WHEN A DONE DEAL GOES HAYWIRE   BY KEN STEGER:

The following article was written by Ken Steger, then Editor of the Katy Times. Mr. Steger is poking fun at the Board for trying to reconsider a vote that some of the Board members didn't like.  Those Board members didn't show up for a Board meeting when the subject of corporal punishment was on the agenda.  The opposition, consisting of Garry Weiss, Mary McGarr and Ken Burton voted to end corporal punishment.  That decision was not pleasing to the missing Board members, and they wanted to vote again!

When a Done Deal Goes Haywire

By Ken Steger

   The Katy Times  Wednesday, July 7, 1993

It might be time to pull out those electric saws and sanders.

I had never thought about it much until the other day when someone mentioned that the paddles utilized by the school district to swat students are constructed at one of KISD's wood-working shops.

There are even differing specifications for the paddles, depending on the grade level for which it is to be used.

For some reason this fascinates me.  I have a difficult time envisioning a crew of workers diligently laboring away at paddle construction.

"How was your day, honey?" comes the nightly greeting as the spouse welcomes her tired KISD maintenance man home after a hard day's work.

"Tough," he replies.  "All the teachers and principals threw out their paddles last month when the board voted to do away with corporal punishment."

"So?"

"So, now there's a chance they're going to change their collective mind."

"And?"

"And that will mean we'll have to step up production to meet the demand.  We can't enter a new school year paddle-less."

But seriously, folks.

Many KISD patrons were surprised last week (at least judging from the phone calls I received) after the school board brought to issue once again the corporal-punishment topic.

It was supposed to be a done deal -- NO MORE PADDLING IN THE SCHOOLS. At least that's the way the board voted at the May 24 meeting.  And that's the way we reported it.

Some clarification is in order here. I'll try to give you the capsulated version.

At the May 24 meeting two trustees were absent, Stanley Thompson and Jim Williams, which still left five trustees present.  By law a quorum existed -- meaning the remaining trustees could still vote on action items, carrying the same weight as if all seven board members were accounted for.

Trustee Garry Weiss, who had opted not to run for re-election, was in his final meeting as a board member.

Apparently seizing the opportunity facilitated by simple mathematics, Weiss, along with other anti-paddling advocates Kenneth Burton Jr., and Mary McGarr, won a 3-2 vote over Joe Adams and Larry Moore to strike corporal punishment from the district's Discipline Management Plan.

With me so far?

Then comes the regularly scheduled June board meeting.  Only this time Weiss has left the board, replaced by newly elected James Peters, and Thompson is present.  Williams is absent again, leaving a quorum of six trustees. 

It's now time to officially change the language in the Discipline Management Plan, but Thompson, Adams and Moore balk at doing so, leaving Burton and McGarr to fend for themselves.  Peters, the newcomer on the block, could be the swing vote.

However, a procedural debate follows regarding whether the initial vote was binding, and the matter is tabled until the district's attorney can give a recommendation.

Where does that leave us?

I don't expect Thompson, Adams or Moore to back off their positions.  I would expect the same to hold true for Burton and McGarr.

That leaves Williams and Peters as the swing votes to decide the paddling issue.

Considering the punishment was utilized in Katy only twice during the 1993 school year, this seems like a lot of wasted effort.  Paddling students has become archaic.  Let's move on.