All but one of the 11 Tarrant County conservative school board candidates, who were backed this year by several high-profile donors and big-money PACs, defeated their opponents during Saturday’s local elections, according to unofficial results. https://t.co/hSvRfuiXlb
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) May 9, 2022
School boards in Texas have specific duties, which don’t include setting curricula or reviewing every book in every school library in the district or overseeing the lesson plans of every teacher. Most of the job is a dull slog through very administrative practices, attending lots of meetings, and showing up to be a public official at events for the district. You aren’t large and in charge; you are burdened with responsibility little relieved by any power.
The three candidates backed by PACs won their school board races here, and now they get to learn that lesson. They want to elect one of their own (already on the board) as the new Board President. They imagine this will cement their power, as they will be a slim majority of the Board. Only problem is, he doesn’t want the job.
He knows it’s not a position of authority, only responsibility. One of the duties of the President is to sign papers, which means coming in during office hours to the administration building. Another duty is to answer e-mails from irate district residents (happy people don’t write in their praises). The President is the person who represents the Board to the public. It’s practically a full-time job atop the full-time job of being a Board member. It’s not like being the boss; it’s like being the person most responsible to the district. The President is the Superintendent without the pay or the support staff; or the authority. The new members want the President of the Board to be “one of them” so they can run the Board. But it doesn’t work that way, and the one person they like eligible for the job has been on the Board long enough to realize that.
New Board members, here anyway, have a mandatory two-day orientation to go through. They are told this, in detail, when they apply to run for the Board. They are even given the schedule of the orientation before the election. One of the victors is already asking for special dispensation to get a personal orientation at another time because he’s scheduled business matters for those two days. But there is no “make up” test for this. The orientation involves the schools and the assistant superintendents over the entire district. It is immersive and intense, and requires a lot of planning and preparation by district employees. It can’t be repeated for one person. The school district has other work to do, too.
This clown is just now finding out he won the booby prize. He’ll be getting a thick packet of materials to review every month for the regular meetings. And there are several more meetings than just the monthly ones. He’s taken on a second full-time job. The Board can’t conduct separate meetings for his convenience. It's time for him to put up, or shut up.
Another “winner” had filed a records request with the District under state law. It was so extensive the estimated cost of labor and paper was $3000, which state law requires her to pay before the request can be fulfilled. She abated that request until she won, then renewed it as a new Board member because now she doesn’t have to pay for it. But the district will have to report the cost to the public.
Rumor has it this new member wants to have a political career. She’s about to be introduced to the fact that spending public money comes with public accountability. She renewed her request saying she had no intention of paying for it. That written message is now a document any one else can request under the same law she used. And, as I say, the cost of her request to the taxpayers is now a public record, too.
Welcome to the glass house. Time to put the stones away.
“There’s a man up there who claims
To have his hands upon the reins.
There are chains upon his hands,
And he's riding upon a train.”
--James Taylor
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