MissouriCityChatter: From FB Sun: Ethics Complaint Filed On Local Sienna Principal

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

From FB Sun: Ethics Complaint Filed On Local Sienna Principal

86 Comments:

Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3:06 PM
Anonymous said...: More from FBNow.com on this breaking local story at:

http://www.fortbendnow.com/news/1079/couple-files-ethics-complaint-against-elementary-principal-saying-shes-promoting-politics-from-school#c1950; 3:08 PM
Anonymous said...: I found this rumor watch interesting from the FBISD website:

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RUMOR:

I live in the Brightwater neighborhood and have heard that students living in my neighborhood will be zoned to Elementary #39 when it opens in 2007-2008. Is this true?

FACT:

No, it is not true. Elementary #39, located at 3250 Lexington Blvd., in Stafford, will house Quail Valley Elementary students until their campus is rebuilt and opens in the 2008-2009 school year. Right before the 2008-2009 school year begins, the district will be determining the attendance zone for Elementary #39, and nothing has been determined or discussed.

RUMOR:

I have heard a local developer paid for the Metro Study used in the zoning of Baines Middle School. Is there any truth to this rumor?

FACT:

There is no truth to this rumor. Fort Bend ISD paid $4,600 for the Lake Olympia Middle School demographic study performed by MetroStudy in the fall of 2004.

RUMOR:

I have heard that the Board has rezoned Teal Run to the new Billy Baines Middle School. Is this true?

FACT:

The Board has not rezoned the Teal Run Subdivision to Baines Middle School.

RUMOR:

I have heard the FBISD is closing Quail Valley Middle School. Is this true?

FACT:

There is no truth to this rumor.

RUMOR:

We have heard that Fort Bend ISD is considering placing all fifth and sixth grade students at one school.

FACT:

The district opened a new school, the Hodges Bend Annex, in the Fall of 2005 near Hodges Bend Middle School that houses fifth and sixth grade students for a year or two until a new middle school is built. This school will help relieve the overcrowding at Hodges Bend Middle School and Arizona Fleming Elementary School. When a new middle school opens, the fifth and sixth grade school will open as a K-5 elementary school. Parents can be assured that during these temporary arrangements, sixth grade students will receive the same middle school curriculum program as all other sixth graders in the district. Sixth grade students attending the Hodges Bend Annex will have access to Hodges Bend Middle School for electives.

RUMOR:

We have heard that Fort Bend ISD is considering the use of Highway 6 as a high school attendance zone dividing line, and that all the homes on the north side (Quail Valley, etc.) would go to Hightower and Marshall, and those on the south side (Sienna Plantation, First Colony, Commonwealth, and the Oilfield Road area) would go to Elkins.

FACT:

This is not true. There are no plans to use Highway 6 as a boundary to divide the Hightower, Marshall and Elkins attendance zones.

RUMOR:

I heard that FBISD is going to take a week away from the Winter Break to make up for days missed due to Hurricane Rita. Is this true?

FACT:

According to the Texas Education Agency, school districts that were closed due to Hurricane Rita (for up to 10 days) are not required to make up those days. However, FBISD will be monitoring student progress this fall to determine whether or not we need to use the scheduled "inclement" weather days and/or eliminate some holidays in the spring to ensure that our students are on target instructionally. The inclement weather days are January 16 and April 14 are indicated on the 2005-2006 school calendar. If you have specific concerns about your child, please contact the campus directly for assistance.

RUMOR:

I have heard that the Avalon and Brazos Landing communities are being rezoned to Colony Meadows Elementary. Is this true?

FACT:

There are no plans to change the Colony Meadows and Commonwealth Elementary attendance zones.

RUMOR:

I have heard that FBISD is going to close Meadows Elementary. Is this true?

FACT:

There is absolutely no truth to this rumor.

RUMOR:

We have heard that the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring all Texas public schools to have a mandatory start date after Labor Day as well as an end date before June 7.

FACT:

The law did not pass.

RUMOR:

I have heard that part of Avalon is going to be rezoned next year from Commonwealth Elementary to Colony Meadows Elementary. Is this true?

FACT:

There is absolutely no truth to this rumor.

RUMOR:

I have heard that the road closure into Hightower High School was closed permanently to further the chances of Highway 6 being a dividing line for Elkins and Hightower High Schools attendance boundary lines.

FACT:

There is absolutely no truth to this rumor. Upon the completion of the Fort Bend Toll Road, the access to Hightower High School, located at 3333 Hurricane Lane, was permanently changed as part of the Toll Road construction process and tie in to Highway 6. If you are traveling south on Highway 6, you have one of two options to reach Hightower High School: 1) turn left at the Fort Bend Toll Road and exit at the first right onto Trammel Fresno and turn right on Hurricane Lane; or 2) turn left on Vicksburg Boulevard and continue until the first stop sign, and turn right at the stop sign onto Trammel Fresno. Continue over the overpass on Trammel Fresno to Hurricane Lane and turn right.

RUMOR:

I have heard that the Brightwater neighborhood will be divided and that students living in the neighborhood will be sent to two different elementary schools.

FACT:

There is absolutely no truth to this rumor.

RUMOR:

I heard that school bus service to my son’s middle school will be terminated due to disciplinary problems with students riding the bus. Is this true? How do you suppose those students without another alternative will get to school?

FACT:

Bus service is not terminated to any school for disciplinary reasons but a student's privilege to ride a bus may be suspended. The new bus schedules are posted on the “Parent Links” page on the district’s Web site. Only students that live within two miles of a school do not receive busing. The goal of the FBISD transportation department is to serve each school with safe and efficient buses.

RUMOR:

I have heard a nasty rumor that the school district is planning on cutting fine arts programs in order to buy ovens to bake fries for the children. I would prefer not to have fries served to the kids and use the $350,000 to have more teachers put in the schools and to keep the programs that we have. My children do not have to have fries in school. I'll take them to McDonald's if they have to have them! Is this rumor true?

FACT:

There is absolutely no truth to this rumor.

RUMOR:

We have heard that all Fort Bend ISD schools will start and end at the same time.

FACT:

Only Fort Bend ISD elementary schools have a change in dismissal times. Beginning in the 2004-2005 school year, all Fort Bend ISD elementary schools will be going to a single dismissal time. All students in grades K-5 will begin the day at 8:00 a.m. and end the day at 3:00 p.m. All bus riders, car riders, daycare riders and walkers will be dismissed at 3:00 p.m. Specific information regarding the pick-up spots for daycare vans, cars and buses will be provided by elementary campuses during the summer. The new bus schedules are posted on the "Parent Links" page on the district's website.

RUMOR:

We have heard that Fort Bend ISD is going to (1) turn Willowridge High School into an alternative school, (2) rezone all WHS students to Marshall, (3) close WHS, or (4) move WHS to Houston ISD.

FACT:

There are no plans to turn WHS into an alternative school or to rezone current students to Marshall. Another variation of this rumor is that FBISD is going to either close WHS or move it to Houston ISD. We are not closing the school, nor will the campus be moved to HISD. Campuses cannot be moved from district to district without the approval of both districts, the Texas Education Agency and various governmental agencies.

RUMOR:

We have heard that Greatwood will be moved into Fort Bend ISD from Lamar CISD.

FACT:

Again, just a rumor. Campuses cannot be moved from district to district without the approval of both school districts, the Texas Education Agency and various governmental agencies. Fort Bend ISD and Lamar CISD did recently exchange some undeveloped property in the Grand Mission development to allow for more effective student transportation, etc. in future developments.

RUMOR:

I hear that Fort Bend ISD is issuing progress reports in eight different languages now.

FACT:

It surprises many people to find out that there were over 5,680 students (nearly 10% of our students) in Fort Bend ISD last year who were identified as Limited English Proficient, or LEP. Students are identified as Limited English Proficient based on their results on the Oral Language Proficiency Test, and are eligible to receive services in the Bilingual or ESL programs.
Of course, our primary purpose in ESL or bilingual classes is to teach the students English as quickly as possible. Although our students are learning English, many of their parents are also newcomers to our country and do not have mastery of the English language. By increasing their understanding of their child's performance, they can better support them in terms of school success. And when schools and parents work together toward student success, the results are quite positive. It is important to point out that these progress reports, along with grades, include such comments as ‘poor attendance,’ ‘absent too much,’ and ‘inappropriate conduct’ - all comments we believe that any parent would want to know about and understand. For instance, while çs‡®ïsíEÊÚ may mean little to an English speaking parent, a parent speaking traditional Chinese will be able to read that their child is engaging in inappropriate conduct in the classroom, and could then work with their child to correct such behaviors.
In addition, last June’s Texas Education Agency’s on-site visit of our bilingual/ESL programs indicated that the district does not provide enough communication to parents (including student handbooks and calendars) in their home language and recommended that we implement practices that provide such communication to parents. On a federal level, in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Section 1118 of Title 1 states that “schools shall ensure that information related to school and parent programs.....is sent to the parents of participating children in a format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.” Providing information about their child’s progress in class was seen as a priority communication item to consider translating into the parent’s native language.
The translations for all of these progress reports was less than $1,000 - which we believe is a small amount to ensure that parents are aware and understand their child’s progress in school. This money did not come from local funds, but from Title III federal funds provided to school districts to help educate such students.; 3:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Here is the discussion going on FBNow.com about this:

1 SCEParent - May 2, 11:22 am
I just wanted to add my two cents on this. When I found out recently that a yahoo group had been organized (Fort Bend Concerned Parents) and lead by Ruckman, and the SC PTO President (who works for the developers here) and is leading a small group of parents in their endorsement of Smelley, I became concerned. When I first got involved I thought this was a detached group of concerned parents working on real school improvement issues. Now I know that this group has a political agenda and it’s trying to lead us around.

I would like to urge other parents in this group to break from this crowd and reorganize this committee, which is being lead by a local publisher, the principal, PTO president (developer PR employee). Let’s elect our own leader and make this a real school-based group!

