Chronicle Report on Katy Elks Lodge Barbeque Hosting Board Challengers:
Katy ISD incumbents face challengers in May election
By Leah Binkovitz | April 2, 2015 | Updated: April 4, 2015 10:40pm
[Photos included with the story had the caption "Bryan Michalsky, left, and John Pendergraff will be challengers in the Katy ISD board election. Obviously the Chronicle is getting pretty sloppy with its reporting. Michalsky is the current Board president, not a challenger! The other "challenger" is Leonard Ledford. He didn't get a picture. Neither did Mr. Griffin.]
First it's two seats. And then, next year, two more. That's how John Pendergraff explained the prospect of getting some fresh voices on the board of the Katy Independent School District at a campaign event at the Katy Elks Lodge. Over barbecue [In Texas we spell it with a 'q'] and live music, Pendergraff fielded questions from concerned Katy parents about math curriculum, busing and district spending.
Pendergraff and challenger Leonard Ledford are vying for two board seats up for election this year. They face current board president Bryan Michalsky and member Charles Griffin, respectively, both elected in 2012. Aligning themselves as outsider voices that would work to disrupt a board whose votes are often unanimous, Pendergraff and Ledford embody many of the frustrations voiced during the contentious bond election in the fall. Against criticism of strong-arming a stadium into the recent $748 million bond package and concerns over district transparency and communication, Michalsky and Griffin said they have helped oversee one of the most open and responsive Katy school boards to date while navigating the complicated waters of rapid growth.
[Let's talk about the "rapid growth." When Michalsky and Griffin got on the Board in the spring of 2012, the increase in the number of students by the next fall in October over the previous year was down to 1,835 from 2,154 the previous year! In the fall of 2013 it was back up to a 2,964 student increase over the previous year. Last fall (2014) the increase was 3,207 students. Looking at those numbers as a percentage of growth, in 2008, KISD was growing at a 5.6% rate, but in 2013, the fall after Griffin and Michalsky were elected, the percentage was down to 2.9%. In the fall of 2014 there was only a 4.4% increase. So the growth factor percentage wise of the total school population has been going down since 2008. I'm not sure what it was that Michalsky and Griffin found so "complicated" about that! A school district as big as Katy ought to be able to handle 3 to 4 % growth each year without much trouble and without building so many new schools. The problem that Michalsky and Griffin failed to deal with was the rezoning of schools so as to optimize the use of the existing schools and to deal with the moving around of portables to accommodate quick growth until rezoning/building can occur. In my view, they have failed miserably to properly address the problem of overcrowding. Overcrowding is not the same as "growth"! They also have neglected most of the older schools to the point that students at Memorial Parkway Elementary have been drinking water and having their lunches cooked in water that has come through "corroded zinc pipes" according to KISD spokespersons. Of course having all those maintenance repairs thrown into the 2014 Bond Election garnered lots of voters! Just so you know, "maintenance" is not supposed to come out of bond funds! Perhaps if these two astute board members were to study the Policy Manual, they would know that.
Part of their problem is that they were elected by a contrived base of people who want the Katy High School football team to always be in the playoffs. To accomplish that, boundaries for that school had to be gerrymandered a long time ago and then left in place to accommodate ONE coach. It is a selfish motive and Michalsky and Griffin are complicit because they were selected to run because they apparently agreed to not change Katy High School's boundaries.
It is also unrealistic, selfish, inept, and dishonest to avoid rezoning in a public school district just to appease one set of voters.]
