Why do they need a plane?

Quote:

---

A North Texas school administrator was caught using a district-owned airplane for personal travel with his family, a potential violation of the state's code of ethics for educators.

The revelation has local residents calling for an investigation. They want to know who approved the use of taxpayer resources for a personal trip, why they are just now learning about it, and whether the district needs its own plane.

Dallas-based WFAA reported Friday that Granbury Independent School District Assistant Superintendent Jimmy Dawson flew a private plane owned by the district to Abilene in June to visit his daughter. His wife, Leah Dawson, who is also an administrator in the district and was promoted in June, traveled with him.

According to WFAA, Granbury is the only Texas school district that has its own plane, which it bought last year for its student aviation program.

"I get to fly the plane because I'm a pilot," Dawson told WFAA reporter William Joy. Dawson said the superintendent and school board "all approved" the trips so he could "stay current."
Dawson is a licensed pilot, but he's not a flight instructor. The district says he "provides demonstration flights for students."

Yet in 2022, only three of Dawson's six flights in the plane were student demonstrations.
The Texas Educators' Code of Ethics, which is incorporated into the district's personnel policies, states that educators "shall not intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly misappropriate, divert, or use monies, personnel, property, or equipment committed to his or her charge for personal gain or advantage."

Ethics violations can result in educators losing the state certification required to teach or hold an administrative position within a Texas school district.

A statement Saturday from Granbury ISD administration said Dawson is "one of two licensed pilots listed on the district insurance policy" and "the district encourages its pilots to fly often enough to be proficient at the airplane and keep it in mechanical shape."

---

https://texasscorecard.com/local/north-texas-school-official-caught-using-district-plane-for-family-trip/

STATE APPROVES GHS AVIATION PROGAM OF STUDY

Districts have their own police force, police cars, now planes? Amazing.

As a parent, one responsibility is "teaching", so .. as a "teacher", any lawyers here that can assist me with creating my own independent school district that spans a subsection of my farm?
Oproot Research ISD

Why does the district need an air worthy plane for its aviation program if the teacher is not a flight instructor?

A few years back the Beaumont ISD Superintendent got into trouble for having multiple homes in different cities with homestead exemptions. Some were rentals. And then for having lots of employees on the payroll that never actually worked.

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

Why does the district need an air worthy plane for its aviation program if the teacher is not a flight instructor?

---

From the article, seems the issue is with the superintendent flying the plane. If Dawson is a certified pilot rated for that type of plane (specific plane not mentioned), then it may be appropriate for him to fly it from time to time to stay current. Yes, that's a requirement with a pilot certificate.

Certainly, the teacher of the aviation program is a certified flight instructor.

I don't see an issue here, especially if the BoR allows him to use the plane so that he maintains his certificate. He'd be an ambassador for his district's aviation program.

Aviation is massively short on pilots. Get them interested in high school. Some may go the route of crew members and some may go the route of maintenance. Big $$$ for those kids. Exposing students to this industry in high school is a great idea.

Don't see the issue here. He had permission and wasn't doing anything under the table.

Compared to the millions of dollars other school districts waste, and I mean truly waste, this is a nothing-burger.

But but but schools need more money!!!

Not a huge issue with me. BUT, consider Abilene is, what, maybe a two hour drive from Granbury?

agreed, the tens of millions spent on football stadiums is far worse

TequilaMockingbird said:

---

Not a huge issue with me. BUT, consider Abilene is, what, maybe a two hour drive from Granbury?

---

But his objective was to stay current and meet the district's wishes of the plane being used periodically.

The whole program is probably a waste of taxpayer money. unless they have 100% standardized testing pass rate this is wasteful

Quote:

---

GHS Students Building 4th Airplane

Twenty-five Granbury High School students enrolled in the Aeronautical Engineering classes are well on their way to completing the school's fourth full-sized, flyable amateur built airplane. This year's airplane is an all-aluminum tri-gear RANS S-21.

