What is Hyperbole Politics? Here is an example: Did our school board just tax us out of our homes? The only qualifier for a candidate that should matter who is and already has represented parents/taxpayers and their children with transparency and integrity.
Essentially, it is a form of extreme exaggeration. Do I expect the political messages to change anytime soon? Sadly no.
Rockwall County is the fourth fastest growing county and voted many times in various media as the best place to live in Texas.
• Rockwall County had a population of 109,888, adding 31,551 residents since 2010, representing a 28.71 percent growth.
• The City of Rockwall had 47,415 residents in 2020, adding 9,925 people for 20.93% growth during the past 10 years.
• Fate had a 2020 population of 17,434 people, compared to 6,367 people in 2019, according to the Census, a growth of 65.53% in the past decade.
• Royse City had reached a population of 12,652 people according to the 2020 Census. adding 3,303 residents during the past 10 years, for a growth of 26.1%.
• Heath had reached a population of 9,718 people according to the 2020 Census, with the 2,797 residents added since 2010 representing 28.78% growth.
• McLendon-Chisholm had a population of 3,815 people in 2020, adding 2,422 residents since the 2010 Census, a growth of 63.48%.
• Mobile City was the exception, adding 20 residents in the past decade to reach a population of 208 people, according to the 2020 Census, which still represents a 9.61% growth rate.
Many may be proud of that and some may not be. Growth comes with more people on the road, longer wait times to be seated at our favorite restaurants to more space to accommodate for public or private education. Either way, we have a population of people that want to be here. We have a lot to be thankful for. It’s very easy to complain. Especially from those who from the surface want to project things that are happening elsewhere to make it sound that those things are happening here in our county to our school districts. I encourage anyone to take the time to learn how things work, whether that’s through local city government to school districts.
Did Jon Bailey Step Down As President of the Rockwall ISD Board of Trustees?
No. President Jon Bailey did file along with incumbent candidate Trustee Jim White when filing opened. However, for personal reasons Mr. Bailey chose to withdraw from the contested race on February 18, 2022 and is serving the remaining of his term until May 2022.
Candidate Nikki Harris had originally filed on January 28, 2022 for Place 4 at 11:25am (See FIGURE 1.). Candidate Lee Harvey filed his application on February 16 at 1:50pm (See FIGURE 2.). On February 18 at 11:25am, Candidate Nikki Harris filed her Campaign Treasurer and asked the Secretary who else has filed and learned she was in a three person race. She calculated on her own the mathematics and asked the Secretary what other places were available? The Secretary shared that Place 5 was not contested against the incumbent Trustee Jim White and she filed a withdrawal for Place 4 that morning of February 18 at 11:25am (See FIGURE 3.). Ms. Harris immediately filed for Place 5 (See FIGURE 4.).
Mr. Bailey who has been serving since 2013 did let Stan Britton know of his decision that he did not want to run a fourth term. None of the school board of trustees were aware and many of them were shocked to hear the news. Stan Britton served on the Rockwall ISD 2018 Strategic Design Team and expressed a genuine interest of serving on the school board. He shared with Mr. Bailey to call him when he was not looking to run another term. Candidate Stan Britton officially filed for Place 4 at 2:47pm on February 18, 2022 (See FIGURE 5.).
In the last several years, candidates and future candidates have shared that they wanted to run for various offices. This doesn’t mean that there is some sort of plot nor secret meetings taking place who should run. It just means that people are looking to serve our community when a place is available during election cycles. Elected officials who decide that they did not want to go for another term are not required to make a public statement or make some lengthy farewell announcement. It’s their personal business. Election filings have deadlines and in most cases if candidates want to know who has filed or not by the deadline you can find out by the Election Secretary. It’s not really that difficult to inquire. As it is also not difficult to withdraw from a race prior to deadline or within the week after the filing deadline per election code.
