WHY I AM NOT VOTING FOR THE BOND   PART V:

Using a committee to deflect criticism of the school board was a practice begun when I was a member of the Katy school board.  It was one of those things that gets slipped by a Board when they do not realize what's just about to happen.  I admit that I was as gullible as those who followed me.

Hugh Hayes, the superintendent at that time, sent out a "confidential memo" to the Board outlining his plan for deflecting criticism and responsibility for the Board by using a committee to come up with a bond proposal.  [See "How Bond Committees Originated in KISD" elsewhere on this website.]

I have to hand it to Dr. Hayes for concocting an ingenious plan (or bringing a TASA preconceived one) to allow the Board to escape their responsibility.  Of course in the process, the Board was being led down a path of behaviors that led to their ultimate demise.  Giving up powers is a stupid thing for a Board to do.  Stanley Thompson, a wise school board member, often warned of such a possibility, and he left the Board with that warning.

He was absolutely right. 

Using Board committees to deflect from and absolve the school board of responsibility for the outcome of any uncertain activity, is now de rigueur.  Of course no board member complains because even though a public school's government is a representative form of government, these people have long ago given up their rights as elected officials! They are not smart enough, it seems, to see what they have done to themselves.

Having said all of that, it would seem that KISD now has a committee in charge of our school district.

The committee convened to decide on the bond proposal, was first touted as a group of "200 citizens" who would gather to make decisions regarding the proposed bond referendum.  For the first time ever (bond committees evolve over time, you see), citizens were allowed to "apply" for membership on the committee.  We have been told at various times that 500 people applied, then 600 people applied and then 800 people applied to be considered.

I think the administration doesn't really know how many people applied, but it would be nice if they would get their story straight. 

Then we were told that there would be 200 on the committee.  But then the list of people appeared on the District's web site, and we saw that 247 people were on the committee.  That has since morphed to 227 people on the committee (and we're all wondering what happened to the twenty original members who disappeared!) If anyone knows, please tell me!

Actually there were 128 members of the "real" bond committee and 119 members of the "B" Team bond committee.  (In an unbelievably callous manner, the District just dumped on the "B" Team members by letting them sit and watch the meetings with no input! They had hoped by including these members, they would gain a couple of votes from each of them for the bond.  I think that idea has backfired.  The "B" Team is not happy with their treatment!)

All the concern over the numbers of the bond committee, I'm guessing, emanated from the consultant that Katy ISD hired last fall to help them with "communication."  Remember the board election last spring, when "communication" was the buzz word for the chosen candidates?  Any one with a brain knows that's just a ruse.  They could care less about "communicating" with any of us, but it makes the masses feel like they "care." (How hard is it anyway to COMMUNICATE?) In the meantime, the District has spent $750,000 on that consultant, paying them $249,000 of the contract up front!  Sweet deal.

The District also hired Michelle Hughes to Delphi the committee, and they paid her $28,470.13 (per my Open Records Request.) The District would not tell me this amount until Channel 13 got on to them about their transparence, hired a lawyer to deal with them, and made a lot of pointed remarks about their "transparency!"

So the falsity surrounding the bond committee, the way by which their "consensus" decisions were made, the obvious use of people just for the purpose of getting the District's way and to garner votes, the inability of the District to tell the real truth about almost anything they did in regard to this committee, all make me realize that I don't want to vote for anything this group proposed. 

Their decisions are bogus.