A SWEET JOB   BY MARY MCGARR:

A Sweet Job

By Mary McGarr

June 28, 2011 Updated September 1, 2014)

Being the superintendent of a major Texas public school district is a rare opportunity to serve the public and to create a legacy of student education that enables such a population to move forward into the world with the basic tools of knowledge.

A superintendent position is a long-lived one, and many have served properly and well-- over the decades. One only has to realize the importance of the position to know what must be done. However, only someone with a universal sense of propriety and unselfish vision can ever succeed.

In Katy, Texas, the voting public seems, over time, to have had difficulty electing those who have the vision and expertise to find superintendents who rise to such a standard.

In Katy, Texas, the voting public, in my opinion, is self-centered, greedy and inclined to overlook the universal good. That public, while caring for its own children, fails to see the greater good of having ALL children properly and fairly educated.

At the current time, the Katy Independent School District is mired in the liberal dogma of the left leaning superintendent who now rules (See Center of Truth and True North). In order to understand the motivation of the current superintendent, Alton Frailey, one must look at his actions and policies, his behavior and his speeches, his memberships in educational organizations, his social and business relationships, his ventures out into the world, and his personal idiosyncrasies as manifested in his public persona, for these all combine to form the man who controls public education in Katy, Texas.

Mr. Frailey was brought to KISD by Leonard Merrell, who apparently insisted in having a hand in selecting his own replacement. I will not dwell on why that was necessary just yet, but readers need to think about that. Through manipulation, the head hunter of choice was Bob Thompson, who is described elsewhere on this web site, as a man who has an agenda of placing suitable superintendents in Texas school districts. As a member of the committee that was convened to set guidelines for the KISD Board (and yes, such an activity is bizarre) I can tell you that in my opinion, Mr. Thompson appeared to me to know exactly who he was going to bring to KISD before that committee ever met.

When Alton Frailey arrived in Katy in the summer of 2007, he had no educational doctorate, which would have seemed a basic requirement for a school district of the size and stature of Katy ISD, no permanent superintendent's certificate, (but then his predecessors didn't have a superintendent's certificate per se at all!) and with lackluster credentials. The hook for the mindless Board of Trustees seemed to be the fact that he was an old friend of Joe Adams and that he had passed big bonds in the two school districts he had served as a superintendent (Cincinnati and De Soto ISD's). ("Big bonds" here is a relative term! These two school districts were no where near the size of Katy ISD when he was the superintendent.) His record of academic achievement improvements for the students in those school districts was questionable; those school districts were relatively small, and the demographics were totally unlike those of Katy ISD. It was quite a leap for the Board to assume that managing such dissimilar students had a carryover quality which would transcend the obvious pitfalls ahead.

Over the last several years, Mr. Frailey has established himself as a person with an inflated ego who cares little for his employees, a person who has built a wall around himself figuratively and literally, and who spends little time on the proper academic education of students preferring to engage himself in the politics, social life and professional roles he sees as a path to a better position down the road for himself, in my opinion.

Over the last four years, Mr. Frailey, through contract manipulation, has carved out for himself, a very fine life, but his notable inabilities as a leader, his failure to create a suitable academic education for the students of KISD, his inability to interact with the public in a meaningful way, his penchant for being a demagogue, and his lack of respect for the teaching staff have all contributed to his failure as a superintendent. He is, in my opinion, unworthy of the magnificent benefits that have been bestowed upon him by his adoring Board of Trustees. The fact that almost all of them have lackluster academic credentials themselves causes them to fail to see the problem!

The reason for my opinion lies in the things Mr. Frailey has done since he got here. Let me start with his contract. Mr. Frailey's current contract is not the one he started with four years ago. It is a negotiated contract that has become iron clad and everlasting. The Board that existed before May 14, 2011, allowed Mr. Frailey to manipulate them into giving him a five year contract.

In Mr. Frailey's contract one can find the following items:

1. A five year contract he has got one until June 30, 2015, and it may be extended, according to the law, by the Board with his acceptance (and has been twice).

2. He must hold a valid superintendent's certificate.  

3. He may not be reassigned to another position without his approval.

4. He is indemnified by the District from any and all demands, claims, suits, actions, judgments, expenses and attorney's fees incurred in any complaints filed with the SBEC and/or any legal proceeding against the Superintendent in his individual capacity or his official capacity for any act or failure to act involving the exercise of judgment and discretion within the normal course and scope of his duties as Superintendent of the District, to the extent and to the limits permitted by law.

