THE  NOTORIOUS WOLFE LETTER:

The Notorious Wolfe "Letter"

In an effort to get rid of Board Member Ken Burton and get Judy Snyder elected, "friends" of candidates Judy Snyder and Board Member Joe Kimmel circulated the following letter to the residents of Thornwood, Fleetwood, Barker's Landing and Memorial Thicket on school board election day in May 1996. Mrs. Snyder had lost the election the year before and hadn't even been able to turn out her own east end neighborhood, so this time she did what she had to do!

Dear Thornwood, Fleetwood, Barker's Landing and Memorial Thicket Residents,

As you may  know, Judy Snyder, a resident of Fleetwood is running for one of the positions on the KISD board.  We are very thankful for her taking on this job and desperately need her on the board.

At the present we have one other resident from this area, Joe Kimmel. Joe lives in Barker's Landing.  He is one of the people on the School Board who are [sic] very concerned about our area. We feel that James Peters and Jean Richardson are the best choices for the other two board positions. [Jean Richardson was a little known candidate opposing Ken Burton. She stayed on the school board a few months and then moved away. MM]

Within the next year, the board will be deciding what to do about Wolfe Elementary.  They are currently considering tearing down and building a new Wolfe in Green Trails off South Fry Road.  A new elementary school is planned for the North Fry Road area which would drain off 2/3 of the students who currently attend Wolfe, leaving only the 230 students from our Memorial area neighborhoods in attendance there.

We need representation on the board who [sic] feel strongly that our area needs a neighborhood elementary school and will fight to keep it for us. Many ideas have been suggested for Wolfe, including making it a magnet school for accelerated students in the district.

This affects us all, even if you don't have school age children.  The loss of Wolfe would be devastating to our property values, and few people would be willing to buy a house knowing they would have to bus their school children out to Fry Road to go to elementary school. [They didn't mention that they were willing to have their children bused out to a junior high on Westgreen or a high school on Westgreen!]

Voter turnout in the area has typically been low.  We can't afford to let that happen this time.  We can help ourselves and send a strong message to KISD by taking just five minutes to vote for the people who will support us.  Don't be ignored!  Take your voting obligation seriously.  Go to Wolfe on Saturday, May 4, and vote for the three J's --Judy Snyder, James Peters and Jean Richardson.

Sincerely,

Friends of Wolfe Elementary

Eddie and Gary Dugger for Barker's Landing 496-6077

Betsy and Craig Beasley, for Fleetwood  689-9603

Kim and Ken Braud, for Thornwood  558-9088

Sheila and Jack Cannata for Memorial Thicket  631-6533

[At the school board meeting following the election, which the three touted candidates won, Ken Burton, who lost his seat, before the new members were sworn in, (using Roberts Rules of Order as his justification--Ken is an attorney) polled the board and made every board member answer this question:  "Has this board at any time ever discussed closing Wolfe Elementary School?"  One by one, each board member replied in turn, "No."  I won't ever forget Mr. Kimmel's face as he said, "No." Ken was proving that the letter that was sent out was a lie.

This wasn't the last time such a letter as this went around the east end neighborhood.  For years worthless (in my opinion) candidates who couldn't get people to vote for them any other way, sent similar letters to everyone who lived in the area proclaiming that their opponents were getting ready to close Wolfe!  Only when the Watchdogs beat them to the punch (my idea) by explaining how the residents there should expect such a letter on election day in 2006, was their plot foiled!  But even with that, they did it again later.  Such shenanigans are indicative of the kind of people that are running for the Katy school board these days.]