In response to concerns over the quality of a recording of a speech by Superintendent Alton Frailey provided to local education analyst George Scott by the Katy ISD, the school district is providing Scott with a second recording, this one enhanced with the same software used to produce the version posted on the school district website.
The recording is of Frailey’s controversial speech to school district staff during a session of last week’s “convocation” orientation session at the Merrell Center.
Scott, publisher of George Scott Reports, had expressed concern the quality of the recording he received is so poor that Frailey’s remarks cannot be clearly understood. Scott noted the version posted on the school district’s website was of significant better quality than the one he received via an open records request.
In an e-mail sent this afternoon, Katy ISD Public Information Specialist Tricia McKinney told Scott the version on the website was enhanced by software that balances audio.
“The same original DVD recorded during the convocation was also used to convert the video to the Windows Media format for placement on the district website. The program that converted the convocation video from DVD to Windows Media for the district website is Any Video Converter, which has automatic volume balancing that brought up the audio levels, in turn improving the audio quality of the video,” McKinney noted. “In other words, the original recording is actually of a lower quality as the audio has not improved by the video conversion program.”
McKinney went on to say the district would provide Scott with a new DVD of the speech, this time with the same enhancement as on the district website.
She also stressed the first DVD was not an intentional effort by the district to provide Scott with a poor-quality version of Frailey’s remarks.
“I hope that this explanation makes clear the reason for the difference in the audio quality between the website video and the copy that was given to you in the original DVD format,” McKinney said in the e-mail. “I would also hope that you do not get the impression that we were intentionally providing you with a substandard copy of video.”
Scott said he accepted the explanation and that he trusted the work of McKinney and the school district’s public information office.
“I have absolute and total trust in your performance of your job,” Scott said in an e-mailed reply. “That goes for all of your colleagues in (public information).”
Controversy over Frailey’s remarks to district staffers began a week ago following the morning convocation session. During that meeting, the superintendent pointed out that more than 8,173 district employees lived within the district boundaries and were eligible to vote.
He also said 4,421 of those employees were currently registered to vote, while 3,752 were not.
Frailey also compared district employees’ voting power with the number of people who typically voted in previous bond elections, along with the pass-fail margin of those votes. Those remarks were widely interpreted as suggesting district employees could control the outcome of the upcoming school bond election if they voted as a bloc.
While never overtly telling employees to support the bond issue, the superintendent did say the district was expecting strong opposition. According to notes taken by one teacher, Frailey used such phrases as “they are coming” and “they have no shame” to refer to bond opponents.
“The hypocrisy and disinformation will be amazing,” he reportedly said at one point.
Frailey was also quoted as saying the district “must be recognized as the foremost advocate and expert on all matters in which we participate. We must not only raise the young, but also raise the village.”
The superintendent reportedly “toned down” his remarks for the afternoon session of the convocation.
