Burton ISD Board Candidates Questionnaire – 2019 Brenham/Washington County, Texas In each local election, the Washington County Chamber asks questions of candidates and publicizes their responses to assist voters. Please submit your responses to the questions below by email in either a Word or PDF file to
[email protected] by April 22, 2019. (We will be happy to email you this questionnaire form, upon request.) All candidate responses will be publicized to the over 800 members of the Washington County Chamber and to all citizens of Brenham online at www.BrenhamTexas.com. Note: please include the questions printed below above each response in your document.
1. Why have you decided to run for election at this time? Each time I visit Burton students I am struck by their enthusiasm for their school. They so obviously want to excel at school and move on to greater things when they graduate. My love for those kids and this community compels me to run and help resolve the issues confronting the school and the students, the primary issue being academics. Some do not like hearing this, but the fact is that the district is failing many of the students. The past 3 years the district suffered high teacher turnover with departing teachers citing a poor teaching environment, ineffective discipline with no administrative support. Students and teachers tell me of chronically slow bandwidth where 2, 3 or more students crowd around a Chromebook in an attempt to conserve bandwidth just to get through a lesson. Paper runs low every seventh or eighth week of a 9-week period. Seniors from the class of 2018 tell me they did not visit a single university or trade school. The seniors were told they would visit two schools; they even voted on the schools to attend, but were never taken. Contrast this with other schools where during the first 6 weeks of 9th grade the students visit 2 major universities to instill the idea that high school is not their last stop in their learning process. I talk with valedictorians, salutatorians, straight A, highest honor roll, Beta Club students who go on to university only to struggle to just pass their first year let alone make the solid grades necessary if they want to proceed to medical or law school. I and others have noted the poor management decisions made by the administration and school board. Over the past 13 months Burton ISD spent over $80,000 in attorneys’ fees. I am an attorney so I know when you need an attorney and what attorneys should be charging for their services. This use is obviously excessive. Current board members have commented they need this high use of attorneys so the board knows the rules are being followed. In actual practice, however, this is not happening. At a grievance hearing in 2018, the district paid for TWO attorneys to be present. That grievance went to TEA and the judge ruled that the district did not follow its own rules. The attorney’s fees on the hearings and preparation cost over $17,000 -- only to find that the attorneys actually did NOT do what current board members are saying they use the attorneys for. At the TEA hearings, the district paid for two attorneys to attend a hearing against a non-lawyer. The judge was upset at such a use of attorneys and admonished the district attorneys to have just one attorney at future hearings. This is an extremely poor use of taxpayer dollars and could be avoided if the district simply
followed its own procedures and rules, gave constituents fair process, and did not try to use attorneys to fix the problems that arise when the district does not. Other examples of the poor management decisions by the administration and Board: 1. Teacher drug tests leaked to the public within 24 hours of the test. 2. The board publicly airing contract issues involving the high school and elementary principals and athletic director. 3. The administration and board politicizing a dispute between two board members, disseminating a less than truthful version of the facts in so doing. 4. Existing board members publicly casting blame for district problems on others such as those filing grievances. 5. The superintendent posting a confederate flag on her Facebook page -- a poor decision regardless the reason. 6. Communications from board members to individual constituents discussing board matters that should have never gone out in the form they were published, subjecting the district to ridicule. These poor decisions hit a crescendo when there were actual protestors in the street before school board meetings. As some have put it, you cannot make this up. If this were a private company the entire board would be replaced. Burton ISD needs people focused on preparing our children for their next step in life whether university, trade school, the family business, the military, etc. We must focus on the job, focus on preparing students for life, not simply pushing enough of them over the minimum threshold testing level the state requires. 2. What key competencies do you feel you possess to be a school board trustee? Briefly describe your background in areas such as financial analysis, leadership, effective communication, understanding of educational system issues, ability to contribute to strategic planning and initiatives, and consensus building.