2 Susan - May 2, 02:02 pm
So many of the Sienna folks are hung up on developer conspiracy theories…..

I read several newspaper reports of this story. It sounds like much ado about nothing to me. The TEC has already stated that she did not violate the law. Mrs. Ruckman has been openly critical of the “new guard” and IMHO, this attack appears to be retaliation for her willingness to state her personal beliefs and/or sour grapes by someone who was let go by Ruckman. Since someone notified Mr. Kumar at the SUN that this complaint had been filed before Mrs. Ruckman was notified of it, one must wonder if is just a diversionary campaign tactic designed to take people’s attention away from the embarrassing events under Team Rickert.

Free speech extends to all, including FBISD employees.

3 freeourteachers - May 2, 03:50 pm
I have heard that teachers are being offered perks by their principals for wearing their “I Voted” stickers? I guess the message has been made clear as to who they are expected to vote for. Maybe we should pull some troops back from Iraq to ensure a free election in FBISD.

4 Sienna Resident - May 2, 04:03 pm
I say to the residents – VOTE. That’s the best way to show we are serious.

The Ruckman complaint is a joke. It is so obvious who is behind it. VOTE!

5 Susan - May 2, 04:08 pm
Free,
Do you actually think that anyone can know how any other person votes? Is that another mass conspiracy? (I guess so if you think it will take the military to ensure a free election!)

And from whom did you “hear” this news? Do you think it is wrong/bad if teachers are encouraged to vote—assuming that what you “heard” is correct?

Or are you just posturing for the excuses when anti-new guard candidates win this election?

6 freeourteachers - May 2, 04:44 pm
Encouraging to vote is good… Intimidation by your employer is bad.

The desperation displayed Ms. Ruckman and Ms. Johnston, signifies that they realize their candidates are in trouble. You are right that once a teacher gets to the voting booth they are free to vote as she/he feels and you would be surprised as to what us teachers really think of your tactics.

7 maized&cornfused - May 2, 07:09 pm
SCEparent,
Please don’t assume that the other parents that joined the group don’t know the associations of some of the members and could care less about there employers.
As I see it, at the core they are Sienna Parents or just Concerned Parents. Since the election is a big issue right now there is a lot of focus on it.
No one is being lead (please, they are adults) and people can support whomever they please-this has been discussed on the Yahoo site several times and there seems to be a very open exchange of opnions.-
Give the Concerned Parents some credit-they are working on other issues regarding our children’s education in FBISD and are being heard.
Not all of the members have a political agenda. Most are regular parents with concerns for the children.

If you were part of the group why didn’t you voice this concern on that Yahoo board?Doesn’t it seem odd that since you think the group doesn’t support the canidate(s) you support, then you want to scrap the whole thing and make your own group.

IMO, It sounds too political to want to split up a “growing and united force” in the area.

8 Susan - May 2, 09:22 pm
The Ryan’s and the political operatives pulling their strings are the ones who look desperate to me. Filing a frivilous complaint and then leaking it to a reporter known to be sympathetic to their cause. They must know that their candidates are sinking fast.

9 Cliff Caldwell - May 2, 09:42 pm
I am amazed by the level of the personal attacks. First upon an educator who genuinely seems to be focused upon the kids and the education that they receive. Then to make a not so veiled personal attack on the PTO president. These are individuals who are trying to make a positive difference in the community. Further, the recently formed Parents group is not about a single individual. It is about people becoming involved to try and improve the current problems within the school district – for all children. Yes there are other issues within the community that merit attention but I don’t understand why some people prefer the scorched earth approach in dealing with issues.

10 forourkids - May 2, 09:43 pm
If some of these folks would just take the time to read the posts instead of reading into the posts then you would READ that the group has not endorsed anybody for the BOT. These are individual comments with some supporting one canidate or another and many more asking questions and obtaining information that is needed to make the best possible decision for whom to vote for. I believe that many of the people that have complained and wined can’t see the forest for the trees. For those that agreed with the BOT that will remain on the board, as they are not up for re-election, I have a question for you. Why haven’t they started searching for another superintenant? Afraid that they won’t be able to run things as they feel fit if they can’t pull the strings?

11 thinkaboutit - May 2, 10:14 pm
As a parent, I can attest to the fine school Mrs. Ruckman provides for all the children at Sienna Crossing. She has very high standards for herself, her staff and students. IMHO, it should be obvious to everyone that the Ryan’s are upset with Mrs. Ruckman for her termination of Mrs. Ryan. IMO, that termination is the basis for this whole complaint. I wouldn’t be surprised if our Board President helped them set this into motion.

12 SCE parent - May 2, 10:25 pm
Linda Ruckman is one of the most intelligent, caring, well-informed women I’ve ever met. She truly wants what is best for children, and I am very thankful that my child attends SCE. I know for a FACT that teachers are offered no incentives for voting for particular candidates, or for voting period.

13 voterwise - May 3, 06:06 am
Looks like the principal’s crowd has spoken here. I think it is inappropriate for any school principal to publically use their office to campaign, just as it would be wrong for other civil servants to take such a public stance. Privately is their own business, but this wasn’t.

I also feel that the suggestion above on new leadership for that group supporting Ms. R. is a good idea. Sounds tainted to me and they can’t pretend to represent all of the county under its current leadership. Didn’t this group form during the zoning battles with Lake Olympia? Hardly an area-wide group. Is Ms. R. leading them too or just using them?

14 Susan - May 3, 06:57 am
voterwise,
As was suggested above, it might help to actually read comments before trying to spin them to help your friends on the BOT keep power. Sienna parents have a discussion group. They exchange ideas, opinions and information. That requires no “leader”. Further, from what I read, a majority of the members seem too intelligent to be led around by the nose by anyone. It looks to me like Mr. Kumar of the SUN was the one being used. Someone was trying to play “gotcha” and used him in their political ploy.

15 maized&cornfused - May 3, 07:02 am
So again, if a group doesn’t support the person you think they should then that group should be scrapped. When did people get so rigid that they can’t ride out a little opposition ?The “scorched earth” analogy fits perfectly.
IMO, It is nice to see that a group of parents can garner support of the local school principals.(yes, I think other principals have given support to this group too)
Maybe the group is making more progress then they thought when others are calling for it to be disbanded.

16 mark - May 3, 07:33 am
As a parent of two Sienna Crossing Elementary children, I know that Linda Ruckman is an excellent principal at an excellent school. She is organized, efficient, caring, knowledgeable, intelligent, responsive and truely cares about the students, teachers parents and the community. This complaint from the Ryan court should be taken for what it is. It is a frivolous, personal, political attack from a disgruntled former employee who is seeking revenge from a former employer who let her go. Shame on Ryan and her political operatives for stooping so low.

17 SPMUD2Resident - May 3, 07:36 am
I’m not reading the posts that way maized. I’m seeing them say reform the group and pick new leaders. That’s a good way to keep from being manipulated.

Also, those of you Sienna residents reading this thread may want to watch your back door too. Apparently, your only resident controlled MUD (SPMUD2—1700 homes) is attempting to recover lost taxes on poor ditch work through potential litigation. Four of your candidates (White, Zwang, Parsons & Marinquin-ck sp.) support this action, along with most of the residents of this MUD, however, 2 (Rice & Hogan) have offered no such support. One rumor has it that the developer is running candidates to retake the SPMUD2 board and kill the potential litigation by stopping the contract with the independent law firm hired by the current board to investigate all this.

Watch your back door while you are focussing so hard on the school. GET OUT and VOTE (even for your MUD boards).

18 intheknow - May 3, 08:49 am
I would agree with you if it was a true open forum. However, several Sienna people have told me they have tried to post dissenting comments on the site regarding candidates for election—but they are not being allowed by the moderator. Hardly an open debate.

19 voterwise - May 3, 09:51 am
Again, that yahoo group should allow a rotating moderator so that no individual can manipulate it the way it has been. Open the process up and shine the light in!

Susan—go monitor your own neighborhood (you don’t live here and haven’t a clue what’s going on)!

20 maized&cornfused - May 3, 10:05 am
SPMUD,
Thanks for the info. We do need to be involved in all aspects of our community.
I guess it was the suggestion in the 1st post urging parents to leave that group and form another that just seemed an extreme measure considering the group seems to have momentium now.
I don’t want to get too far off topic so please guys forgive the diversion, but when you said “recover lost taxes” does that mean use money already paid or raise taxes to pay for the developer not putting in underground drainage/storm sewers?
I know the ditches are a problem for many and in the early stages of development there was no choice, if you wanted to live in Sienna. IMO, I don’t think those that choose not to have ditches should pay for those that did (when there was a choice). This could potentially be an issue used to divide the MUD residents if they are threatened with higher taxes.
If they are going to use money already collected or get it from the developer to make the change-I say “right on” and “go for it”. I would hope that the representives/canidates for the MUD board would balance the needs/desires for everyone they represent and want to be in that postion for more reasons than just the ditches. Are there places where residents can get the canidates standing on this issue?

21 SPMUD2Resident - May 3, 12:12 pm
I would suggest calling the incumbents and talking to the local candidates to find out more. Also, from what I found out, this potential litigation is being considered to recover tax revenue (past & present) already tied up in this fiasco.

Again this is not to divert the thread but always do your own background on these and other issues before simply going along with a crowd. If you suspect other networks are at play, in any organization, then work to set-up a structure that makes it difficult for a few to dominate. I’ve already seen some good suggestions in the thread.

22 SiennaResident2 - May 3, 12:20 pm
MC,

I remember last year that the development group attempted to get the current SPMUD2 board to take the surplus and apply it to “out of district projects”. Well, if they get control of the largest SPMUD board, that can still happen. Don’t lose control of our only resident controlled MUD! Get out and see who is running and then vote.

23 Mary McClure - May 3, 03:51 pm
It saddens me that an ethics complaint has been filed against Linda Ruckman. I have a hard time believing she would do anything unethical in her position. I feel my child is extremely safe in her school, as there was once a traffic concern in front of the school which Ms. Ruckman addressed very promptly and I would see her daily outside keeping an eye on the kids in the car line during this time. She has also been very kind, attentive, and professional to my daughter and myself and the school as a whole from my observations.