It is a very capable cross country and backcountry airplane. It will be equipped with large "Tundra" tires. The plane will accommodate two people sitting side by side. It will be fully equipped with the latest technology "glass screens" that will display all facets of aircraft performance and engine parameters and an auto pilot. Power will be a new 180 hp engine.

The students are mentored by a very dedicated and committed team of 12 mentors from all walks of life, many who have built their own planes. The mentors are the heart of the program. Workdays on the project are usually two partial days a week. To date, this school year the students and mentors have put in 1,440 man-hours. When complete, the project will consume about 2,200 man-hours.

Construction on this year's plane began in late August 2021 and completion is expected very near this school year's end.

The program, which is part of the ISD's Career and Technical Education curriculum, isn't devised to produce pilots or maintainers. It provides students with an opportunity to create with their hands, plan and problem solve. The students all work on different aircraft subassemblies with an eye towards the goal of a finished and flying airplane.

This year's RANS aircraft follows three previous Van's Aircraft RV-12s previously built and flown through this program's six years. Another RANS S21 is already on order for the 2022-23 school year!

---

Granbury Regional Airport Newsletter

Aggiemike96 said:

---

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

Why does the district need an air worthy plane for its aviation program if the teacher is not a flight instructor?

---

From the article, seems the issue is with the superintendent flying the plane. If Dawson is a certified pilot rated for that type of plane (specific plane not mentioned), then it may be appropriate for him to fly it from time to time to stay current. Yes, that's a requirement with a pilot certificate.

Certainly, the teacher of the aviation program is a certified flight instructor.

I don't see an issue here, especially if the BoR allows him to use the plane so that he maintains his certificate. He'd be an ambassador for his district's aviation program.

Aviation is massively short on pilots. Get them interested in high school. Some may go the route of crew members and some may go the route of maintenance. Big $$$ for those kids. Exposing students to this industry in high school is a great idea.

---

Ok. I misread the first time through. I read that he gave demonstration flights and my brain deleted the part about him being in administration and I presume NOT the primary aviation instructor.

Yes, I am familiar with requirements that pilots stay current within their type rating.

The next question would be whether or not the districts insurance covers authorized users to ferry passengers.

If he's flying what they're building, I can't see much wrong with this. He would indeed need to stay current in order to do demonstration flights, and if the purpose of the program isn't to train pilots, there's no issue with him not being an instructor. Seems like poor, drive by journalism to not include context on all of his flights, the purpose of the program, the plane he was flying, rules on currency, who else has flown this plane, etc.

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

Seems like poor, drive by journalism

---

Exactly this

The clickbait headline makes one think that a corrupt administrator took the district owned Citation on a jaunt to Rio Linda, with the additional implications of a public school district owning a corporate jet. The reality is much less interesting: a ~1hr flight in a student built kitplane that isn't used for instruction and is thus rarely flown. Pilots need to fly to stay proficient, and airplanes need to fly or else they rot.

According to the ISD statement, there are two pilots on staff. If the six flights done over the year by this one pilot is typical, that's 12 flights per year, possibly spread across 3 or 4 airplanes, which is not very much. Heck, the more I look into this program, the more it sounds like something cool that I wish I had in high school, or even college.

I generally like Texas Scorecard, but the low quality of this piece is a bit disappointing.

That district has a plane!?

If I was a taxpayer in that district, I would request/demand that plane be sold, yesterday.

Bregxit said:

---

Trajan88 said:

---

That district has a plane!?

If I was a taxpayer in that district, I would request/demand that plane be sold, yesterday.

---

The district bought a kit which the aviation program students built. It cost maybe $130k if that.

---

It was actually gifted to the school by a local aviation group.

Quote:

---

New courses build upon the Eagle's Nest Project, which started at GHS in 2016. The initiative proposed by now-Granbury Regional Airport manager Pat Stewart allowed a foundation to provide a complete airplane kit to the high school for assembly by students with local volunteer mentors overseeing the construction. The first student-built airplane took flight in October 2017.

