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Judy Snyder and Joe Adams are board members who, in my opinion, have not been worthy school board members. The following article is about the two of them when Mrs. Snyder first ran for the Board against Mr. Adams. I actually campaigned for Mrs. Snyder, and when she lost, she blamed me! She said as much to Linda Porto. Never mind that I stood out in front of Hutsell Elementary's voting place for 10 hours trying to get her some votes! And I was obviously doing a good job, or Mr. Adams would not have sent his wife over after a few hours to try to lessen my effect.

Here is another article that alludes to the inability, in my opinion, of these two board members to understand issues.

CANDIDATES FIELD QUESTIONS

By Phyllis Eriksen

April 23, 1995

"Candidates for two positions on the Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees fielded questions posed to them from audience members Thursday night at a political forum hosted by Wolfe Elementary PTO.

Questions included: We've just hired a new superintendent from Texas City. Texas City has a 36% passing rate on the TAAS. KISD has a 74% passing rate at the 10th grade level. We're starting with a superintendent who has failed his own district. Are you concerned about that?

Joe Adams, current KISD School Board member and candidate for Position I, did not believe that TAAS scores would go down because of Dr. Merrell.

Judy Snyder, Adams's opponent for Position I, said she believed the board should be able to communicate with the new superintendent and find out what his plan would be.

Jim Brasier, candidate for Position 2, stated that it was the school board's responsibility to be sure the TAAS scores did not go down; that the board should be sure the superintendent followed KISD guidelines.

Jeff Work, a third candidate for Position 2, said he personally felt that 100% of the students passing the TAAS was the only acceptable situation and that achieving that should be the goal. He went on to say he believed the current drop in the number of students passing the TAAS was not the new superintendent's fault. [Mr. Work lost to Mr. Brasier, but he went on to become a Civil Court Judge in Harris County in 1998.]

Another question posed was: What is the first curriculum question you would ask Dr. Merrell? This question is in regard to outcome based education.

Brasier, Position 2, said he would want to know if Dr. Merrell would base the curriculum on what he had done at Texas City, or base it on the TAAS, the ACT or the SAT. Brasier went on to say that he didn't think TAAS was the only important score and that he would like KISD to develop its own exit tests for each grade level.

Bloor, Position 2, said he would ask Dr. Merrell what would be his primary objective. What would Dr. Merrell want the kids to learn? What would be his top agenda and how would it be implemented?

Work, Position 2, said it was important to know how outcome based education was defined. As he understood the definition, he was against it.

Snyder, Position 2, said she would ask Dr. Merrell's definition of outcome based education and communicate the board's ideas of curriculum. [Huh?]

Adams, Position 1 and current school board member, said he had asked Dr. Merrell this question already and that Dr. Merrell had said his strong suit was not curriculum but that he would bring others in. Adams further stated that he believes Dr. Merrell is a content-based superintendent. [In my opinion Mr. Adams had already been fooled.]

Another question was: As of 1999 Taylor High School is discontinuing it's Honor's or A/P (Advanced Placement) program based on the philosophy that all students are A/P students. Would you work to reinstate the honor's curriculum?

Adams said he hadn't seen the booklet stating that Taylor was discontinuing their honors program and that he would be very surprised to see honors classes go away. [That's because the previous superintendent just did away with honors courses (not AP) without asking permission from anyone, and six years later is the first time Mr. Adams noticed.]

He said he is in favor of honors classes.

Brasier completely disagreed with ending the honors program and felt each student should be challenged to their fullest.

Bloor believed no student should be held back or stymied in any way.

Work stated unequivocally that the honors program has to be reinstated; that the students needed to be challenged.

Snyder believed that not all students are A/P students and that honors curriculum as well as others should be in place.

Not surprisingly, the candidates were in agreement on many topics. All of the candidates believed the board should listen to input from the taxpayers. The candidates noted 2,400 to 2,500 as being the population maximum they believed correct for a high school.

All of the candidates were in favor of year-round schooling, a moment of silence for each student's private devotions and against the sale or distribution of condoms in the schools.

All candidates were strong supporters of parental involvement and volunteer work in the schools.

Voters are urged to personally address their questions to the candidates in two future forum scheduled Monday, May 2, at 7:00 p.m. at Memorial Parkway Elementary and Tuesday May 2 from 6:30 to 10:00 p.m. at the University of Houston - West Houston Institute at Cinco Ranch.

Election day is May 6 for the two at-large positions."