March Board Meeting Comments

It was standing room only at the school board meeting tonight.  Twenty-four people signed up to speak in the open forum.  The vast majority (15) were people speaking about being embarrassed by last week's walk-out by Proctor & Huckaby, and asking for the grandstanding to stop.  Three spoke in support of Proctor & Huckaby's actions, one spoke in support of naming schools after educators, one spoke about a playground in the district needing additional sidewalks, a candidate for State Board of Education introduced herself, Mr. Huckaby attacked me personally, and Terri Majors and Cynthia Blackman "passed" and chose not to speak.  (Odd, since they came out last week and spoke in support of Proctor & Huckaby.  I wonder if Bill is angry they didn't follow his directions?)

Here are my comments from tonight's school board meeting:

This whole week of shenanigans has not been about Teacher and Administrator Contracts—it’s about the upcoming election.  

Here's the proof:  A mass e-mail from Mr. Proctor saying, and I quote:  “I believe that we now have another election issue.  I think the item below should appeal to taxpayers, teachers, etc.  Our candidates must say that they are committed to passing a Local Policy…”

So, taxpayers, teachers, and voters:  don’t allow yourself to be manipulated!

And Mr. Proctor:  You must decide:  Are you a campaign manager or a School Board Trustee?  If you want to be a trustee, then explain to me how walking out on a school board meeting in order to prevent the orderly process of school district business fulfills your fiduciary obligation to the students, taxpayers, staff and residents of this district.

The e-mail I referred to is here (Yellow highlighting is mine):

----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Lesa Trapp Sent: Mon, March 26, 2012

8:17:57 AM Subject: FW: Personnel Contracts

Education Support Complex, Merrell Center, Katy, TX

Katy Tea and Save Our Teachers PAC needs you to

show up at the Katy ISD BOT Regular Meeting,

Monday, March 26 at 6:30pm to support Katy ISD

teachers and BOT members Dr. Bill Proctor and Terry

Huckaby.

I need you all there tonight. It is time to take back our

schools. Lets show our signs. No more will we take it.

Thank you,

Lesa Trapp

Patriot & HC PCT Chair 618

www.lesatrapp.net

From: bproctor@consolidated.net 

To: bproctor10@gmail.com 

Subject: Personnel Contracts Date: Mon,

26 Mar 2012 06:23:09 -0500

Everyone,

I sent the information below to a few people. I am going

to follow through on the legality of this issue.

In the event that Joe is correct, I believe that we now

have another election issue. I think the item below

should appeal to taxpayers, teachers, etc.

Our candidates must say that they are committed to

passing a Local Policy that gives the Board the

responsibility for reviewing and approving the language

in all personnel contracts. They want ensure that the

Board exercises its fiduciary responsibility for contracts

and budgets.

Everyone,

I find Joe’s explanation very hard to believe. We may

have been following this procedure over the years but it

does not seem legal to me.

Bill

How School Boards Work, Part III: Who's the Boss?

Saw a comment in that other blog that Bill Proctor is Alton Frailey's boss.  I'd like to clarify that misconception.  Alton Frailey's boss is the Board of Trustees acting as a body corporate.  Think about how horrible a band would sound if instead of having a single conductor, the brass, percussion, woodwinds, and horns all had separate conductors.  If each section played at different tempos, and the horns wanted to play a waltz instead of a march, the music would be a mess!  State law is pretty smart in this instance:  Having 7 trustees ensures the values of the community are woven into all decisions, but by insisting they act as a single unit, they avoid the total confusion of superintendents getting 7 sets of directions.  


The job of the Superintendent is, in a nutshell, to educate students and manage the resources of the district.  Since Alton Frailey has been in Katy ISD, student test scores have improved, the district continues to win awards for financial management practices, transparency, and for achieving significant student academic growth while keeping spending relatively low, and in 2010 he was awarded Superintendent of the Year for Region IV.  


My hope, as a taxpayer and as a person concerned about the students of this community, is that Alton Frailey will focus his energies and talents on running the district, rather than baby-sitting a board that is dysfunctional because two of its members' goal is to derail the business of the district for an election-time publicity stunt.  I also hope that the board will get its act together before they "distract" this district to disaster.