---

https://www.granburyisd.org/site/Default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=23&PageID=21571&ViewID=6446ee88-d30c-497e-9316-3f8874b3e108&FlexDataID=54089

Wonder if it's an electric plane ?

It's not 1900 gallons of fuel, it's $1900 of fuel

My dad was a bush pilot in the late 70s/ early 80s. He would have to pickup kids from the village across the river and fly them to school in our village, then fly them back in the afternoon.

BattleGrackle said:

---

The whole program is probably a waste of taxpayer money. unless they have 100% standardized testing pass rate this is wasteful

---

nm

Good grief. Reminds me when someone on here, an employee of A&M, took a university vehicle to San Antonio. After a long day working they stopped at the mall on the way back to their hotel. Someone saw the A&M vehicle and wrote a nasty letter to the university because it was parked in a mall parking lot.

People who complain like this have too much free time on their hands.

I feel like this thread really hasn't gone that well for the "gotcha" crowd.

Kit was given to the school as part of its CTE program. Local volunteers helped students with the program (could be pretty awesome community involvement). Kids are learning a trade and getting exposure to an industry badly in need of employees. Admin had permission to fly it.

Carry on Granbury.

Trajan88 said:

---

That district has a plane!?

If I was a taxpayer in that district, I would request/demand that plane be sold, yesterday.

---

Schools, cities, counties never met a tax dollar they couldn't spend. Having a plane is an insane waste of money. Probably whining about not having enough money too!

Bregxit said:

---

dead said:

---

It's not 1900 gallons of fuel, it's $1900 of fuel

---

Oh yeah. Still 40 gallons of fuel (two full tanks for that plane) is only about $200. It runs on avgas or autogas.

The reporter is an idiot.

---

Sounds like the reporter was looking for a "gotcha" and either fudged stuff out left or really important details. This seems like a lot of nothing.

School Police departments make sense, and are often cheaper than using a municipal dept for dedicated policing, especially with police depths so restricted on personel.

TravelAg2004 said:

---

Bregxit said:

---

Trajan88 said:

---

That district has a plane!?

If I was a taxpayer in that district, I would request/demand that plane be sold, yesterday.

---

The district bought a kit which the aviation program students built. It cost maybe $130k if that.

---

It was actually gifted to the school by a local aviation group.

Quote:

---

New courses build upon the Eagle's Nest Project, which started at GHS in 2016. The initiative proposed by now-Granbury Regional Airport manager Pat Stewart allowed a foundation to provide a complete airplane kit to the high school for assembly by students with local volunteer mentors overseeing the construction. The first student-built airplane took flight in October 2017.

---

https://www.granburyisd.org/site/Default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=23&PageID=21571&ViewID=6446ee88-d30c-497e-9316-3f8874b3e108&FlexDataID=54089

---

The plane that was flown wasn't gifted to the school and wasn't a "kit". They purchased this one a year or two ago. Why would an Assistant Superintendent need to have a pilots license if he is not the instructor or teacher? I highly doubt his job description requires him to be a licensed pilot. Therefore, the ISD should NOT be paying for anything associated with him keeping that license - which would include using the plane for his own personal gain in order to meet his hour requirements. He used this plane solely for his own personal use so he could fly with his wife to see their daughter at ACU and had the tax payers pay for it. As one who has a kid that attends GISD, I have some questions for the admin and board that "approved" this yet complain about not having enough funding. This is also the same group of people that tried to push through a $500 million bond package that failed miserably. This board of trustees and admin staff are so far out of touch.

one safe place said:

---

Trajan88 said:

---

That district has a plane!?

If I was a taxpayer in that district, I would request/demand that plane be sold, yesterday.

---

Schools, cities, counties never met a tax dollar they couldn't spend. Having a plane is an insane waste of money. Probably whining about not having enough money too!

---

Did you not read any of the other posts?