Code of Fair Campaign Practices
Instead of following the Code of Fair Campaign Practices Candidate Lee Harvey and his campaign manager/former campaign treasurer Carol Chinn spent time slandering a candidate, as well as, creating unfounded accusations of the Rockwall ISD School Board hand picking candidates, Jon Bailey not seeking a fourth term with no announcement to hand picking Stan Britton. Hoping voters would be persuaded to support Mr. Harvey’s campaign by creating an illusion of misleading information of events that did not take place.
Candidate Lee Harvey claims he wants transparency, yet he never discloses his relationship of who his campaign manager is and avoids answering school board related questions. Instead, he leans on Ms. Chinn who often creates regularly false information with dramatic distractions that don’t matter to the tax payer, teachers and parents of students attending Rockwall ISD. Ms. Chinn is the misguided face behind voterockwall.com that self proclaims that it is an organization. Ms. Chinn has a history of operating the website and the Facebook Fan Page as an unregistered Political Action Committee (PAC). She has personally made and handed out marked sample ballots outside of polling locations claiming to have vetted conservative Republican candidates and/or propositions. Often Ms. Chinn gives the impression to new candidates who don’t know any better that she is part of Rockwall’s conservative grassroots movement and would offer endorsements.
Did Rockwall ISD School Board Shut Parents Out?
No. Even during the 2021 madness, I personally attended school board meetings without a face covering. Also, there is NOT some conspiracy of shutting parents out to not know what is being taught or read to students. It is simply exaggerated misleading information used for political purposes spread by a handful of disgruntled people.
Board of Trustee Meetings and Communications
As of June 2021, you can come better prepared for school board meetings by reviewing the online Board Book that includes documents/presentations if available per agenda item. Anyone can email a trustee separately or reach out to them. Either by phone or meet in person. Or talk to them at the school board meeting during a break or before/after the meeting. Parents who have registered their students can receive the newsletters from their teachers, principals and school districts to read at their convenience.
Is CRT Supported In Rockwall ISD?
Our School Board is not in support of CRT curriculums nor were they recently purchased. I don’t know of any of the candidates that want CRT either. The majority of our elected officials are not in favor of it. If you have a question of what is actually being taught to your student(s) then be the awesome parent that you already are and ask your student’s teacher. Visit your child’s school to meet your teacher, go to curriculum night, review the student’s work, etc. And if you still are not getting the information then contact the principal or speak with the chief academic officer. All this information is available on the ISD and/or school website. If you have problems navigating it there are plenty of people to help you by simply calling the school office.
Is Obscene Graphic Material Available In Public School Libraries? And What Can You Do About It?
It’s always a good idea to be informed about what to look for that is happening across our nation. There are a number of legitimate organizations and elected officials that are sharing that information. Whether it is through a documentary to subject matter speakers.
In fall 2021, Texas State Representative Matt Krause who initially compiled a 16 page list of some 850 books attached with a letter to school districts asking for information about how many are available on their campuses, how many copies they have and how much money they spent on the books. The list included book titles that covers content about race and sexuality. To my knowledge, I am aware that Rockwall ISD did spend a substantial amount of hours in finding the book titles in multiple libraries. Yes, a fraction of the book titles from the 16-page list were found in Rockwall ISD public school libraries. I’m not aware of what Rep. Krause has done with the information obtained from Texas school districts.
Recently, there has been many parents who have gone to other Texas school board meetings to express their outrage. Many public commentators read excerpts of the content that I personally found obscene and perverse that they have found from books in their public school libraries. My presumption is that parents reviewed Rep. Krause list of books and focused on book titles with overtly sexual content. Despite all of the speeches made, I believe that we are missing the steps to remove the material from the public school libraries.