24 intheknow - May 3, 05:56 pm
Mary—being a kind and good person does not excuse unethical behavior. Mrs. Ruckman, by her own admission, was knowingly breaking the rules after several warnings that any form of campaigning on school property was prohibited. It seems as though she has let her extreme emotion in this election cloud her better judgement.

25 Sugarbabe - May 3, 06:04 pm
I cannot believe a school principal would allow political signs to be picked up at school. Every year warnings are sent out and just last year a teacher in Katy got in trouble for having a link on their personal website that parents viewed. You would think she would be smarter and know better.; 4:38 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3:22 AM
Anonymous said...: From FBNow.com: Because of the nature of blogging, it is uncertain if this is a response by the principal of the local elem. school or not, but here it is anyway (read at your own risk):

35 Linda - May 3, 11:23 pm
Schoolwise,
I have a letter from Dr. Pedraza – the quote is from her. I’d be happy to show it to you. Come by anytime – after 4:00.

You insult the members of this fine community by insinuating that they are incapable of thinking for themselves. The group has very capable leaders and working committees. Perhaps you ought to check it out so that you can make “informed” comments.

Here is a response I prepared for Chris Elam (Texas Safety Forum at www.safety.websoaring.com):

Thank you, Chris, for your kind words of support and the invitation to respond. My opinion is that Mr. and Mrs. Ryan, parents of 3 wonderful kids, are merely political pawns. The fact that Mr. Ryan chose to deliver his complaint directly to the very newspaper always so protective of Mrs. Rickert and team, assures me of his purpose – to cast doubt upon my integrity and character. My goodness, he sacrificed his own wife’s reputation by revealing the fact that she was terminated – and then accused me of slander!

I have attended almost every school board meeting during these last 11 months, and I don’t recall ever seeing Mr. or Mrs. Ryan at any of these meetings. Unfortunately, during this relatively short period of time, we have witnessed the forced retirement of Dr. Baitland; an investigation by the TEA of the Board’s actions; threats by some board members to sue the TEA; procedural limitations imposed on the right of the public to address the board; public fights between “new guard” members during board meetings; frequent rude and disparaging comments from the dais to district employees; reported attempts by board members to intimidate employees who do not agree with them; a mass exodus of administrators, principals and teachers; and finally, a lawsuit filed on behalf of a minority owned business alleging the board effectively terminated its contract with FBISD in violation of state law. All of this has occurred in less than one year!

The Fort Bend ISD is in this tragic state because less than 4% of the eligible voters bothered to exercise their right to vote. My opinion is that the vast majority of Fort Bend ISD residents neglected to vote because they were happy with the course of the district.

Well, we are definitely NOT on the right course any more. The newest members of the Board of Trustees have neither the knowledge nor the experience to govern a district – and they refuse to listen to their experienced fellow board members – hence, the events described in the preceding paragraph. These folks – previously coined Team Rickert – are now self-destructing as they wrangle for power and control.

If I am guilty of anything, it is of being too passionate about the damage being done to the district by this board majority. We do not have a superintendent – or even one “on the way.” We do not have a chief financial officer – and, can’t get anyone to apply for the job. While we have “well meaning people’ on the cabinet and in administrative positions, most are simply inexperienced in their positions. I am deeply concerned the actions of the board majority will have a long-term negative impact upon the children and the future of FBISD. The citizens of Fort Bend ISD must send a ‘loud and clear’ message to this Board. There has never been a more pivotal election in the history of the district.

In my opinion, the first step to recovery is the election of Steve Smelley and Sonal Bhuchar. We will take the second step 12 months from now when we elect two new board members who are truly educational advocates rather than political opportunists.

36 Bob Dunn - May 4, 05:57 am
Just to clarify, FBISD administrators told me a representative of the Texas Ethics Commission said no law had been violated in this case.

However, representatives of the Texas Ethics Commission told me, as they have before in similar cases, that no one from the TEC is allowed to comment on a complaint. They specifically said no one from TEC may comment to a school administrator in this case. All complaints are confidential unless or until there’s a finding of wrongdoing.

So their position is that no one from TEC could have commented because to do so would have been forbidden.

Interesting paradox, but there you have it.; 5:30 AM
Anonymous said...: I would have to agree with this "Linda" poster on the importance of the election, but not for the reasons suggested. This poster wants to turn back the clock to a time in the district when special interests dictated the image of the district and not the families being served.

The excessive growth is the issue that must be dealt with, not giving the retread candidates another chance at cronyism. The zoning wars founded this group on a narrow topic. Stopping LOMS students from coming to Sienna is much to narrow. The district and legislatures must address these growth issues and the undue influence of mega-developments on resource allocation & politicians at all levels. The electorate can chime in on this and 4% is a very sad reflection on this responsibility. My family and friends have voted, have yours? -- Sorry Linda, not for your special interest candidates!

Good luck Dieu, Mitton, Carreon and anyone else who refuses the vendors, spec. int. support in these elections!; 5:44 AM
responsible_dvlpmnt said...: We found this piece sent to "Texas Safety Forum" apparently by the principal of SCE, a well known site for a company that markets candidates in this area and counts on large political contributions from some out of area special interests (like mega-Houston developers in the EDC). This site admin (Chris Elam) has repeatedly allied itself against certain local grass-roots groups & candidates including the CRD (Mo-City), CAFC (Mo-City), SOS (Sugar Land), & CBG (Arcola) that are not reportedly on contribution lists to their clients (see Bob Hebert example and recent airport expansion controversy in the local media) and even have opposed some of their candidates (ck the archives).

They have offered their support to Johnson Development Co.(JDC) in the SLAPP-suit against Sienna homeowners (over apartments), JDC is a major backer of old guard BOT member Bruce Bain during his tenure on the board who now endorses S. Smelley, car salesman, in his run to retake the district (his wife is the director of the FBISD foundation and was hired during Smelley's last tenure on the board).

Of course verify these threads for confirmation purposes. Now the piece from "Texas Safety Forum":

"When You Know That People Take Themselves Too Seriously" (located at http://safety.websoaring.com/item/1614#com)

Some local residents have filed ethics complaints against one of the best principals in FBISD, Linda Ruckman over something as AWFUL and DESTRUCTIVE as e-mail and yard signs. No kidding.

FortBendNow reports some choice details...

”...Based on the tone of her email, I am also concerned for the safety and well-being of my three children who attend this same school under the supervision of Mrs. Ruckman,” the Ryans’ letter says. “I am afraid they may be subject to some form of retaliation.”

What a load of crap. Excuse the language.
As I've said before, folks... SAVE THE HYPERBOLE UNTIL YOU REALLY NEED IT.

Linda Ruckman is a fine, fine administrator in FBISD, and she is a RESIDENT in the district. I know her personally, and she is a wonderful woman who has consistently demonstrated much more concern for the children and teachers of FBISD than nearly anybody I have witnessed in the power struggles of the past couple of years.

Of course, wouldn't you know that the complainant in this case, is somebody who has a personal grudge against a school administrator and is now wasting more taxpayer money vetting their anger.

The ethics complaint includes email that appears to have been sent by Ruckman. In one, addressed to Shawn Ryan, Ruckman says, ”...I do not appreciate the fact that you forwarded my post to Lisa Rickert. What exactly were you trying to accmplish? I think your neighbors, the SCE parents would question your intentions as well.

“I guess you still harbor resentment that we removed you as our resident sub. How disappointing. Unfortunately, I will always make decisions that are in the best interests of the students at Sienna Crossing, which is why I let you go.”

I'm quite glad to see that Ruckman isn't backing down one bit, and is handling these insipid complaints in a straightforward and polite manner.
Ruckman called the Ryans’ concern over possible retaliation against their children “absolutely ridiculous and not true.”

“In summary,” Ruckman said, “I don’t believe I’ve done anything wrong. In fact, the Texas Ethics Commission has already stated that ‘no law appears to have been violated in this instance.’ Rather, I do believe Mr. Ryan’s actions are merely politically motivated to cast doubt upon my character and integrity.

”...I am confident that my character, integrity and actions can withstand any scrutiny> I love the Fort Bend Independent School District; we’ve enjoyed a long, mutually beneficial relationship,” Ruckman said, “which is why I am distressed about the current state of affairs.

“If someone like me is not willing to stand up, why should anyone else? I have an obligation to the children, parents and employees of Fort Bend ISD; I have no desire to shirk that responsibility.”

Ruckman said she was informed by Acting Superintendent Manuela Pedraza’s office that the ethics commission believed no law had been violated in the case. Pedraza had not responded to a request for comment by late Tuesday morning.

How coincidental that this complaint would be made during the weeks leading up to the school board election... Ms. Ruckman, do you have any comment?
Ruckman acknowledged that the emails made part of the Ryans’ complaint appear to put her at odds with some FBISD board members, but added that since she wrote a letter critical of some board actions last summer, “I’ve had a target on my back.”

Posted by Chris Elam @ 05/02/06 01:18 PM

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Comments

Supporting your opinion of the “complaint” is the fact that “someone” mysteriously called Mr. Kumar at the SUN and gave him a copy of it before Mrs. Ruckman was notified of it. In fact, she learned about it from Mr. Kumar.

Pure coincidence, I am sure, and had NOTHING to do with the fact that Ruckman as been critical of the current majority. (Sarcasm intended!)

Posted by Susan @ 05/02/06 03:30 PM

It saddens me that an ethics complaint has been filed against Linda
Ruckman. I have a hard time believing she would do anything unethical in
her position. I feel my child is extremely safe in her school, as there
was once a traffic concern in front of the school which Ms. Ruckman
addressed very promptly and I would see her daily outside keeping an eye
on the kids in the car line during this time. She has also been very
kind, attentive, and professional to my daughter and myself and the
school as a whole from my observations.

Posted by Mary McClure @ 05/03/06 04:52 PM

----------------

CRD comment: Notice the the repeat names in the thread above. Ms. McClure was the resident who, according to court records, sent Johnson Development Co. testimony which lead to the JDC SLAPP suit against homeowners in Sienna Plantation. --Things really do go full circle don't they? Notice the consistent names that frequent these issues!

