Four more Katy ISD trustees have turned down invitations to take part in the Katy Tea Party Patriots’ planned October informational meeting about the school district’s $459 million bond issue.
The bond issue will be decided by school district voters during the Nov. 2 election.
In recent days, board members Chris Crockett, Rebecca Fox, Neal Howard and Judith Snyder have all told Tea Party representatives they will not be attending the event.
They joined trustees Joe Adams and Eric Duhon, both of whom previously declined the Tea Party’s invitation.
That leaves only board member Robert Shaw yet to respond.
Crockett said she would not be able to take part because she will be in Austin on the day of the event. Howard and Snyder declined to attend without giving a reason. It is unknown whether Fox gave event organizers a reason for deciding against taking part in the meeting.
Tea Party representatives invited all school board members to participate in an Oct. 16 informational meeting at the Cinco Ranch Library shortly after trustees voted to call the bond election during an Aug. 18 work study meeting.
In the written invitation, Tea Party President Jennifer Danel Heiden said the organization wanted to ensure the district’s “judicious handling of finances.”
“Because of the size of the proposed bond and the impact on property taxes, we feel that it is in the membership’s best interest to educate the Katy community so they will make knowledgeable choices for their families when voting for or against your proposal,” Heiden said in the letter.
Heiden also stressed that the invitation was being extended to trustees only, and the group “will not accept representatives on your behalf.”
Despite having six of seven school board members turn them down, event organizers said they plan to go forward with the informational meeting but in a different format.
The Tea Party has not yet taken a position on whether it will endorse or oppose the bond issue.
Can anyone tell me if they have experienced a school board trustee sighting in the past ten years(like a Big Foot sighting, or Area 54 experience)?
I am not talking about seeing one at their own meeting or maybe a chance viewing in the can good aisle of the grocery store. I am referring to a time when a Trustee offered to discuss issues before the district, told you what was going on, asked for your input, spoke to the Rotary Club, etc.
Can you think of an incident when a BOT member went before even a small slice of our community to speak on any issue, ask for any input, or share their thinking? Just ONE time?
If you have then maybe we might be able to cobble together a mosaic and learn why they feel they have earned the right to take our votes for granted now and again in May during the school board elections.
I personally know a few of them, not socially, but I know how to get them and even campaigned for a few of them over the years, and still I cannot get a read from them on a single item.
Now when asked by the community to come out from behind their collective desks and take our questions, they choose not to do so. None of them sent their regrets or asked for another date, none of them offered an alternative, they all just said “NO.”
I suspect many of us will say the same “NO” in November unless something changes soon.
The Audacity of Board Trustees. You would think in this most heated of political climates that these people would learn. How can any taxpayer trust people like this to wisely expend their property taxes and install academic programs for their children if they won’t even face the public that elected them?
Throw the bums out. Vote No!
http://www.truthaboutib.com
This is SOP for the Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees. I really think we need to change the name because there is no trust. The saddest comment on them and the district is the actual fear of teachers, staff, and citizens to express their thoughts and questions in public. What does that say about the Board and what their agenda is? Yes, we need new schools, but not this way. Please, everyone, vote NO on the Nov bond issue. We must send a clear message to this Board and this administration that they are accountable to US!
This is terribly sad and disturbing news. If we cannot trust them with the current $558 million budget and $900 million debt, how can we possibly trust then with another $450 million?
I did research and found out that private, Catholic Aquinas high school in NYC spends $8416 per student per year – and KISD spends $9177 per student per year! KISD is much larger, but – what ever happened to economies of scale?? teacher to non teacher ratio is 76%/24% at Aquinas, 57%/43% at KISD. Way too much overhead!!
Whenever you see a trustee – ask them Who or What are they a trustee of?
Its OUR MONEY. I have been to KISD board meetings and Mr Duhon and Adams have shown outright contempt for citizens. They need to be defeated in the next election.
I had thought that someone reported that Ms. Crockett had been shamed into agreeing to appear after the press swarmed the Tea Party folks after the meeting? Perhaps I was wrong or misunderstood. But if true then I can add the word “liar” to the laudry list of other descriptive words I use to describe our “representatives”. As the former head of the Watchdog$ I am not at all surprised by this. I got this arrogant and beligerent attitude every single time I opposed something they were doing. I stated in an earlier post on this site that the Tea Party people should not be surprised if they end up staring at a bunch of empty chairs at October’s event. It appears I was right.
The simple fact is all of our board members are cowards. They simply serve to do the bidding of the superintendent and it has been this way for decades. The Watchdog$ tried to open the public’s eyes about what was going on. We tried to wake everyone up to the fact that as taxpayers we are being taken advantage of, but unfortunately apathy was a bigger problem than the district.
With the election of our first Marxist President and the great awakening of many in our community I hope that people will send a resounding “NO” in November to this bunch and tell them that things are going to change. But a vote of “NO” in November needs to be followed up in May with a “no confidence” vote for the three (3) incumbents that will be running for re-election. We need new blood on this board. We need individuals that understand what it means to be a true representative of the people. We need individuals that will put a stop to the deficit budgets, itemize bonds on the ballot and have the guts to tell the superintendent that he works for us and not the other way around.
VOTE “NO” in November and throw the incumbents out in May!!
Christopher E. Cottrell