A few months ago, Pendergraff, an engineer, wasn't even planning on running. Someone else will do it, he thought. But as the filing date neared in February, he realized he might have to be that someone. Over the years, several district decisions have frustrated him, starting with the rollout of a reduction in transportation services several years ago that caught many parents unaware days before the school year began. Then there was the football stadium that showed up on the most recent bond - albeit in a slightly slimmer silhouette - a year after being defeated in a different bond. He's watched property taxes rise alongside values even as the district reiterates that the tax rate is flat. And this year, he's had to watch his third-grade daughter struggle with the new state math standards as the district implements brand new curriculum [Actually the curriculum that Mr. Pendergraff has run into is actually quite old in Katy ISD. It's been around and evolving for almost 25 years now. What's new is the test that the STATE has mandated no longer tests the "math" that KISD teaches. KISD refuses to change their curriculum to meet the requirements of the STAAR TEST. I realize that Mr. Pendergraff has just been fooled like everyone else about what KISD is really doing here. He can blame Michalsky and Griffin for that as they either know what the superintendent is doing or they are also fooled.] "I know the district only has so much control over that," said Pendergraff, "but we're big enough to say we're not going to do that." With transportation again on the table as the district mulls more changes, Pendegraff thought it might just be time for some more changes.
[Mr. Pendergraff needs to realize that KISD has a great deal of control over what is taught in our schools as does the school board. That they choose to relinquish that right is a huge problem, in my opinion.]"I just think there needs to be some turnover," said Pendergraff.
Ledford, who owns a moving and storage company and has two young children, has many of the same concerns.
"We're united in wanting change," he said at the campaign event at Elks Lodge.
His focus has been much more on increasing per student spending while cutting costs he says are wasteful, like a multi-year contract with an outside communications agency despite a well-staffed in-house communications department. "That doesn't make sense," he said.
"We're actually quite proud of that," Michalsky, a finance man, responded later. The firm, K12 Insight, has conducted community surveys and meetings and provided analysis from a neutral viewpoint, he said. "The analysis was really well done," said Griffin, a pilot with United. K12 Insight also led the recent survey about the district's busing, gathering feedback on the possibility of a multi-bell schedule in the coming years.
[One has to wonder how Mr. Michalsky can justify the expense of $749,000 for a consultant to implement an "improving communications with the public" agenda. Of course, no one ever mentions the cost of the contract or the cost to the District to implement activities that are old and hackneyed and warmed over. ]That process, argued Griffin, was already better done than the district's last transportation overhaul that unfolded as Griffin and Michalsky were sworn in. "I feel like we're doing better than the previous decision already because we're already talking about it," said Griffin. "We brought an openness to the board," he said, "more so than in the past."
[I would argue that there is nothing about this Board or any other Board that ever existed that is "open." These people don't know what "open" means.]They also argued that the decision to include the second stadium on the recent bond was a reflection of a citizens' bond committee, unprecedented in its size. Even though the bond had the narrowest margin of victory of area school districts bonds on the ballot in November, Griffin said including the stadium in the bond honored the bond committee's recommendation. He called the stadium, "just one more avenue to keep kids involved."
[In a trumped up manner, the school board appointed twice as many people for the bond committee as they actually allowed to participate. It was an effort to garner votes, and nothing more. The decisions about what was on the bond were made before the district spent thousands on a facilitator to Delphi the committee members. Michalsky and Griffin voted to approve these measures.]Both Michalsky and Griffin said they're committed to increasing extracurricular opportunities for all students and to maintaining a strong budget and highly rated bonds. The district has vocal critics when it comes to spending but Michalsky said, "I'd love to debate them all day long."
[Michalsky wouldn't stand a chance in a debate with anyone who knows what they are talking about. What extracurricular activities could there possibly be that KISD doesn't have already? And what is a "strong budget." Define that please! And then there's the highly rated bonds. Our bonds aren't rated on anything at all that Mr. Michalsky or Mr. Griffin do or don't do.]He'll get that opportunity, along with Griffin, when the local tea party hosts a candidate's forum on April 23 in advance of the May 9 election.
Comments:
westsidebilly
KISD's BOT was bought long, long ago and their "Team of 8" malarkey clearly shows it. There is absolutely no chance for reform anymore - and when the financial bills from decades of padding finally come due, these folks won't be around to face one note of the music. I'm just waiting for the KISD academic bubble to burst...