GET OUT AND VOTE AGAINST THEIR SPECIAL INTEREST PEOPLE BEFORE MAY 13TH.; 6:44 AM
Anonymous said...: More from FBNow comment thread on this issue:

37 intheknow - May 4, 07:39 am
Linda, in her emotional allegiance to “keeping things they way they are”, ..... unwittingly revealed the crux of the problems on the Board these past 12 months when she says—- “and they (newly elected Board members) refuse to listen to their experienced fellow board members.”

Why should they have? It was the “experienced” board members who have refused to serve on ONE Board committee. It was “experienced” Board members who did not understand they had line item veto authority over the budget. It was the “experienced” board members who were happy to keep voters and taxpayers in the dark about embarrassing internal audits that revealed substantial mismanagement of the district.

It was the “experienced” board members who were going to back the administration’s recommendation to only give teacher’s a $1000 pay raise this past year—the new Board fought, and won, a $2,100 increase.

It is the “experienced” board members who ran to TEA with complaints against the newer members—all of which the TEA ruled were unsubstantiated.

It was the “experienced” board members who NEVER bothered to put a long-range growth plan in place and who sat by while our student/teacher ratio has sunk to one of the worst in the state.

It is the newer members of the board who have been working, with much success, to bring more open governance and fiscal accountability to this District. And that, my friends, is something some in the administration are having a very hard time dealing with.

It should be clear to anyone with an ounce of sense that the division on the Board for the past several months has been driven by “experienced” board members who were simply not ready to give up their “social club” atmosphere on the Board and take on their elected responsibilities of true oversight. Rubber stamp boards certainly may be more congenial—but voters should ask if they want to go back to those days or if we should press forward for positive change.; 6:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Another post from Fort Bend Now you will probably choose to ignore/delete:

intheknow,
I am going to give you another “inconvenient” fact. An open records request to FBISD yielded the following information.

During the first quarter of 2006 (January – March), FBISD paid out $41,795.47 to outside attorneys for legal advice and counsel to the Board of Trustees. There is a longstanding policy that only the Board President and the Superintendent are supposed to contact outside attorneys to minimize costs. I do not know if this was followed in every case, but one can assume that MOST of the calls/contacts were instigated by either Lisa Rickert or Dr. Pedraza. A request for more detailed information will reveal the truth.

This figures compare with $1,648.75 spent in the first quarter of 2004 (before Rickert and Bryant’s election) and $13,955.00 in 2005 (internal dissention was reported in the press during this period).

Thus, my assumption is that Mrs. Rickert has chosen to ask outside counsel for advice about anything and everything rather than seeking information from our internal counsel or those who have done the job before to the tune of almost $42,000—enough to pay the average teacher’s salary for a year!; 7:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Not much to this post except that you are supporting the need of the reform people on the BOT to not trust in house counsel due to many audits that were not shared with the public or subsequent investigations that took place under your old guard. Oh, BTW, at the candidates forum last night Dieu got a standing ovation when he said he would not rehire the last superintendent. Just thought you and your clique would like to know.; 8:23 AM
Anonymous said...: More from FBNow comment thread on this issue:

37 intheknow - May 4, 07:39 am
Linda, in her emotional allegiance to “keeping things they way they are”, ..... unwittingly revealed the crux of the problems on the Board these past 12 months when she says—- “and they (newly elected Board members) refuse to listen to their experienced fellow board members.”

Why should they have? It was the “experienced” board members who have refused to serve on ONE Board committee. It was “experienced” Board members who did not understand they had line item veto authority over the budget. It was the “experienced” board members who were happy to keep voters and taxpayers in the dark about embarrassing internal audits that revealed substantial mismanagement of the district.

It was the “experienced” board members who were going to back the administration’s recommendation to only give teacher’s a $1000 pay raise this past year—the new Board fought, and won, a $2,100 increase.

It is the “experienced” board members who ran to TEA with complaints against the newer members—all of which the TEA ruled were unsubstantiated.

It was the “experienced” board members who NEVER bothered to put a long-range growth plan in place and who sat by while our student/teacher ratio has sunk to one of the worst in the state.

It is the newer members of the board who have been working, with much success, to bring more open governance and fiscal accountability to this District. And that, my friends, is something some in the administration are having a very hard time dealing with.

It should be clear to anyone with an ounce of sense that the division on the Board for the past several months has been driven by “experienced” board members who were simply not ready to give up their “social club” atmosphere on the Board and take on their elected responsibilities of true oversight. Rubber stamp boards certainly may be more congenial—but voters should ask if they want to go back to those days or if we should press forward for positive change.; 8:24 AM
Anonymous said...: More FBNow.com posts:

40 schoolwise - May 4, 09:20 am
Bob,

I believe the Susan J. post above either belongs in another one of her “smear Liz/Dieu” threads, but not on the principal thread? What do you think?

Think-about-it—The Supt. doesn’t hire the board, they are elected and in TX the Supt. answers to the board, whom represent the people. I thought a correction was needed in your post. Hope this was helpful.

41 Dan Kerr - May 4, 09:57 am
Both IntheKnow and ThinkAboutIt have interesting comments – unfortunately, they have let their bias substitute for reality.

A Board has both a fiduciary and moral obligation to develop policy. As a result of that policy, they are, in fact, running the district. The Super answers directly to the Board and the Super’s job length is determined, in reality, from 1 Board meeting to the next – it is not thier perogative to insert their own agenda in place of the Board’s – it is the Super’s job to implement the Board’s policy. The Super doesn’t have equal footing with the Board nor does that person have a duty and right to run the district. That is specifically the perogative of the Board. By stating otherwise, you have displayed your lack of knowledge of how the structure of a Board and it’s Super is. Unfortunate.

Finally, to only elect or to complain that new Board members do not listen to old Board members is ludicrous. The fact of the matter is that the reason that new members get elected is that those who have the power of the vote FAIL to vote. The fact that voter turnout was low this last time or previous has nothing to do with satisfaction but rather apathy. The voting history for ISD over the past 10 to 15 years has remained statistically constant at around 5300 as compared with a dramatic increase in the voting population. When 4 to 6 percent of the eligible people bother to turn out for a primary in an on year and even less of those people turn out for a ISD election, one wonders whether people are just lazy or narcisistic in their attitudes. What these people fail to realize is that a no vote is the same as a yes vote for whom ever decides to run.

Linda – insult or not – the people of this community are incapable of or unwilling to spending their time to voice their hard fought vote. That statement is backed up by the REAL numbers.

Linda – the people of this community are incapable of or unwilling to take an interest in the REAL solutions to the ISD as evidenced by their absence at the voting booth.

Linda – the reason people stay home and do not vote IS NOT their satisfaction with the current status quo but rather they are either TOO busy watching TV or anything else to care.

Linda – While these facts are unfortunate – never the less – these ARE THE FACT

Finally – your constant reference to the “Gang of 4” is OLD – in order for there to be a “Gang” each of these members must act as one consistently – that has not happened nor is it in the interest of each member to do so – saying it only leads one to assume that your comments are baseless and without merit and thus should be ignored as I am sure you have been – sort of like if they don’t agree with you – pout and go home

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Anonymous said...: More FBNow.com comments:

14 Susan - May 4, 02:32 pm
You have so much faith in your friends (Rickert, Caldwell, Bryant and Magee) that you are willing to continue paying lawyers at the rate of $41,700 per quarter to HELP Rickert and Pedraza run things?

I would much rather have that money paying for additional teachers than being used by a Board President and Acting Superintendent who are so inexperienced that they don’t know what they don’t know and have to have lawyers holding their hands every day.

15 intheknow - May 4, 04:05 pm
The legal fees paid over the past decade to Feldman & Rogers (FBISD’s recently terminated outside law firm) have been as follows. The Superintendent at the time for each year is noted as a point of reference:

Chopra:
1994—$124,750.83

Hooper:
1995—$121,573.29
1996—$144,646.43
1997—(no records found)
1998—$202,706.73
1999—$284,629.70
2000—$155,295.60

Baitland (appointed interim in April 2001)
2001—$358,039.10
2002—$383,031.62
2003—$440,235.66
2004—$381,343.30
2005—$565,543.77

These amounts were provided by FBISD and reflect payments recorded on IRS form 1099-Misc for each calendar year as “Nonemployee Compensation.”

The records show the legal fees escalated not because of board counsel—but because of increased reliance of the administration on outside legal counsel. Note the large jump the year Dr. Baitland became Super. Nice try, Susan.. but you seem to be grasping at straws.; 3:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Some people don't know what they don't know:

intheknow (Liz?),
You are not comparing apples to apples. My figures only reflect money spent on board governance issues. You report total legal expenditures which includes board governance issues plus fees for lawsuits, special education, contracts, employment issues, etc. The BOT does not have direct control over the latter issues, but they do have control over how many times they pick up the phone and call an outside attorney.

The nearly $42,000 spent between January and March 2006 under Rickert/Pedraza is what we have paid for outside counsel to give advice to the BOT or for lawyers to “babysit” the BOT during meetings. If we add on fees for lawsuits, contracts, employment issues, etc. the fees would be MUCH higher.

Let me reiterate, from January to March 2006, FBISD taxpayers paid $41,795.47 for outside counsel to advise members of the Board about how to run the district. The numbers to compare this to are $1,648.75 for January to March 2004 and $13,955.00 for January to March 2005.

Furthermore, I think if you check, the lawyer fees you list for Dr. Hooper and Dr. Chopra do not contain special education fees. During that time, special ed legal matters were not handled by Feldman and Rogers. When Dr. Baitland took over, Feldman and Rogers began to handle all FBISD legal matters.; 3:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Here's the entire thread including Susan's repeated smears of Steve Dieu:

1 Eric - Mar 30, 10:18 am
Dieu will be an excellent addition to FBISD BOT. With Dieu and Liz Mitton on board, the BOT will have two new members with proven track records of getting things done for the betterment of our community.

2 voterwise - Mar 30, 07:54 pm
I agree on the Mitton comment but would like to see more on Dieu. Like where his contributions are coming from, etc. . .