I am 58 years old, married 25 years this year, the father of three children, two of which are Eagle Scouts and Burton High School graduates. My daughter is in the ninth grade at RTC High School. I came from a large family that had little materially. We were raised Christian, we were taught love of community, the importance of education, and an undying work ethic. I am driven, upfront, knowledgeable, and I demand excellence from myself and those I work with. I am an honors graduate from both the University of Texas at Austin School of Business and School of Law. When I graduated from undergraduate school we were in a recession and there were no jobs. That was the best thing that could have happened to me in business as I had to go out on my own and make my way. I worked as a landman in the oil and gas industry when it was in a major downturn. I worked wherever I could find it, from Florida to Texas to Utah to Canada and all states between, running my own lease crews. I then went to law school and worked for several years as a trial attorney for a downtown Houston law firm. I practiced at all levels of trial law in both state and federal court,
including arguing and winning before the Texas Supreme Court. I then went to work for a major independent oil company and shortly thereafter started my own businesses in finance and manufacturing. I have worked at these businesses for over 20 years. I have worn many hats in my work. I am thus highly educated and have a broad range of experience at all levels of business. I am capable of making informed and sound management decisions. I have managed the payrolls for my businesses, managed the business investments, and have indeed spent over 20 years in managing and growing money. As a trial attorney, communications skills are paramount. You must be able to talk with a judge or jury or witness in order to obtain the facts, tell the story, and apply the law. As a small business owner you must communicate with employees, the heads of other companies, and with government officials. Some of my closest friends have served in the education system their entire lives and have served as highly successful principals and superintendents. Over the years I have drawn upon their experience and wisdom and would continue doing so. 3. What is your vision for education in this community? To return Burton academics to par with its outstanding athletics and agriculture program. As I have stated, academics have declined the past three years. While we still produce some outstanding students for the next level, we also graduate students who literally struggle to form complete sentences. How can such disparity exist? The school’s focus must change to see beyond simply pushing the majority of students past the state minimum test levels while letting those who can excel do so. Instead, we must concentrate on ALL our children excelling at the next level regardless of what they do or who they compete with.
4. How do you feel Burton ISD impacts the local economy? How can the Burton ISD board make a positive impact on local economic growth?
The school system is one of if not the largest impact in the area. That said, the school’s primary purpose is education. Thus, its highest use is providing the best education possible to the area students to prepare them to be productive citizens. Whether they go on to college, vocational school, the military, or enter the business world upon graduation, many return after making their mark elsewhere. Others stay in the area after school and benefit the community by either starting their own businesses or working for other local businesses. By producing high caliber graduates, the school enhances the value of the area, raising property values and indeed making Burton even more attractive and valuable. 5. Describe your view of the roles of the school board and the superintendent. What is the ideal relationship between these two?
The board is comprised of the only elected officials in the local school system. The board gives voice to the taxpayers and the rest of the community in establishing the district’s vision, goals and policies to be implemented and accomplished by the superintendent. The superintendent is the school board’s one employee. The superintendent is hired for his or her skill in running the district. It is the superintendent’s job to use those skills to efficiently and effectively run the district. It is the board’s duty to ensure the superintendent does so, that the vision, goals, and policies are implemented. This is accomplished by requiring the superintendent to demonstrate in specific terms what is being done and the progress made. The board needs to trust the superintendent to do the job, but it is a trust that must be verified with more than a rubberstamp.
Are there any other comments you would like to make? My daughter attends RTC high school as a freshman. She attended Burton ISD schools from fifth grade through eighth grade. Unfortunately, Burton’s discipline and academic standards deteriorated the past 3 years to the point it was impossible for her to learn in her class. We already graduated one child who was not taught English in high school and we could not have that happen again. It is, however, my hope the academic environment and caliber will again rise at Burton so she can graduate here. Quite frankly, it is my love of this community that compels me to run for school board even though my child attends elsewhere. I am committed to Burton and Burton ISD and thus my willingness to go through the election process to try and make a positive impact on Burton ISD academics.
WASHINGTON COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 314 S. Austin Street Brenham, TX 77833 979-836-3695 www.BrenhamTexas.com Fax: 979-836-2540 Email:
[email protected]
