Houstonians Demand Change After Arrests at Last School Board Meeting
Activists and audience members reclaimed their freedom of speech at last night’s Houston Independent School District’s (HISD) board meeting by calling out trustee names during their speeches and clapping — both are against policy. Clapping is what incited Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones to call for police officers to clear the rooming having three people arrested with two of them being detained overnight at the April 24 meeting that had children present.
The board meeting had gone on for six hours before trustees adjourned in front of the public. Oh wait. They didn’t. They made it seem like they adjourned in front of the public around 11:19 pm, but instead went into closed session.
*Note, the time in my tweets are not the correct time of when the incident happened. Looks like it changed itself to Pacific or Eastern time or something, but it’s definitely not Central time.*
The first hour or so of the board meeting was slated for special recognitions including Cooking for Change, HISD Student Congress, Pennies for Patients, and a poetry reading for teachers to name a few. More than half the room’s seating was reserved leaving very little room for activists and concerned parents.
Before the board got to the agenda items, ACLU observers were escorted out of the room. They were standing in the back, and were let back in after special recognition people had left the meeting and left empty seats. Meanwhile, this entire time HISD principals and staff who had arrived late remained standing in the back without being escorted out.
Later during the meeting, there were many empty seats but even with that police were not allowing people into the board room. Perhaps they were starting to get tired of going through everyone’s bags, pockets, and waving metal wands.
After special recognition was done, discussion on STAAR results happened. Board members and admin looked at preliminary test results and growth at “Superintendent Schools” as positive sign, outperforming state in many areas, according to Trustee Anne Sung. Despite this, it may not be enough to avoid replacement of democratically elected officials with a board of appointed managers.
RELATED: Both Parties Are Dismantling Public Education, St. Thomas University Professor Explains How
At the two-and-a-half-hour mark, 7:30 pm, a presentation for the 2018 bond was next, however, Trustee Davila motioned to table the presentation for next meeting considering there were 134 agenda item speakers and agenda items to cover, she said.
From the agenda item speakers, calls for a long overdue performance audit (which did pass), resignations for Board President Skillern-Jones and Trustee Wanda Adams (which, surprise, didn’t happen), and there were calls for the board to sue the Texas Education Agency (TEA) before they replace the democratically elected board members with an appointed board of managers.
For the hearing of citizens, around the four hour mark, it became clear that four rows of reserved seating for the principals were to encourage the district principals to use public time to advocate for interim superintendent, Grenita Lathan, to become the permanent superintendent. A huge block of employees registered to speak on public — constituent, tax payer — time calling for their new boss to become the permanent boss. With reserved seating. Can’t make up these ethical mishaps even if I tried, folks.
It also became clear some of the people that advocated for Board President Skillern-Jones to remain president during the hearing of citizens were also in reserved seats.
Last night during all of this, I received a press release from Representative Garnet Coleman saying he will be speaking with the TEA, today, May 11, to see about approving a waiver for HISD due to Hurricane Harvey.
If the waiver is approved, will this give HISD more time with a democratically elected board? Will the community see the systematic removal of democracy by the end of summer with the appointed board of managers? Will the current board sue the TEA and the state before it’s too late? Too many questions, too much at stake.
There’s a lot to unpack here, dear reader. You need to understand the background of why HISD tried to charter 10 public schools in predominantly black neighborhoods, why HISD tried to choose Energized for STEM Academy as the charter, and how the state bills are cornering school districts in Texas to privatize education. Understanding this background of backroom deals, who the trustees’ donors are, and understanding how both parties are working to dismantle public education — even skimming through it — will help provide context to all of this. If the situation were simple, I would highlight each issue in a paragraph before going through the timeline.
But of course the systematic removal of democracy is not that simple.