3 Burt Levine - Mar 30, 09:51 pm
www.votestevedieu.com

4 stevedieu - Mar 31, 10:51 pm
Hello all, I’d very much like your support and votes. I spend my own money, so far!

5 voterwise - Apr 1, 09:03 am
Thanks Steve. Will you pledge off out of area contributions and not to accept contributions from potential vendors of FBISD? Thanks for any response.

6 stevedieu - Apr 3, 12:13 am
Dear Voterwise: Yes, I will. I am willing to give my three year services to the community and the isd. I very much want ftbd isd to excel b/c my children are in isd, and so are 67,000 other students. I hope with my background and experience, I could make ftbd isd better. That’s my main goal.

7 schoolwise - Apr 22, 08:28 am
Thanks for responding to my questions and understanding the importance of keeping away from conflicts of interest like some of the other candidates refuse to do through their backing. I think you Carreon and Mitton are the only ones who have accepted this challenge. If anyone knows of more then please post them here.

8 Robert Cocheu - Apr 22, 10:28 am
Steve,

SInce you seem to be on this site, please review my questions posted on the Hal Jay article as well as the FBISD Hiring More Teachers article and respond. Thanks

9 dk - Apr 23, 04:54 pm
Until this year, how many FBISD Board meetings have you attended? Have you ever volunteered on any campus?

10 stevedieu - Apr 24, 12:55 am
1-What kind of Superintendent do we need?
2-How do we get the budget under control?
3-How do we improve our test scores and get our teacher/student ratio back in line?
4-How do we go about developing a long range plan for the district?

Answer to 1.

There are four points which are the basis of my answer:
-The district (FBISD) oversees a $400 million annual budget, more than 8000 employees, and serves 65,000 plus students.
-The superintendent does not teach, teachers do.
-The district is in the business of education.
-More money does not automatically translate to better education.

My vision of a superintendent is an educator with a proven track record of management experience, a CEO of a company whose sole product is educating our students. A superintendent who wakes up every day thinking about improving the quality of education and goes to bed evaluating how has s/he achieved that objective for that day. My vision of a superintendent is a person who asks “with the funds available, how can I improve the quality of my product ?” each day. My vision of a superintendent is a CEO with a vision of what kind of quality of service (i.e. education) s/he wants his/her company (the district) to provide. Saving money is very important, but at what ‘costs’ ? It is a balancing act between ‘focus on the mission’ and ‘save money’. Otherwise, s/he achieves less than nothing. The district soon finds itself in the business of everything, and proficient at nothing.
1. Answer to 2.
Another way to ask the same question is how do we want to spend our limited funding responsibly ? My vision of the district is to help provide the best learning environment for teachers to teach and students to learn. This is our objective and we should review the complete budget with the goal of trimming non-classroom spending and shifting money to educating students and creating the best learning environment possible.

Years ago, I tried to save money by doing an oil change myself. It was so simple! It took me about two hours. I bought the oil and filter. I used the wrong tools. I ruined my polo shirt. I didn’t know what to do with the used oil, but I did save $5.00!

Answer to 3.
My vision is to provide the best learning environment for teachers to teach and students to learn. Best learning environment means teachers should be able to come to class to teach instead of discipline misbehaving students or completing bureaucratic paper work and each student could come to class and learn with increased teacher attention and without distraction by other student’s misbehavior.

Best learning environment means smaller class size and better student teacher ratios where teachers know all of his/her student’s background and learning abilities. “The benefits of increasing personalization in schools have been well-cited in research. Students in a small personalized learning environment come to class more often, drop out less frequently, encounter less violence in school, and get better grades than those in regular-sized, traditional high schools. In addition, some research shows that small personalized learning environment have the most promising effects on achievement for ethnic minority students and students from low-income families.”
If one of the main reasons for our district’s low rating is the disparity of the students achievement gap then smaller class size should solve all issues. So, how do we improve our test scores? Provide the best learning environment…higher test scores will follow.
Answer to 4.
I find it disheartening to imagine a $400 million business that does not have a long range strategic plan. I propose a two step approach. First, develop an accurate forecast of Ft Bend’s growth for the next ten and twenty years. This means getting people of all business (government – local and state, developers, large and small business owners) together to work with professionals to project the district’s growth. Second, have a group of teachers, administrators, parents and professionals create a plan of where schools attendance should be based on the projected population growth study, keeping in mind one main principle: a vertical school integration approach. That is, all elementary students should go to one middle school, and high school. Not one of a Fort Bend family’s children should be required to attend one high school while another of their children has to attend a different school.

I attended about 6 Board meetings in the past 1 year.

No, I have not done any volunteer work on any campus. I did other non-school related volunteer works, however. If these are the litmus test, I guess I fail.

11 Susan - Apr 24, 07:37 am
Mr. Dieu,
Your failure to actually spend time in a school shows in your answers. You are woefully naïve and uninformed. Smaller class size, although a good goal, will not solve all the problems of public schools.

Furthermore, we had the superintendent you described. Rickert, Caldwell, Bryant and Magee got rid of her.

12 schoolwise - Apr 24, 09:16 am
That’s a very unfair and biased assessment once again by Susan our local “old guard” guard. I’m sure Steve’s inability to attend more functions has much to do with the schedule he keeps at the AGs office guarding families.

Try again Susan or let others read and decide without your spin! For those reading this look at his post taking the oath off the special interest funding (notice Susan only endorses the special interest candidates).

13 dk - Apr 24, 09:41 am
Steve Dieu – -

Thanks for your answers. I think it is difficult to have a sense of how to do things whenyou have not participated in the process at any level, which I think shows in your responses. I think if you dig a little deeper, you will find that all of your goals are admirable, but not realistic. Smaller class size, for example, will cause the cost to run the disctrict to increase. If youlook at the budget, you will find that there is actually very little room to “cut” any spending because the local body has so little control over the funds that are available. Everyone seems to focus on the high cost of administration, yet when something doesn’t happen they way they it should, the first thing they do is point to a lack of adminstistrative coverage on campus. In every campaign, we have seen this theme of cutting the budget and bringing in a “CEO” to run this District. Until the legislature changes the qualifications of Superintendents, we are put in the position of hiring the best possible candidate from the existing pool of Educator/Administrators across the state and nation. To address the “low rating” comment, I think you need to do some more research. Our rating was essentially lowered because the state changed the measure for each level. Look across the state and you will see fewer districts (and schools) were able to achieve a higher rating,or for that matter, maintain the rating they had. We have probelms with learning in some segments of our student population and I agree with you that something needs to be done to address this issue. But I don’t think that we can count on getting the funding necessary to meet these types of needs. Again, thanks for your answers, and for running. I know it involves a lot of personal sacrifice on your part, and that should not go unnoticed.

14 Susan - Apr 24, 11:23 am
Mr. Dieu,
I just checked with FBISD and confirmed that you did not file your campaign finance records that were due last week. I am surprised that a lawyer would choose not to follow the law.

15 Susan - Apr 24, 11:38 am
Schoolwise,
Mr. Dieu may have taken an oath not to take “special interest” funding, however, we can’t know that since he has chosen to ignore the law and not file his campaign finance forms on time. (Don’t lawyers have to take an oath that they will themselves follow the law?)

You may wish to support someone who has not spent any time on an FBISD campus and who fails to follow the letter of the law, however those things are important to many taxpayers.

Please look in the mirror to see who is spinning. If my above assessment is wrong, please explain how smaller class size will be the end all for every educational problem and how someone who has never visited a school has become an expert on how they should be run.

16 Robert Cocheu - Apr 24, 12:26 pm
I want to spend a moment and address the “time spent at school” litmus test. ten years ago my famliy and I were very involved in one School where our older son was attending (Burton). My younger son had yet to start school at that time. My wife served as treasurer of the PTO for two years and President for one year. I was Vice President of the Dad’s Club after helping found it and the PTO when the school opened. In addition I worked with my son’s cub scout pack and taught youth Sunday School where my wife assisted me. She also taught both childrens and youth choir. We maintained that pace for about 5 years. My wife was a manager for a law firm and I was in outside sales and had a fairly flexible schedule. This was in addition to coaching swim team and HOA duties I had at the time. Five years ago I changed jobs to a corporate training position with a less flexible schedule and my wife’s job duties multiplied as she assumed a director position with the law firm. In addition our younger son started school and my older son moved on to Middle School. We looked at the extra time we were spending and decided we had to cut back somewhere. The school time was the one that got cut because it was the one place where volunteering was difficult due to time constraints. I still work with the Hightower Band Boosters and do what I can with Burton, but the bottom line is most of the volunteering that schools want happens from 8-5, LOMS PTA Board Meetings even occur at 9:00 AM during the week. This makes it very difficult for anyone who works a “scheduled” job to volunteer. I think if an individual has a community volunteer record and has attended school board meetings then that should quailfy him or her from that standpoint.

17 Burt Levine - Apr 24, 01:52 pm
dk-Steve Dieu is an elected Fort Bend Pct Chair. That is participating in the process MORE than any prior brd mbr ever in my recollection. It is a better than running for Congress having NEVER been a state rep. or school board member before that which is a guaranteed way to lose no matter how many millions of dollars raised or spent ie Phil Sudan, Peter Wareing and Tom Reiser for Congress. In my heart pct chair to isd trustee is a great step b/ea other than HOA or MUD as President Rickert did I can’t think of another post in the process that’d be appropriate before BOT. Also becoming self started and educated as a war refugee from Vietnam, building a successful business, raising a wonderful family and serving our state and community as an AG doing more than preaching family values but actually fighting for them is a unique perch from which to run for Fort Bend ISD Trustee.

18 dk - Apr 24, 02:40 pm
Burt – -

Let Mr. Dieu speak for himself. Everyone knows you are working for him. I think people just want to know who someone is, and how they have been involved before they go out and cast a vote. Let Mr. Dieu stand behind his own record.

19 Susan - Apr 24, 04:37 pm
Mr. Cocheu,
You miss the point many of us are trying to make. How does one know what needs to be done, what the problems and challenges are and how their decisions will impact real children and real teachers if they have never spent any time in a school? Serving as a precinct chair and doing other volunteer work is admirable, but have nothing to do with education.

