrol shifts. The case gained national attention and inspired a number of protests in Dallas. The Dallas Morning News reported on Oct. 10 that Allisa Charles-Findley, Jean’s sister, received an email on Thursday in- forming them of the decision to deny parole for Guyger. “Allison Jean, Jean’s mother, told The News in a statement that her family ‘feels a sense of relief,’ adding it shows ‘part of the accountability that she must have for her ac- tions,’” the report read. “She has said she doesn’t sense remorse from Guyger after previous failed appeals. Texas’ highest crim- inal court upheld her conviction and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case in 2022.” According to The Dallas Morning News, the Dallas County District Attorney also op- posed Guyger being granted parole at this time. Guyger became eligible for parole last month after she served half of her 10-year sentence. Guyger could’ve been sentenced to anywhere between 5 and 99 years, al- though at trial, prosecutors sought a sen- tence of at least 28 years in prison. Allisa Charles-Findley, sister of Botham Jean told WFAA, “I wasn’t expecting a re- sponse so quickly. We were interviewed on Monday by the parole commissioner, the lead commissioner. It feels like a load lifted.” Jean’s murder inspired “Bo’s Law,” which was signed into law in 2021 and re- quires police officers to keep their body- worn cameras on throughout the entirety of an investigation. Also in 2021, the section of South Lamar Street where Jean lived in the South Side Flats was renamed Botham Jean Boulevard. Guyger will be eligible for parole again in October 2026. ▼ EDUCATION DEBTOR’S PRISON ADVOCATES SAY A SIDE OF ‘STIGMA AND SHAME’ COMES WITH KELLER ISD ALTERNATIVE LUNCHES. BY EMMA RUBYI f you think back to your elementary school days, there are few things that probably strike as fond a memory as the ubiquitous Friday pizza days. Sit- ting around a table full of peers sharing smiles while chomping on shredded cheese melted onto a crust — either burnt or gummy raw — it wasn’t good pizza by any means. Rather, the elementary delicacy was the childhood equivalent of a frosty 4:00 Friday beer, a celebration of a week’s end. To spend a Friday lunch period as the lone student denied a signature slice would have been unimaginable, but the lunchroom hypothetical will soon be a reality for Keller ISD students who have accumulated a meal debt of $25 or more. In a report published by WFAA, a letter sent to Keller ISD parents by the district an- nounced that an alternative meal plan will be introduced on Oct. 21 to help address “costly negative balances” that students may accrue over the course of the school year. Af- ter a student’s lunch balance is negative by $25, students will be denied the advertised breakfast and lunch offerings for the day and will be given a SunButter and jelly sandwich for breakfast and a turkey and cheese sand- wich for lunch. Students will also be given fruit and milk with each meal, the letter added. It’s a policy that is troubling for Alexis Bylander, interim director of child nutrition programs and policy at the Food Research and Action Center. While the Center advo- cates for universal free breakfast and lunch meals for all students, Bylander is especially concerned with policies that penalize stu- dents over a situation they often have no agency in, such as depositing money in a school account. “Meal debt accumulates for a variety of reasons, and there is a lot of pressure on the school nutrition department and the school to collect on that debt so that they don’t need to cover it out of general funds,” Bylander told the Observer. “What that can translate into is practices of attempting to collect the money that bring a lot of stigma and shame to students who don’t deserve it.” While some states have passed sweeping legislation that grants free meals to students — like the bill passed by now-Vice Presiden- tial candidate Tim Walz, who has bragged about banning student hunger as governor of Minnesota — many districts are left to dictate their own payment policies. (If you’re wondering how our fair governor is working to ban childhood hunger, Texas was one of 15 states to recently turn down federal assistance that would have helped pay for summertime school meals.) According to district websites, Keller ISD students pay around $3 for each lunchtime plate, a price on par with what is charged in lunchrooms at Grand Prairie ISD, Plano ISD and Richardson ISD. In Plano ISD, elemen- tary students who incur a lunch debt do not receive an alternative meal, but secondary students with debt do. In Arlington ISD, lunch plates come in closer to $4 each, and students who have accumulated a meal debt are prohibited from purchasing “a-la carte” items, such as cookies, chips or ice cream, but their meal is not changed from that of their peers. Southlake Carroll ISD follows a pro- gram similar to Arlington’s. Dallas ISD currently offers free lunches to all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, thanks to the federal Community Eli- gibility Provision which uses demographic data to identify schools that qualify for free meals. In some cases, Bylander has seen “unac- ceptable” policies be enacted by districts that have set out to recoup some of their lunch debts. “Sometimes they will give students an al- ternate meal, like you’re seeing in [Keller ISD.] Sometimes they will prohibit students from walking across the stage at graduation, or participating in school activities. We’ve even heard reports of families being referred to Child Protective Services for having un- paid meal debt,” Bylander said. “Shaming students over debt is unacceptable, but I think that schools really are in a tough spot because what do you do?” That spot is especially tough for Texas schools. According to the Education Data Initiative, Texas is a nation-wide leader in childhood food insecurity, with over 1.6 mil- lion minors lacking reliable access to food. We are a leader in school lunch debt too, the study found, with almost $300 million in school lunch debt plaguing the state. Keller ISD did not respond to the Observ- er’s inquiry into how many students are ex- pected to be impacted by the new lunchroom policy. In the letter to parents, Keller ISD added that lunchroom cashiers will “proac- tively but discreetly” notify students with a negative balance as they approach Kaufman County Amber Guyger will not be eligible for parole again until 2026. >> p12 Unfair Park from p6