On the list I happen to notice a book title, “Cider House Rules”. When you first hear about the story it’s about a young man who is taught medicine by the doctor at the orphanage where he was brought up. However, he disagrees with his mentor over the issue of abortion and he leaves the home. From there he finds work on a cider farm and he begins to see a different world. Yes, it talks about abortion, a daughters rape by her father and other racial-related drama that took place during that time period. I would need to hear what was the metrics to determine this particular book title to be listed before passing judgement. I understand people may not like our history, but regardless of how ugly it was it still can allow us to observe and understand how people and societies behaved. Hopefully, we can learn from it and be better.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT PERVASIVELY VULGAR LIBRARY BOOKS? The best thing for parents and/or guardians that wish for obscene and overtly sexual content to be removed is to start an informal review by letting the teacher know about the book title(s) and where it was found. The teacher would follow the protocol to enter it into a formal review process. If the teacher doesn’t or is not familiar with this process then go to the principal. A formal review process will include appointed teachers, administrative district staff and possibly PTA volunteers.
The outcome needs to be documented appropriately so that there is enough evidence of reasons to officially remove the book(s). And yes, Rockwall ISD has removed in the past resource books that were found to be inappropriate that did start with parents that informed the superintendent of the book titles and where they were located.
Just imagine if there was a list created by an opposition party that wanted all content about our history to be removed immediately without any review. It’s admirable for anyone to attend the school board meetings to express their concerns however, most school board policies would not address books that have already been purchased and have been in the library for years. For NEW book purchases that are over $50,000 would be something the school board of trustees could be able to review in greater detail to award the contracted vendor or modify the requests. I’m not encouraging any parent to come storming the next school board meeting to read vulgar excerpts from book titles they have found in a school library. Instead, I’m encouraging parents/guardians to follow through by starting an informal review process. As this is the best form of action so that a district may remove materials because they are pervasively vulgar or based solely upon the educational suitability of the books in question. By doing this action, the school district will be following the governance and management policy adopted.
Superintendent vs Trustee
Often I have listened to candidates who don’t seem to be familiar with the role of a superintendent and the role of a trustee. It’s important to know the difference so that you don’t get hooked on campaign promises that the candidate can’t keep. The board reviews regular reports from the administration on the operations of the ISD and progress toward reaching the goals set.
School boards adopt policies that are consistent with federal and state laws and regulations. The board does hire and reviews the superintendent that is responsible for managing the district operations. The elected trustee would be involved in adopting a budget and approve an appropriate tax rate to fund it. Trustees don’t just on a whim adopt a budget. There is public input, hearings and other requirements that must be done. However, in a trustee’s position they review studies from staff to strategic planning committees that serve to review the impacts to account for various budget decisions to accommodate the school district needs. The trustee would be in the right position to ask about the long-term fiscal impact of board decisions, so they can begin to understand the complexities of budget decisions. Hopefully, they will be able to avoid making decisions that put the district in a difficult position down the road. If you have a tax appraisal issue you should protest it by going to the Rockwall County Tax Appraisal District. Not to the Rockwall ISD school board.
Do Teachers Have A Voice?
Teachers have a process to communicate their issues or concerns with the school administration. There is also an anonymous tip line that anyone can report to on the Rockwall ISD district website.
Upcoming Election for Rockwall School Board of Trustees on May 7, 2022
Each candidate should be able to explain why they are the best candidate and would appreciate the honor of your vote. The candidates should be attending school board meetings regularly since it would be required of them to actually be at the dais if they are elected. And yes…I am aware of who is and who is not attending Rockwall ISD board of trustee meetings. Reach out to each of the candidates and ask them your questions directly that are important to you.
I say all this to encourage anyone if you are genuinely concerned about any school-related issues there are plenty of avenues to have it addressed and to get answers. Election season doesn’t have to be ugly or full of hyperbole. Usually the hyperbole is often caused by those that are desperate for attention and to distract the potential voter from the real issues.
Hopefully, we will see healthy political campaigns in the next several weeks and the election will determine who will have the honor to serve as RISD Board of Trustee Place 4 and Place 5 on Saturday, May 7, 2022.
Good luck to the candidates Jim White, Nikki Harris, Lee Harvey and Stan Britton.
Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio | Pexels
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