20 All - Apr 24, 06:57 pm
I would think that having three children in FBISD and dealing with homework, the enviornments at their schools, school functions, parent teacher conferences and paying tax bills every year in addition to attending several board meetings and serving as an Assistant Attorney General in charge of an office focused on making sure parental support is provided as stipulated by law to children would make Mr. Dieu emminently qualified to deal with many of the issues facing FBISD.

21 schoolwise - Apr 24, 07:09 pm
Not true Susan, Mr. Dieu deals with families all the time and issues that are spun off from failed school systems and growth issues. He, more than any of the other candidates, will have a good handle on the problems confronting our schools and communities. The schools do not operate in isolation (and never have). Another unfair and biases assessment once again.

When did you say your were moving?

22 Robert Cocheu - Apr 24, 08:20 pm
Susan,
Really!? A parent and a citizen who is involved in the community has no clue what it takes to provide a solid education in a stable and safe environment to our children. Likewise I suppose in your world parents don’t have the right to determine what is best for their children. Let’s run these ideas by and think for just a minute. My son currently attends an elementary school with over 1,000 students. It has 12 portables not counting the portable restroom out back, I have lived in my community for over 10 years and could have told anyone 5 years ago that a third elementary would be needed. Yet for some reason those “in the know” did not see it. Also, my older son just left LOMS where the school has consistently had over 10 portables on campus since 1995. Those “in the know” were the ones who tried to close QVMS when; surprise, surprise, all FBISD middle schools became overcrowded. Anyone that lives on the east side of the district knew that the LOMS overcrowding situation was a time bomb waiting to happen. It exploded this year and now even with BBMS opening both schools will be overcrowded within two years (if not sooner). Common sense tells anyone that a class size of 28 -30 does not work as well as a class size of 15 – 20. IMHO the “in the know” crowd is what got FBISD and K-12 education in general in the situation we are in now. We all need to wake up and realize that sometimes what worked years ago still does. Like school starting in late August, smaller classes, teachers being allowed to teach subjects and not teaching to the test. Schools should not be social experiments. They are there for ALL our children to learn and to become productive members of society. When my company (along with many others) can’t find employees qualified because of poor written and math skills then the education administration community (not the teachers), those you refer to as “in the know” needs to be refocused by those of us who pay the bills and inherit their mistakes. And no I am not working for Steve Dieu. I am like a lot of other voters trying to make sense of this election and make an informed choice. I will point out that the only two candidates that answered the questions I posted were Steve Dieu and Liz Mitton. Kind of makes you wonder what the others are up to doesn’t it?

23 Susan - Apr 24, 10:26 pm
I stand by my belief that one cannot fully comprehend the problems and needs of the classroom if they have NEVER spent any time in schools.

Also, Mr. Dieu’s “explanation” that he was too busy to file his campaign finance reports on time is extremely lame. He knowingly violated the law. He was “too busy” to fill out the forms, yet he wants us to trust him to find the time to do a very big and important job? I think not.

24 schoolwise - Apr 26, 06:45 am
Robert,

You are correct on class sizes. I’ve read several research articles that support it. The only problem is getting all stake-holders to participate in the process. The growth stress is a factor that is driving the sizes in this district .

Another problem is the cost of reducing the class sizes. From what I read the optimum size that would actually increase assessment outcomes would be 15 or fewer. With certain stakeholders not kicking in and spending a great deal of $$$ supporting candidates to maintain influence in their business regions I would suspect that we won’t see any significant reduction anytime soon.

I’ve talked to several non-special interest backed candidates that have said they would support state legislation to require these detached stakeholders to kick in to school start-up. This would take networking with other districts and seeking popular support but if we are serious this is where we should be focussing. Not on this micro-debate over bond ratings. As long as this district is undergoing this level of stress the conflict will continue as it does in many districts under-going this rate of development.

-You can’t stop the people from coming but you can require equal taxation of the mega-developers (who get huge breaks on the land taxes as is).

I believe Chris Cottrell of Katy’s Citizen Watchdog suggested a viable solution to help reduce school start-up costs by requiring the big dev. companies to donate the school land if they want them in their communities (since they are gaining a great deal through school reputation and housing values).

We must look at the macro-level and stop the bickering about smaller issues and we must work against candidates that are produced by this detached special interest (stakeholders, like Smelley).

25 Susan - Apr 26, 08:32 am
schoolwise,
Once again your failure to know local history combined with your rush to blame those you do not back/reward those you do is showing.

FACT: During Dr. Don Hooper superintendency, the “old guard” trustees joined with other fast growth school districts and lobbied the state legislature to give assistance (such as impact fees or land donations) to districts facing exponential growth. The STATE LEGISLATORS (including our own), refused to act.

FACT: Every trustee and trustee candidate favors legislation to require large developers to contribute to the schools in a more significant way through the above type measures. Dieu and Mitton would be no more able/willing to further this issue than any other choice.

FACT: Significantly decreasing the student to teacher ratio (a good goal to strive for) will also significantly impact the budget. In Sunday’s Herald Coaster Clyde King had an op-ed explaining how $1.00 is spent in LCISD and $.50 goes to teacher salaries/benefits. I don’t imagine that it is much different in FBISD. Will you still support smaller classes if it costs you perhaps 1/3 more in state and/or local taxes?

FACT: Contrary to your beliefs and the promises of candidates you support, individual school board members do not have the power to control the state legislature, change or make laws. The only budget they control is the local one and they must abide by all state and federal mandates.

26 kiss - Apr 26, 11:18 am
Susan – It is simple…
The basic school is square cinder block and efficient to run.
If the developer, city, county or anyone else wants more then they make a donation for the upgrades.
No legislation needed!

Keep it simple!

27 intheknow - Apr 26, 02:13 pm
Susan—- Here are some things I learnd from Mrs. Mitton at a recend candiate forum: How do you explain the fact that six years ago 56% of FBISD employees were classroom teachers but today only 48% are? Did you know that out of 1037 school districts in Texas, FBISD ranks #1018 (near the bottom) in terms of student/teacher ratio?

I simply don’t believe the money is not already there for more teachers—we’ve just had an administration that has allowed those numbers to go in the wrong direction. A strong superintendent with some business sense should be able to correct this situation. After all, how can we claim we’re in the business of education when less than half of our employees are teaching?

28 Susan - Apr 26, 02:58 pm
Steve Dieu’s campaign reports are enlightenting. In his late filing, he reported a total income of $6,750. Of that amount, $3,700 was from people with addresses NOT in Fort Bend County. Also, $3,500 of it was from individuals who list their occupation as “real estate.” He listed 12 individuals as donors for an average of $562.50 per donor.

This compares to Smelley’s contributions of $10,200 from 36 donors, Howard’s $11,000 from 3 donors, Jay’s $4,010 from 30 donors, Bhuchar’s $6,453 from 33 donors, and Mitton’s $2665 from 12 donors—including $1,000 from former Fort Bend resident Bud Smith.

The percentage of contributions from out of district residents is as follows:
Dieu – 54%
Howard – 45%
Mitton – 37%
Smelley – 19%
Bhuchar – 11%
Jay – 6%

These facts certainly don’t square with the commentors who would have you belive that only Mitton and Dieu are free from influences “outside” FBISD.

29 Tania - Apr 26, 03:05 pm
Can someone explain this to me? On my CAD statement, I pay approx $1.70 tax rate to the school district. I pat $.32 to the city which provides my trash, roads, water, sewer, police and fire services. Why the large discrepancy?

30 Susan - Apr 26, 05:15 pm
There are lots of reasons why our school taxes are high, but the primary one is that the State of Texas used to pay over 50% of the cost of educating children, but now they pay only 33%. Since the state and federal governments have not stopped issuing unfunded mandates, then you and I are forced to pay outrageous property taxes. The legislature is now in its 5th try to “fix” school finance and the house this week proposed an 11% decrease in property taxes. IMHO, that is not nearly enough!

In FBISD we also have to deal with the explosive growth, so we are constantly issuing bonds to pay for new schools. Unfortunately, we have been unable to get our state legislators to do anything to force large developers (like the ones who did New Territory, Sienna, First Colony) to pay their fair share of the costs to build the new schools demaned by all the houses they sell. Call your state legislator and raise cain!

31 vinod - Apr 26, 06:15 pm
Susan – it must have been a challenge for you to come up with that spin. So from your info I get outside FBISD influence as follows:

Howard $4,950
Dieu $1,998
Smelley $1,938
Mitton $986
Bhuchar $710
Jay $241

It looks to me like Howard is kicking butt while Smelley and Dieu are in a virtual tie!

Now I would like to see how much is related to people doing business with the district and/or trying to do business with the district. Will you supply that breakdown? Or do I have to go get my own copies of the fillings? I understand from the news paper that Bhuchar pledged not to take vendor related money but her filling shows otherwise. If you are so confident please list Mr. Smelley’s and Ms. Bhuchar’s contributors and their relationship to the district (if you cannot figure out the relationships I will point them out for you). In the future please refrain from disclosing data presented in a manipulative fashion, your spin is getting old.

32 Susan - Apr 26, 07:28 pm
I am only presenting facts, contrary to the bloggers here that claim to have knowledge of which candidates can safely take money from vendors (Rickert, Bryant and Magee for example) without being negatively influenced and which ones will be immediately tainted. I presented the percentages above because obviously, some candidates (Mitton and Jay) have received much less money total so $1,000 out of Mitton’s $2,665 total is much more significant than $2,000 out of Smelley’s $10,200. It also shows that people who live in FBISD gave Smelley $8,200 and while Mitton received $1,665 from FBISD residents.

Perhaps you should go to the trouble of getting your own copies of the campaign finance reports. You will be enlightened in more ways than you know.

33 Susan - Apr 27, 03:03 pm
Mr. Dieu,

I just received your color glossy mail piece. On the front page you state:

“Active in Our Community & Our Children’s Schools”

Ealier on this very blog you posted the following: “No, I have not done any volunteer work on any campus. I did other non-school related volunteer works, however. If these are the litmus test, I guess I fail.”

