Promises Kept!

It is obvious that the fear of COVID-19 was more damaging to our kids than the disease ever was.  Lost socialization, stress, mental health degradation, and academic decay have all been the predictable results of pandemic fear.  I fought to eliminate state and federal mandates that handicapped our children and frustrated our educators.  Kids need to be in school.  Every intervention has a cost, and some of them have proven to be too high.

. . . but it should not be front of our students 24/7.  The data is clear - screen time, social media, and being "plugged in" all pose real threats to child development and health.  Technology-based learning is shallow at best, and there are real costs to staring at a screen all day. Technology is a powerful tool that has transformed our world, but I will continue to advocate for a return to traditional teaching methods focused on reading, writing, STEM, the arts, history, civics, and health. Let our teachers teach!

I have supported and advanced Pearland ISD's common sense efforts to create a culture of security on our campuses.  Pearland is now auditing campuses on a routine basis to make sure that strangers and threats cannot gain access to our children.  And I applaud the new superintendent in his efforts to engage our community and keep us all informed, something we requested from him day 1.

It should not be controversial to say that school libraries should challenge sophisticated readers while protecting childhood innocence. This is not a partisan issue, with Rasmussen finding that 80% of Americans believe that sexual content should stay out of schools. While no one wants to be accused of "book banning" or the like, I am willing to put in the work necessary to flag and eliminate inappropriate content. Whether that means preventing it from entering our libraries or removing it once it is found, I will always stand in the way of attempts to sexualize school children.

When I was elected in 2020, Pearland ISD had a "B" rating from the Texas Education Agency.  Ratings were not issued for 2 years during the COVID pandemic.  Now, I am proud to say that Pearland ISD has returned to an "A" rating, one of only 6 DISTRICTS IN HOUSTON AREA!

When we hired Dr. Larry Berger as superintendent, the expectations were high. But he has exceeded them in every way! He is a culture machine, and culture is everything. Despite funding challenges that have made it hard to keep up financially with surrounding districts, Pearland ISD has an exceptional retention rate for educators in the district.  The culture of Pearland ISD is such that our teachers do not want to leave; and, many that leave end up coming back!  That culture comes from strong leadership with high expectations.

The athletics, choir, art, and band programs have all received accolades at the state and national level in the past year!  I know how important these non-academic pursuits are to the formation of our students, myself included.  I have strongly supported keeping these programs funded and intact despite the challenges of our current financial landscape.

The school district budget is massive, and it is easy to think that $50,000 here and $100,000 there will not matter.  I am against spending money that we do not have, especially when that money could be used to pay an educator.  Even things like "free supplemental air filters" can result in a $220,000 per year maintenance expenditure!  Every $75,000 we spend on such items is equivalent to a teaching position, so we must be careful!

Every year Pearland ISD renews its insurance policies.  Insurance brokers typically make a commission in the form of a percentage of the total premium.  Last year, I requested that our insurer cap the premium they would collect for selling us such a large policy.  The result was over $50,000 in savings to the district just by asking!  And I am pleased to report that they repeated that courtesy again year after year resulting in substantial savings!

Pearland ISD has been facing a serious budget crunch for a few years now.  Most districts around us tax their citizens at the maximum allowable rate, but we have been historically careful to only ask for what we absolutely need.  As such, we were able to pass bond and tax ratification elections which helped to shore up our finances.  There is still work to do, but we appreciate the trust given to us by the citizens of Pearland.

Whether they agree with me or not, anyone that has contacted me directly has received a personal response.  I am a volunteer serving the district, not a paid employee.  Even so, I believe I owe it to our community to hear their voices and answer their questions.

When Dr. John Kelly announced his retirement, we knew that the next superintendent of Pearland ISD had big shoes to fill.  It was a very difficult year to hire a superintendent in the state of Texas, and we decided to evaluate our internal talent before looking outside our walls.  We had some wonderful candidates, and Larry Berger was selected for the role.  From the response I have received from employees and parents alike, we made the right decision!

When I ran in 2020, Pearland ISD also had a tax ratification measure up for vote.  I won my race, but the VATRE failed.  Then we recognized that we could not keep Pearland ISD strong without trying for another VATRE and a bond package.  Thanks to engagement with our community, they passed!

 Prior to me arriving on the Board, there was no measurable scorecard to hold the superintendent accountable for past performance. In the past 5 years, I have worked diligently to develop a rubric that provides both forward-looking goals and retrospective benchmarks by which we can score district leadership. I am pleased with the new strategic plan and scorecard system that has emerged in no small part due to my efforts. 

The primacy of the parent must be respected.  Students are educated in Pearland ISD only with the permission of the parent.  Pearland ISD respects the rights of parents to instill religious, political, and moral belief systems into their children without fear that educators would undermine those teachings.  I will continue to advocate for the primacy of parents.

Every student in Pearland ISD deserves to feel safe and respected.  This sometimes leads to some difficult decisions about how to balance personal freedom with the rights of others.  With the current leadership, Pearland ISD has been successful at amicably resolving these issues as they have arisen.

With 3,000 employees, it is not possible to control the actions of every teacher in the classroom, nor should we try.  Our teachers know that they need to leave their personal politics at the door.  We are very blessed that our Pearland teachers exemplify this, because we will not settle for anything else.

Schools are expected to teach so much more than the basics, and sometimes that means navigating some touchy subjects.  In response to concerned parents, I personally evaluated our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) materials to make sure that it met our standards of neutrality in Pearland ISD.  I also championed revisions to the process whereby parents can challenge the inclusion of any book within our library catalog, resulting in a more transparent and parent-responsive process.