If Community Wants Reform, They Must Be Prepared Soon To Help Proctor & Huckaby Stand Up To A School Board President & Administration In Fear Of Losing Their Control
February 1, 2012 by George
Filed under Featured Posts, George's Blog
The issue of reform in Katy I.S.D. has reached the point it was destined to reach IF members of the school board ever actually began scoring points with the public to the degree that the administration and its lap dog board protectors like Joe Adams began to feel the earth moving under their feet.
Bulletin: The earth is moving under their feet.
Dr. Bill Proctor and Terry Huckaby have brought the reform effort to that moment in time where Adams and the administration he has spent over two decades playing kissy-poo with actually feel threatened in that they sense they are losing control of the public policy debate.
They are losing control of the ‘message’ and the Hollywood-like sound stage they have created to project a different public reality than private truth.
The matter involving contracts for delinquent and current tax collections that has played out in the public arena is the one issue that is bringing this matter to a head. But in reality, it is about far more than one contract.
The public should understand this. It is about what it has always been about to public school administrators who control different pieces of a billion dollar industry that doles out contracts. It’s about control.
And Adams is losing it. The administration in Katy is losing it. Consequently, they are showing signs of lashing out against those who are leading this effort. They are angry and mad at Proctor and Huckaby.
They are frustrated beyond frustration with John Pape at Instant News Katy because they have grown accustomed to the other wimpy media outlets that reigned supreme until Pape’s Instant News Katy restored actual journalism to the community. They want to put the toothpaste of reform back in that tube. As they find that harder and harder to achieve, their anger and frustration rises and rises.
Thus, the issue of reform in Katy I.S.D. for at least awhile has nothing to do with contracts, academics, business efficiency, bond issues, or any other of the myriad of issues that gain the attention of the public in the course of events of a modern public school district.
It’s about control. It would be fair of me to say that there are people in this community who should have over the course of the last two years forgiven me for my abrasive personality and style in confronting the public education system in general and the leadership of Katy I.S.D. in particular for years. It is clear that there is now a greater understanding of just how deep the roots of institutional and organizational arrogance in the public education bureaucracy grow.
Here’s the deal. Here’s where we stand.
Joe Adams and the administration he ‘fronts for’ do not want Bill Proctor and Terry Huckaby talking about public education issues with the public or the media. Joe Adams and the administration he represents are apparently furious that Proctor and Huckaby make public comments about issues that come before the school board (or will come) with Instant News Katy.
Joe Adams and the administration he helps protect want to stop it cold. Joe Adams and the administration he has helped insulate from accountability want Proctor and Huckaby to shut up and let Joe Adams do the talking FOR THE BOARD because he is the current president of the board. It is as if Proctor and Huckaby have no constitutional right to speak for themselves on public policy issues of importance to them and the constituents who elected them.
Joe Adams and the administration for whom he serves as a blocking guard apparently believe that elected public officials must always filter their thoughts through the carefully manicured processes of government.
Here’s my advisory to that portion of the public who believes that Proctor and Huckaby are the first rays of sunshine to break through the face of administrative dictates and control in many, many years.
The day is drawing near that you are going to have reach into your pocket and pull out $10, or $50, or $100, or $200 or whatever you reasonably can to contribute to the effort to make sure that Proctor and Huckaby do not get steamrolled by one of the most powerful and sinister bureaucracies in all of governance - the public education bureaucracy.
I wrote upon the occasion of the election of Proctor and Huckaby that it was an event that threatened to shake the system statewide to its very core. Katy I.S.D. is viewed in Texas as one of those pivotal districts. The powers to be throughout Texas do not want the reform movement on business, finance, and academics to get a foothold in Katy. Let me be clear. The last place that these powerful people want to see become a haven of reform is Katy.
Be clear. If Proctor and Huckaby help lead the citizens and classroom teachers in Katy in the breaking up of this management cabal that public education has imposed throughout Texas, no school district in Texas will be immune. If it can happen in the safe environs of Katy, where successive superintendents and acquiescent school boards have kept the lid on the bottle, it can happen anywhere.
People often like to envision being involved in a movement greater than themselves. Too often, many think they have to go to Washington D.C. or Austin or some other giant playing field to have great impact. It’s not true.
Proctor and Huckaby’s sheer determination and courage have brought the reformers of Katy to the point where if we can take one more big step, we can begin addressing the real issues that have controlled the processes and the people far too long.
And frankly, Adams and those he seeks to protect are more scared than they have ever been before that what they value - control - is slipping, slipping, slipping away.
Those of us who want government at all levels to be reformed are going to have to reach into our pocketbooks and help.
Proctor and Huckaby have already done so much. They want to do more. And, we are going to have to surround them with support and tell the status quo forces that are protecting their domain that to get to Proctor and Huckaby you are going to have to come through us.
People who have read my columns and heard my speeches for many years now know that I most often have been required to focus on the ‘evildoers’ who stand in the way of reform. We now have two legitimate leaders in Proctor and Huckaby.
