Larry E. Collins This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Plainview Daily Herald

   www.myplainview.com/APTexas/pa - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/13/2004   Last Visited: 6/13/2004

   "With teacher certification so strict now by state law, I don´t understand why we don´t have that same demand for our superintendent," said Larry E. Collins, a Dallas resident who pulled his youngest son from Richardson High School three years ago because he didn´t think he was being well enough prepared for college.
   
   "The point could be made that he´s not even qualified to teach in the district," Collins said. "A lawyer can´t walk in and teach, why should he be able to walk in and be superintendent?"
   
   Nelson, 54, spent 23 years practicing law in West Texas and New Mexico before he became education commissioner.
   
   His first foray into education came in 1984 when he joined the Ector County Independent School District´s school board because he wanted to broaden his experience. Both he and his wife had gone to school in the district, and the oldest of his three sons was an elementary school student.
   
   Within a few years, what started as a hobby began to take a bigger role. He joined the Texas Association of School Boards in 1988 and served as its vice president and president. In 1996, then-Gov.