STANDING UP FOR A FELLOW BOARD MEMBER:
The following Letter to the Editor of The Katy Times is self explanatory. James Peters was a fellow Board member, who had been criticized in another letter. I came to his defense because I had attended the same meeting and heard the remarks that had been made.
Dear Editor:
I would like to respond, on behalf
of the Board, to a letter that appeared in the February 1 issue of The Katy Times.
The letter began by addressing a
previous editorial that had appeared on January 25.
That editorial explored the differences between TAAS test scores as well as other
pertinent factors that exist between Katy ISD schools and Plano ISD schools.
The editorial was well written and researched and made some very valid points, the
most important being that Plano, according to the information cited, appears to be
garnering better TAAS test scores than Katy.
As anyone who listens to me knows, I
have made similar remarks and drawn similar conclusions at public board meetings many
times over the years I have been on the Board.
Making valid comparisons between KISD and similar school districts based on TAAS
scores or any other criteria is a worthwhile activity. While striving to better understand
the validity and meaning of TAAS test scores, the Board often asks questions about those
scores, the “group” with which we are compared, as well as the practice of “teaching to
the TAAS test” with regard to our students. Members
of this Board ask questions about our relative status with regard to other school
districts all the time. We constantly concern
ourselves with providing an excellent education for
our students and obtaining the most value for tax dollars spent.
I could speak for an hour on the things we have done over just the last year that
would support that assertion.
That being said, I am greatly
dismayed by the next to the last paragraph of the reader’s letter to the editor that
proceeded to quote purported remarks made by James Peters.
I also attended the instructional audit parents meeting at Mayde Creek Junior High.
While Mr. Peters sometimes makes light of an issue in an effort to focus serious
attention on it, he never said or would say that the Board would believe that “academic
performance is not important” or that what is important is that “the parents think the
schools are good.” Mr. Peters never said those
words in the way they were attributed to him.
I have known Mr. Peters for several
years now, and I know that his belief in the importance of high academic performance
begins at home with his own children, both of whom rank near the top of their respective
classes at Katy High School. This concern for
academic performance transfers to everyone else’s children at every opportunity with
regard to Mr. Peter’s Board activities. For
anyone to write a letter deliberately taking remarks out of context or creating false
passages to make a point does a great disservice to Mr. Peters specifically and the Board
collectively, and I believe that such efforts not only harm us as individuals but our
school district’s students and teachers as
well. This Board will not let untrue
statements about itself or its individual members go unanswered. For the greater good I
would hope that parents will choose to work within the system to improve our students’
academic performance and refrain from making unwarranted statements about Board members.
Thank you for
allowing me to correct what I consider a great injustice.