Don’t let this moment slip away. You may never get it back.
Be ready to help. When the announcement comes soon, please be ready to help.
I’ve been helping for years and will continue to do so. But this time I want to write a check. It isn’t much but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t help. Every penny helps and when you make the red of the penny rub off in your hands and Abraham Lincoln squeal for CPR, you can do amazing things.
I am SO proud to be a part of History in the making. People in other TX cities and several other states ARE looking to us in Katy ISD to lead the reformation in education process. It’s taken years and years of a lot of “pocket people” who fight one battle after another. Like Fred Hink and Zero Tolerance. Chris Cottrell, Kevin Tatum, A.D. Muller, Mary McGarr and many others with the Katy Citizens WatchDOGS. Lone wolf, Tom Law who wasn’t able to do a lot w/i the Board but let it be known that he would at least try and find out and gave it a good shot. Such a decent human being and very courageous to stand alone but at least try. There’s people like Stacy Tomdio who ran for SBOT and did it while people laughed and pointed, starred and made rude comments. She did her part and got off her ash and ran and held her head high. I have never been more proud of her than when she realized that she may have lost but somewhere along the line she affected 300 and some odd other people who voted for and supported her and THAT made her a winner because she TRIED.
It IS people like you, George Scott and people like John Pape who are helping the little people like me, MAKE A DIFFERENCE by FORCING the blinds and shutters to come off. We are peeling back the shoddy paint job, dousing the smoke and breaking the mirrors that impede OUR Katy Community from being A+ instead of a F(failure) and U(unsatisfactory). We WANT to be 1 Community but it’s very hard to do so when you can’t trust people like Joe Adams and others on our School Board. It’s hard to believe in a Superintendent who SAYS he’s a Rotarian but doesn’t practice the core tenets of that wonderful group in his everyday career.
ONE Townhall meeting with Mayor Don Elder, Fox 26 news at PowerHouse Christian Center ISN”T enough. “Stacked” and “pre-selected” Community “Committees” where everyone knows they are being “delphied” ARE NOT considered open honest transparent community engagement by the majority of the highly educated out here in Katy.
We are NOT stupid out here. This is NO Stepford City or Peyton Place. Nor are we a perfect utopia. We grew weary and tired and became lazy and complacent. We allowed this to happen because we trusted and naively believed. We were easily fooled by devious individuals in bed with developers and others who stood to gain in THEIR wallets. They helped “pimp” out Katy because “growth is good” but where are those jobs or industries that would have helped our Community take it “to the next level”??? Those of you who have fed at OUR community trough trying desperately to “grow” our District for a long time need to know this. We see you for what you are and who you are and what you have done as well as what you HAVEN’T done. You ARE on notice. We WILL take back OUR School District,OUR neighborhoods (say NO to Aldi at THAT location) and OUR Community one person at a time, one dollar at a time, one block at a time. “What’s popular isn’t always right and what’s right isn’t always popular.” “Stand for something or fall for anything.” Thank you Mary, George, John, Bill, Terry and many many other unsung heros for standing up for the tax paying citizens, parents and children of THIS District and THIS Community. GOD BLESS US ALL in our efforts to right the wrong and make it better for everyone.
NOTE: Elisabeth, I like and appreciate your passion. Recently, I have begun giving consideration to running for the State Board of Education. I am slipping this in to your post because I respect and like you. My statement is understated and very limited. I have NOT announced that I am doing it but only that I am considering it. What do you think? What do others think? This is my trial balloon using the response to a post of a person I may or may not know. Are people that I have offended ready to forgive me because, in fact, I am a mean, tough SOB ready to consider taking on this challenge when next it opens up?
A very sad day for the Katy school board was when Adams and Frailey thought they had the “right or authority” to ban citizens that vote in this district from speaking during an open forum which is required.
Adams and Frailey have denied others recently from speaking and both need to be ashamed and removed from their duties!
Let’s get some honesty and transparency in there that will follow the laws of the state of Texas and stop funneling funds to their buddies, like in their Linebarger recommendations. Intimidation and bullying needs to stop in Katy ISD!
George -
I respect and like you as well. So much so that I would like to formally ask you to run for a position on the Katy ISD School Board of Trustees. You haven’t offended nearly as many as you think and even those you may or may not have offended are SO beyond that…
To be honest, I think sometimes you writing is a little too complicated for some people to be able to understand and navigate. And I am NOT suggestion that you dumb it down by any means. I just think that people misread your passion for Children and their Education and Public Policy and WE THE PEOPLE who pay for it. It can get technical and can lose some readers in the process. Perhaps you need to author a Educational Public Policy Manual for Parents….
NOTE: Thanks for the compliments you gave that others will not read here because I don’t want anyone to actually think I am a nice guy. I genuinely recognize the challenge of combining data tables with text. It is easy to get lost in some of the details. It’s a perpetual challenge to link the strength of my analysis with the mounds of actual research that is the foundation of the analysis. You will notice of course that I have slightly changed your specific suggestion and will take that under consideration.