New Page Template

(Please note that this committee membership is working as a legal representative of the Katy ISD School Board, and as such, membership is subject to the open records laws. All information was either acquired from the School District, from information given at the Bond Committee meetings or from information available on the Internet. If any information presented is incorrect or if any additions need to be made, or if anyone has a compelling reason for me to remove information, please notify me immediately. The Watchdog$ initially asked the School District to compile and post on their web site, this information, but they refused to do so. We gave them the example of Round Rock ISD‘s similar posting of their bond committee members. We believe that voters have a right to know who is making decisions about millions of dollars of their tax money that are being made by someone other than their elected representatives. Asterisks indicate number of times committee members have served on a previous bond committee. Anyone having other public information on any of these committee members is asked to send it to me.)

NAME, SERVICE ON PREVIOUS BOND COMMITTEES LISTED WITH AN ASTERISK, OCCUPATION IF KNOWN, RELATED ACTIVITIES IF KNOWN.

[In response to recent criticism for having addresses on this list (and I believe I got this list from the school district,) I agree that there is really no reason for the addresses or email addresses to be here, so I have removed them. I was within my rights to include them, I think, because these citizens agreed to be on a public committee, to deliberate on public business, and to usurp what should have been the duty of the elected board members. When they agreed to do that, they became de facto representatives of the public will themselves, in my opinion. At the very least, the school district should tell what their occupations are and the school activities in which they are involved and put up their own list of committee members [in a format that is readable!] and then I wouldn't have to.]

Employee, Vista Equities Group-real estate investment, development and management

Employee, QC Laboratories - provide environmental testing to governmental entities

Employee, JNS Consulting Engineers-an engineering, planning and surveying company

Employee, Consolidated Engineering Labs-environmental and engineering geophysical services

****************************************************************************************************************************************

BOND COMMITTEE MEETING - JUNE 28, 2006 [held after the first bond was defeated in 2006]

By Mary McGarr

In true Total Quality Management fashion, seventy Bond Committee members, some of them good citizens hoping to do the right thing, came together Wednesday night to be facilitated by the School District.

The façade has disappeared and no pretense was made Wednesday night as to whether there will be a bond initiative in the fall, whether the committee will be the ones to “decide,” and whether or not the School Board will approve the recommendation from the committee. This bond will be on the November ballot.

For those who do not understand, Total Quality Management (TQM) is a pop management system adopted by school districts that want to manipulate the public for their own purposes.

With TQM the deal is that the decisions have already been made. The controlling group, and that’s what this is all about, must have public buy-in to proceed, thus the committee. Anyone who thinks that the committee is there to make a decision is foolish. As I said, and make sure there is understanding here: the decisions have already been made.

The District invited 112 people to participate as members of the Bond Committee (none of the Watchdog leadership, by the way, were included) and 22 of those declined the opportunity! It would be interesting to know why almost 20% of those invited had better things to do. These were people nominated by the Board members and the administration, and supposedly those folks have their finger on who cares about the school district.) While it was announced at first that all 90 who agreed to participate were in attendance Wednesday night, when they saw us counting noses, the number magically dropped by 20 to the actual 70 or so people who were there.

The committee members were given assigned seats (another TQM controlling activity) because the facilitators couldn’t manage a table of like minded folks who might ask too many pointed questions. Can’t have that! Every table had its own facilitator--mostly members of the pro-bond KIDS group. Such a situation stifles intelligent discussion and perhaps honest dissent. Can’t have that either.

I found it odd that only one current teacher was placed on the committee. There were some former teachers, but that is not the same as allowing people who actually have first hand information regarding the needs of the school district to participate in the discussion. The Watchdog$ think that some teachers whose names are drawn from a hat containing all of them need to be added to the committee.

Wouldn’t you think that with all the hype by the superintendent about the diversity of our school district that the representation on this committee would have reflected a better cross section of our neighborhoods? One could count the number of minority representatives on one hand. Can’t leave minorities out of the decision making process when there‘s money involved. Can’t act like they’re not here. The Watchdog$ think such behavior sends a message that shouldn’t be allowed. (Here are the minority statistics for our school district taken from the District‘s web site:
2005-06 school year 47,816 White 56.9% Hispanic 25.7% African-American 9.1% Asian/Pacific Islander 8.1% Native American 0.2% )

During the meeting one astute suggestion was made by Donna Herzog, a member of the KIDS organization and parent of one child in junior high. She stated, when the committee was talking about what needed to be done to get the next bond election right, that “we need massive rezoning…” but she then went on to say that it would be unpopular and hard to do.

We did see some positive signs last night from people who thought they really were there to provide input. Committee members want a bond that will pass, and the Watchdog$ do too; members want increased security and safety for school children, and we do too; members want to have bond items that address improved academics, and we do too; members want simpler language that people can understand on the bond ballot, and we do too; members want more people to vote, and we do too; members are concerned about overcrowding if the next bond fails, and we are too; two members suggested that Watchdog$ needed to be on the committee, and we agree that they do; one member wanted more teachers on the committee, and we do too; the members thought we should all be respectful of each other, and we agree; members think the opposition to the bond if there is any should be addressed fairly, and we agree; members thought information regarding what school buildings would be built and where and when should be provided, and we agree; members thought that the inclusion of HDTV’s caused the downfall of the last bond, and we agree; members thought that the needs of older schools needed to be addressed in the bond, and we agree; members thought that in the last bond election there was a disconnect and that people voted no because they distrust the school district, and we agree that there is distrust and that such feelings do carry over to the ballot box; members wanted to have May 13 voting statistics, and we agree that they should have them; members believe that KISD has a quality staff, and we agree; members believe that we have a fine extra-curricular program, and we agree and finally the members thought that there is the possibility for good community support with the right bond, and we agree.

The next meeting is on July 12, and the Watchdog$ hope that there are more people from the community who will come and watch the proceedings.