5. He may not engage in any consulting activities for a fee, or in any outside employment, without the prior consent of the Board.

6. He must reside, while employed by the District, within the boundaries of the District.

7. He receives an annual base salary of $288,400.00 retroactive to July 1, 2010. He got a lump sum retroactive payment of the increase by February 1, 2011 for 7/12 of the retroactive increase.

8. His salary may not be reduced unless he and the Board agree together to reduce it.

9. He receives a $1,300.00 allowance monthly to cover the costs of all reasonable and necessary travel expenses within the District, and the reasonable and necessary costs of telecommunication access such as mobile phone service, a telephone line, and Internet access.

10. His automobile travel outside the District is reimbursed at the approved federal rate of reimbursement of $.51 per mile.

11. He is reimbursed for reasonable costs of meals and incidental expenses associated with the Superintendent's work with staff members, Board members, community members, or other persons related to the performance of his duties as Superintendent(and that includes a Houston Chronicle reporter and a Katy magazine editor).

12. The District will supply him with an office computer and other such equipment to support the performance of his duties.

13. His computer may be used for personal matters.

14. He will be allowed to set up a personal account for mobile telephone service, a telephone line, and Internet access.

15. The District will also provide him with a Blackberry communication device as well as the service necessary for its operation. [I wonder if he's made the switch to IPhones yet!]

16. His premiums for hospitalization, major medical, and dental insurance coverage for the Superintendent and his dependents will be paid for by the District.

17. The premium for long term and short term disability insurance coverage for the Superintendent is paid for by the District.

18. The District has paid for a contribution for the Superintendent to the 403(b) Annuity to purchase one year of out-of-state service through the Teacher Retirement system. (I'm guessing that is to cover his service  while he was a superintendent in Cincinnati.)

19. He gets a $500,000.00 term life insurance policy for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, and he determines the beneficiary. (This is not key man insurance.)

20. The District also has set up an Annuity Benefit. He received in 2009 and 2010, $16,500.00. In years 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 he receives $22,000.00. See his contract for terms of being vested.

21. He receives the same personal and sick leave benefits as all administrative employees under a twelve month contract.

22. He is required to work 238 days. He receives the same vacation and non-duty days as authorized by the District for administrative employees under a twelve month contract.

23. He must take an annual physical examination by a licensed Houston metropolitan area physician which is paid for by the District. Only the Board president may see the results of the examination. [Does anyone else find it odd that only the Board President gets to see the results?]

24. Civic and professional activities fees are paid by the district for his membership, attendance and participation in meeting and events involving local educational and community groups including, but not limited to, Rotary Club, Katy Area Economic Development Council, [Katy] Chamber of Commerce, Region 4 Education Service Center, Harris County Department of Education and similar groups as a representative of the District. All fees are paid by the District. Outside the District he may attend and participate in appropriate professional meetings in or outside the Houston area as the representative of the District. These include, but are not limited to, such meetings as the Texas School Alliance, the Texas Fast Growth School Coalition, and meetings on legislative issues. He may also attend and participate in appropriate professional meetings at the state and national levels such as, but not limited to, the Texas Education Agency Mid-Winter Conference for superintendents, meetings of the Texas Association of School Boards and the National School Boards Association, meetings of the Texas Association of School Administrators, meetings of the American Association of School Administrators, meetings of the Urban Superintendents Association of America, meetings of the Texas Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, and meetings of the American Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. The District will pay the reasonable and necessary costs associated with attendance including airline tickets, costs of travel by car, hotel and accommodations, meals, rental cars, taxis and other similar expenses. Amusingly this statement is included in this paragraph of the contract: Attendance at these meetings by the Superintendent shall not interfere with the required duties of the Superintendent within the District.  

25. He is provided with personal protection as the Board deems necessary in the event the life or safety of the superintendent or the Superintendent's family is threatened or otherwise appears in danger due to the performance by the Superintendent of his professional duties as long as he at first requested protection from the threat with the police and/or sheriff's department having jurisdiction in the District.

Additionally the contract contains other stipulations having to do with performance, but for which there is no charge to the District.

The contract is online at www.katyisd.org under Superintendent.   It was signed on February 3, 2011 by the superintendent, Alton Frailey, the Board president, Judy Snyder and the Board secretary, Chris Crockett.