{"id":1963,"date":"2019-02-06T14:26:40","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T20:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1963"},"modified":"2019-02-06T14:31:02","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T20:31:02","slug":"stay-positive-addison-even-as-the-negatives-and-naysayers-continue","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1963","title":{"rendered":"Stay Positive Addison, Even As The Negatives and Naysayers Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stay Positive Addison, Even As
The Negatives and Naysayers Continue
Their DESPERATE Search for Negativity
By Susan M. Halpern
Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s election season, and I\u2019ve\nbeen saying for months that the negatives and naysayers are planning a\nrun.  The filing deadline is more than a\nweek away, so time will tell.  In the\nmeantime, the current Council continues to conduct the business of our Town in\ntheir hallmark quiet and professional manner.  Their record is impressive, achieved without\ndrama or fanfare.  They have returned\ndemocracy to Addison, with open, honest and respectful deliberations.  The Addison Way is back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, the negatives and\nnaysayers are still trying to find something negative that will give them\ntraction.  The latest effort from the\nnegatives\u2019 designated blogger concerns a Dallas Morning News article regarding\na graduate program at the University of Texas at Dallas (\u201cUTD\u201d).  The negative blogger would have you believe\nthat the article was about professors giving credits (with a grade of A) to\ngraduate students who did nothing to earn those credits (which is not what the\narticle was about). The negative blogger then directly accuses Addison Police\nCaptain Mike Vincent of accepting his graduate degree under these tainted\ncircumstances, i.e., having received credits for doing nothing (which, as we\u2019ll\nsee, is false). Next comes the usual attack on the Council, by way of suggesting\nthat to prove that they have the \u201ccourage\u201d to \u201cdo what\u2019s right,\u201d be\n\u201ctransparent\u201d and \u201creveal the truth,\u201d they must investigate UTD\u2019s practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And once again, it\u2019s utter\nnonsense, including because the description of the Dallas Morning News article\nis utterly misleading.  What this really\namounts to is another attempt by the negatives and naysayers to create an\n\u201cissue-of-the-moment\u201d where none exists, because they are desperate to convince\nAddison voters that they are somehow relevant. \nSo, let\u2019s apply some TRUTH to the discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the Dallas Morning News\narticle discusses the issue of transfer credits for courses taken by law\nenforcement officers at the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration in\nPlano (\u201cILEA\u201d).  The article focuses on whether\nUTD\u2019s decision to award credits for these courses was appropriate and if so,\nwhether the awarded credits should be assigned a grade of A.  No one suggested that graduate students were\nreceiving credits for doing nothing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, Addison sends all of its\nsergeants and lieutenants to ILEA for training. \nSergeants attend a four-week training course, and lieutenants attend an\neight-week training course that also requires preparation of a significant\nresearch project.  Captain Vincent and\nothers on the Addison Police Department typically attend these courses after\nthey are promoted.  As suggested by their\nlength, these courses are extensive and intensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, as noted, at some point\nUTD evaluated the curriculums offered at ILEA, and made the decision to offer\ncredit hours for these courses that could be applied to a graduate degree.  Far from getting something for nothing,\nstudents like Captain Vincent unquestionably earned their credits.  That left UTD with the issue of how the\nextra-institutional credits would be granted, i.e., graded or ungraded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, to be clear, Captain\nVincent and other graduate students had to take countless other courses to earn\nall the other credits they needed to qualify for the graduate degrees they\nreceived.  To smear Captain Vincent under\nthese circumstances is shameful and inappropriate.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a non-issue for\nAddison.  The discussion in the Dallas\nMorning News article centered around decisions made by UTD in connection with\nits graduate programs.  UTD evaluated the\ncourses offered by ILEA.  UTD made the\ndecision to offer credits towards a graduate degree.  UTD made the decision to give a grade for\nthose credits.  UTD otherwise set the\nrequirements for the graduate degrees it offered and conferred on law enforcement\nofficers like Captain Vincent.  You might\nagree or disagree with those decisions, but they are well beyond any duties of\nAddison\u2019s Council or management.  All of\nwhich confirms that there is nothing for Addison to investigate.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The negatives and naysayers\nshould take a lesson from this Council. \nIt deals in TRUTH, not faux \u201cissues-of-the-moment\u201d built on falsehoods\nand innuendos. So, as we ignore the latest nonsense from the negatives and\nnaysayers, let\u2019s also challenge them to have the \u201ccourage\u201d to \u201cdo what\u2019s\nright,\u201d and quit misrepresenting things for their perceived personal gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staying positive in Addison means\nthat once again we must see the negatives and naysayers for who and what they\nare.  They will continue to try to find negative\nissues, particularly if they run a slate in the current election as I suspect\nthey will.  That makes it even more important\nto seek TRUTH in Addison regarding anything they say.  After all, TRUTH is the premise on which true\ntransparency must be based, all of which is the foundation for the Addison Way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s keep the positive momentum\ngoing in 2019!  The Addison Way is back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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