Please explain. You have never volunteered in any school. You are not a school employee. So how have you been “active in our children’s schools?”

Or is this just a campaign lie?

34 intheknow - Apr 27, 06:07 pm
Susan—Your attitude above is typical of what turns so many parents off about FBISD and reveals how little you know about the real lives of working parents.

You, and other priviledged people from wealthy enclaves such as Commonwealth—where many older Board members have hailed from—think that in order to “earn” a voice on the school board you have to be part of the “clique” that is fortunate enough to have time during the day to spend hours in the school as a VIP. The problem is, there are very few avenues for working parents to get involved after hours.

I think being a caring and involved parent with children in the schools, one who goes to parent/teacher conferences, helps with the homework, reads all the mountains of paperwork that comes home, makes it to school programs and generally tries to be a good parent counts, too.

35 schoolwise - Apr 27, 08:10 pm
I think Susan is calling Dieu a liar. Wasn’t she one of the posters threatening libel suits earlier? Or was that a “campaign lie” . . . ;-)

36 Susan - Apr 27, 08:27 pm
Deep spin, intheknow. My only point was that Mr. Dieu stated on this blog that he had not volunteered in schools and then sent out a mailer stating that he was active in our children’s schools. Which is it?

The point is truthfulness and integrity which are essential for most voters.

37 dk - Apr 27, 08:47 pm
There are a lot of things for people that work to do related to school. They can range from helping with seasonal fairs and festivals, PTO activities, Booster Clubs, Fundraisers, CBLT’s, etc, etc, etc. None of these have anything to do with having money, or living in a nice house. And, not everybody that stays home with their kids is privileged. Some just have that conviction and make the sacrifice to do it.

The truth is that Mr. Dieu made a very clear statement on this blogsite that he had never spent any time volunteering on a school campus, then sent out a flyer that says he is active in the community, and in his kids schools. Can’t have it both ways.

38 freeourteachers - Apr 27, 09:36 pm
I personally think it is great that in this county which is so tightly controlled by special interest and developer money, that little ole Steve Dieu can put his name forward with funding from himself and a few friends, then by virtue of a strong message take the lead in this race. America is still the land of opportunity!

39 schoolwise - Apr 28, 05:58 am
I couldn’t have said it better FOT. What Susan has been trying to do is muddy up the waters to cover for the pit-falls of her status-quo leader Mr. Smelley. Anyone who posts “truths” about her candidate is sharply rebuked and then subjected to her spin on data. I noticed she’s listed some of the S mans special interest funding that is actually Houston based corporations as local. The problem with this Susan tactic is that managers and subordinate executives who may live here do not count as company owners (even if they have some stock).

Mr. Smelley is a return to the wrong “old guard” elite takers that this school system needs to get away from. The only way to do that is to move forward (not back).

40 Susan - Apr 28, 07:40 am
Changing the subject from Mr. Dieu’s lie?

Has Burt Levine conducted a poll to show that Dieu is “in the lead”? The same Burt who will not apologize for sending out an email with false and libelous information about another candidate? The same Burt Levine whom Dieu stated was not your campaign manager and yet campaign reports prove he has received $600 so far?

Or has Lisa Rickert twisted enough arms for Dieu in exchange for his vote for her continued reign as “President of Fort Bend ISD”?

America is still the land of opportunity and we have TWO candidates who immigrated to this country and achieved the American dream running for the same seat. Sonal Bhuchar is also a self-made woman with support from friends and others who care deeply about public education. She actually has spent MUCH time volunteering in schools and also has the integrity not to lie to voters.

41 Robert Cocheu - Apr 28, 03:57 pm
I state my point again. One does not have to volunteer extensively in the schools to know what is best for our Schools. If one has common sense, business know how, and some basic understanding of their community, as well as children in the school, then they can make decisions regarding what is best for our children. I will pose another question to all the candidates (or their campaign workers or supporters). Please list your qualifications regarding budget functions and business accumen. This is a central role that BOT play in the function of a school district. Once again, let the professionals educate, let the administration advise the board on the business function, and let the board due their legally mandated fiduciary duty and analyze the business function and budget. Just because an individual has shown up to a classroom and read to the students, or served on CBT, or as an officer for the PTO/PTA (although all comendable and admirable and needed) does not make them qualified to serve on the school board. BTW – Still keeping count and to date only Liz Mitton and Steve Dieu have answered my original questions. I have been out of pocket actually doing things with my children, and will be again this weekend, but I do look forward to actually hearing from ALL the candidates on my questions.

42 dk - Apr 28, 11:59 pm
Mr. Cocheu – -

No doubt you are right about not needing the “on campus” experience. However, you also do not need to make the claim on one day that you have never spent any time on a campus, then in the same week put out a piece of campaign literature that says you have done just that. You cannot have it both ways! Another thing that should be obvious by now is that not all of the candidates are watching this site and able to meet your request. Ms. Mitton obviously watches this site routinely. She was, until this campaign a writer for Fort Bend Now and is the only candidate with an ad here. Steve Dieu’s campaign is being run by Burt Levine, both of them watch this site carefully. Why don’t you go to a forum and see what they have to say? That is what I do.

43 JerryS - Apr 29, 08:13 am
DK– With little effort I was able to figure out that you are a paid hand just like Burt Levine. By your negative postings here you are reveling that you are afraid that your candidate is trailing Mr. Dieu. BTW Dan which candidate are you working for?

Susan– Your agenda is well known throughout the county and by virtue of the level of your attacks the readers here now know that you are afraid that Mr. Dieu will prevail on May 13th. Also you and Bev Carter seem to be confused and continue to act like Mr. Dieu and Mr. Smelley are running against each other.

You guys are the best poll around. Here is my perspective.

I have a rule in my life, and that is never criticize someone without sitting down face to face and talking with them first. If you are not willing to invest in understanding and discussing you have not earned the right to criticize.

I have spoken with almost all of the candidates in both positions and find Mr. Dieu to be intelligent, honest, forthright, and willing to work with everyone. I did not get the opportunity to meet Mr. Walker. Mr. Jay seems to be a nice guy but I researched his record when he was previously on the board and did not agree with many of the things he had done. Ms. Sonal, I was very impressed with when I spoke with her, though she did seem to lack opinions on some key issues. The killer was when I asked around about her, too many people were quick to proudly lay claim to her, making me uneasy as to her independence.

44 schoolwise - Apr 29, 09:26 am
Is it true Hal Jay, Allen Owen and Steve Smelley were the only candidates until yesterday allowed to use a local banks yard to post their signs in? I also heard that Owen, who works for that bank and is backed heavily by special interests supports these two candidates, is that correct? Is it also true that the Houston regional office of this bank forced Owens local branches to remove all signs, including his, after they found out? . . . interesting stuff!

Check their campaign list folks and then VOTE!

BTW, all the signs that were on the 1092 branch lot are now gone. . .wisp! . . .concidence I guess?

45 Susan - Apr 29, 11:22 am
JerryS,

I do have a well known agenda for FBISD – RETURN FOCUS TO EDUCATING CHILDREN! I want the BOT majority to stop fighting with each other, with the administration, with the TEA and stop using their positions for their own personal political glory and purposes. That is my only agenda. I proclaim it proudly!

Instead of addressing the FACT that Mr. Dieu LIED by first stating on this blog that he had never volunteered in public schools and then sending out a mail piece claiming that he had, you attack me. That is the modus operandi many of those who support Dieu, Mitton and Howard.

You claim that you find Dieu to be “honest and forthright” in spite of the FACT that he lied to the voters. That says much about YOUR agenda that you would defend indefensible behavior.

Is that your lesson for FBISD students? Win at any cost? Lie to be elected if that is what it takes? That is “honest and forthright”?

46 Greg Conrad - Apr 29, 03:10 pm
Susan—do you lay any blame at all for the devisiveness of the last few months at the feet of Mr. Bain, Ms. Hauenstein, Ms. Knox or former board member Jane Clarke? I seem to recall them all making false claims to the TEA (which started the real distractions and hard feelings) that the TEA later found were ALL unfounded. The Board majority was completely exonerated.

It takes two sides to have a fight, Susan. I have seen nothing from Knox, Bain or Hauenstein during the past year that indicates they were in any way willing to work with the majority or put any effort into finding solutions. None of them ever even volunteered to be on one Board committee.

You seem to have an opinion on just about everything in the county—and seem to have a lot of inside information I can only assume is being fed to you by older members of the board—thus your obvious slant to everything.

Your hate-filled attacks and unsubstantiated claims against new people trying to gain a completely unpaid position on the Board just aren’t ringing true. Please move on.

47 schoolwise - Apr 29, 04:06 pm
Susan, you are the one calling anyone not in the “old guard” a liar. It wouldn’t matter what they posted here. You are in fact part of that clique..but apparently moving so I question your credibility. Good post JerryS!

48 Susan - Apr 29, 07:10 pm
Schoolwise,
Please show me any place I have used the word lie or liar to refer to anything except Mr. Dieu’s statement that he has volunteered in schools when he also has said that he did not.

Greg Conrad,
The fighting I see and have referenced is between the “new guard” themselves. Are you aware that Rickert and Magee are at war with one another? Why do you think that Rickert is endorsing Mitton and Dieu when last year she supported Magee’s buddy Wayne Howard? All of the “devisiveness” (aka divisiveness) I see is between Rickert and Caldwell on one side and Magee and Bryant on the other and it all came to a head when Magee and Bryant refused to go along with Rickert’s plan to replace RHJ with Jamail. Now it appears that the biggest “issue” to both sides of the gang is who will be able to wrest power from the other. Will we have President Rickert or President Magee?

As for the TEA investigation, please go back and read the report. It did not state that the allegations were false, only that they could not prove them because the TEA is a gutless, worthless organization when it comes to assisting school districts with governance problems—which FBISD currently has.

Please name one “unsubstantiated claim” that I have made. I think you will find that I can back up everything I have said with proof. FBISD is imploding under Team Rickert. I wonder how much money we are going to have to pay for the lawsuit alleging that Rickert defamed RHJ and improperly cancelled their contract with the district?

