When an Austin suburb wanted a police chief to shake up its male-entrenched culture, it recruited a law enforcement executive from retirement a diverse hire with a résumé that brimmed with experience and accolades.
A year after Jessica Robledo retired as an Austin police assistant chief in 2016, she was leading the Pflugerville Police Department, directed by city leaders to diversify the force and implement more modern policing standards.
“I was ready to take on the opportunity,” said Robledo, who is Hispanic and lesbian and took the job in early 2017. “I didn’t see it as a challenge because I knew that my heart and intentions were always going to be in the right place.”
Austin school district administrators are planning to distribute staffing next school year with a focus on student elective choices in middle and high schools and giving more resources to schools with students from low-income families.
Some middle and high school teachers in the visual and performing arts, however, are concerned that their programs and jobs could be affected and are asking district leaders to wait a year before revamping how positions are apportioned.
Until now, district staffing has been determined by a combination of positions allotted to each campus according to a formula and positions allotted to campuses from districtwide departments, such as visual and performing arts or multilingual education.
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One day in 1932, Alfred Dotson Sr., and his twin brother, Wilfred, became instant musical celebrities at Kealing Junior High School. The two native Austinites sang “Painting the Clouds with Sunshine” so charmingly that teachers sent the 13-year-old duo around the building on Pennsylvania Avenue in East Austin to perform for all of the classes.
“I sang it at my 75th wedding anniversary, too, with the men’s chorus at Ebenezer Baptist Church,” Dotson says in a smooth tenor voice. “I was with my wife, Ruth, for 79 years. She was my girl.”
If you request that song today, Dotson, who turns 102 on April 15, will likely oblige.