49 schoolwise - Apr 30, 07:03 am
Susan,

I suppose I should do a search of all of your thousands of pro-status quo postings and “old guard” rantings now but a once famous scholar said “do your own scholarship” (or chase your own tail).

Stop spinning the tripe and post some facts, which you seem very lite on. Smearing Dieu is accomplishing nothing and he would be a fine addition, minus his hired political consultant, to any committee or board!

50 Susan - Apr 30, 11:13 am
Schoolwise,
Why do you continue to attack me rather than dealing with facts? Is it because you cannot defend the actions and positions of the candidates you support?

BTW- I probably used the word lie or liar when referring to the libelous emails sent out by Burt Levine (Dieu’s campaign consultant) and Liz Mitton regarding Steve and Brenna Smelley. They spread lies in those emails and I called them on it.

51 BG - Apr 30, 12:08 pm
Susan,

Speaking of lies or maybe just misinformation, I have seen Dieu disclaim Burt as a campaign manager several times publicly and you continually try to tag him with the Burt factor with no legitimacy.

Hard to throw stones at others when you behave like that.

52 Susan - Apr 30, 12:27 pm
Mr. Gaston,
I have Mr. Dieu’s campaign finance reports that were filed with the district on 4/24 (due on 4/13) showing two payments of $300 each to Mr. Levine. If Mr. Levine is not in Mr. Dieu’s employ, why is Mr. Dieu paying him?

Are you telling me that Mr. Dieu has told ANOTHER lie?

53 Robert Cocheu - Apr 30, 01:33 pm
DK,
I have not been able to attend any of the forums so far due to some scheduling constraints. I do plan on attending the one sponsored this Tuesday by the Fresno Educational Steering Committee. However, if other candidates workers or supporters (Susan maybe?) would like to answer or make know their candidates answers to the questions I encourage them to do so. Failure by any candidate to answer questions in a public forum leads me to question the real reasons behind their run. FInally, once again has of now I am not working for any candidate. In totality I still have one or two more things to see about before I make my decision on who to support. My questions were put out for myself, and all other voters in the district. This campaign is being controlled totally by spin and negative campaigning (at least from what I have seen so far) alogn with a healthy dose of “let’s do it for the children”. Until answers are give by candidates to hard questions the reality is we all loose.

54 Susan - Apr 30, 01:55 pm
Paying someone for materials or a service is a LOOONNNGGGGG way from having them manage a campaign. You have made an assumption and promulgated pure misinformation and owe Mr. Dieu an apology IMHO.

55 Susan - Apr 30, 03:14 pm
Another Susan,
Mr. Levine has accompanied Mr. Dieu to MANY events—campaign and social and helped him “work the crowd”. He has spent much time here and on other sites blogging in defense of and promoting Mr. Dieu. Yet Mr. Dieu denies any association with Mr. Levine?

I think Mr. Dieu is the one who owes the public an apology for stating that he has never volunteered in schools and then sending out campaign literature stating that he has. Regardless of who designed or printed the materials, the candidate must bear the ultimate responsibility.

And I believe you will find that I used the words “campaign consultant” (not manager) and that would IMHO include any assistance for which Mr. Dieu has paid Mr. Levine.

56 schoolwise - Apr 30, 04:39 pm
I agree Susan owe’s Mitton & Dieu an big apology for her conduct and spin!

57 Susan - Apr 30, 05:38 pm
Schoolwise might think about apologizing to his/her teachers for that last post.

58 schoolwise - Apr 30, 08:11 pm
Is that the best you can do Susie? Have you run out of rubbish to post on these decent people. I just finished reading a piece of work by a group in this part of the county attempting to smear Mitton that had nothing in it but references to Hitler’s propaganda minister (Goebbels). No facts, no data, nothing. A simple blind copied article condemning all those who have worked in the communications consulting industry. Of course, if we applied your groups lack of logic on all professions then we couldn’t run anyone.

Look at who’s backing your people and defend that first. Look at who hasn’t taken the vendor challenge. Look at and judge the type/quality of spin your group is putting out on decent/honest people.

59 intheknow - May 1, 07:56 am
Susan—thank you for your continued penchant for having to have the last word on everything. You have kept Steve Dieu’s name on the home page of FortBendNow for several weeks now free of charge. Good job.

60 Dan Kerr - May 1, 11:21 am
Hey Susan –
Aren’t you the same susan who is the 4107 precinct chair? –
AND BTW – I am not – nor ever have been “DK”

61 Amy Oshinsky - May 1, 09:26 pm
As a Fort Bend ISD graduate and a 23 year resident of Fort Bend, a tax payer and most important as a married mother to a daughter that is a student in the district I’m supporting Steve Dieu because of his dedication to our state and country proven by his public service as an assistant attorney general forcing fathers to face their financial duties to their families, his committment to our county and community as an elected pct chair, his knowing big budgets shown by his background in building a manufacturing firm and most important what I’ve seen first hand as his putting always his wife who is his best friend and their three children first in all he does.

62 Al Thompson - May 2, 10:25 am
Amy,

We know Steve Dieu supports his family. It was quite evident at the Sienna forum when he indicated that he chose to ignore the law because his campaign was taking too much time away from his family. If a man skilled in handling big budgets can’t even file auditing documents on time and can’t even find the time to campaign, when will he ever find time to spend seven hours with us on Monday nights or have the time for the numerous other committees and conferences he will be obligated to attend?

Never trust a Dentist with rotten pegs in his mouth and never trust an assistant attorney general that thinks the law doesn’t apply to him.

63 schoolwise - May 3, 08:15 am
Al & Susan,

Your agenda stinks and your not so clever smears of Mr. Dieu are unfair. Hurting him and his family with attacks like this smack of special interests attempting to retake the school board here. I’m getting a little tired of seeing the publisher of one of the papers and her clique attacking anyone that they see as a threat to their discarded philosophy. She can sell her real-estate ads somewhere else if she doesn’t like it. The school system, that has been ruined by an inattentive old guard, over the decades, deserves fresh leadership without the special interest (Houston) strings attached.

Stop the smears on good people!

64 Susan - May 3, 08:48 am
You define a “smear” as pointing out that a person said one thing at one time and another thing at another time? Or that they failed to follow the letter of the law in spite of the fact that they are an officer of the court?

I call that stating fact, sir, even if such facts are “inconvenient” for your political agenda.

65 jc - May 3, 06:27 pm
schoolwise,
You are correct, we deserve fresh leadership, “without an agenda”. Is that what you think we have now. The current board has more personal agenda than any I have seen in the past. Their personal agendas have hampered the efforts of the board to move forward. What we don’t need is another Lisa Rickert yes man. I personally have heard Mr. Dieu speak and I liked him very much. However, I do not feel that he will be an independent force on the board.

You are so defensive in your posts and you have such tunnelvision. Both sides have put “spin” on their views. So please don’t act like only one side is “spinning”. I haven’t seen much substance in most of the posts and it is getting very old.

I posted facts on this site and received a very hatefuland offensive response from someone that did not know me or know the situation. Someone that was paid by a candidate. Instead of airing it out on the blog, I educated that person and it appears that he has seen the light. And, BTW this person is from your camp.

I’m from the camp that wants to refocus on the FBISD business from an honest and caring perspective.

66 The Umpire - May 3, 09:11 pm
Just because it is fun to stir the pot…

Can we all agree that if Mr. Dieu did, in fact, file his campaign reports late because he was “too busy”, that it is likely that he doesn’t really have the time to serve?

To be frank, though, I am rooting for him, if only to give my favorite misanthropic curmudgeon a nudge.

However, at least to this point, from a relatively disinterested observer (from an FBISD standpoint), Susan is winning on points – and pretty convincingly, too.

67 Susan - May 3, 10:51 pm
Ump,
I’m blowing you a kiss! ;-)

68 Amy Oshinsky - May 4, 02:13 am
Can anyone please tell me if since this site opened in September if any entry has ever earned this many (more than 65) comments?

69 Bob Dunn - May 4, 06:05 am
Burt Levine asked me that same question just yesterday, Amy.

We’ve never attempted to keep track before. It’s certainly possible this could be a record,

It would be accurate to say it has become one of the longest-running comment sections in our brief history.

70 Susan - May 4, 08:44 am
Mr. Dunn,
I think this thread has had “legs” for a number of reasons.
1) Mr. Dieu is one of several candidates using the Internet extensively as a campaign tool. That can be good or bad and we will know more after the election. Other candidate’s supporters may be on line, but Mitton and Dieu are notable in that they seem to personally spend a lot of time blogging or sending out email communications.
2) Because Mr. Dieu has communicated in this forum, it is easy to compare what he says (writes) one time with what he says (writes) another. Thus Mr. Dieu has been caught stating that he never volunteered in schools and then sending out campaign literature stating the opposite. That sort of thing gets people’s attention.
3) Lawyer Dieu’s failure to file his campaign finance reports on time as required by law also garnered attention.
4) Mr. Dieu’s supporters have gone to great lengths here to “spin” numbers 3 and 4 above. Others (like me) have countered their attempts to explain away false statements and failure to follow campaign law.
5) Many posts are from Burt Levine – who is being paid by Mr. Dieu (campaign report filed 4/24) in spite of the fact that Mr. Dieu appears to have disavowed association with Mr. Levine. 6) Some posts have wandered into attacks on individual posters who present “inconvenient” information. “Politics 101”—attack the messenger when the message hurts.

71 JRK - May 4, 11:10 am
Susan, please stop whining about Steve Dieu posting a statement that he has not logged into a VIPS (volunteer) log at a school or served on a specific committee and then professing in his mailout that he is “actively involved” (not a voluteer) in schools. Being a parent natually demands involvement in schools. I personally am very involved in my sons’ schools and other school related activities and organizations, yet if you look at any documentation of parent volunteer hours, you will see none (even when I do “volunteer”, I don’t record it). Mr. Dieu is not a deceiptful person and not a “liar”. I have only met Mr. Dieu at candidate forums and can tell he is concerned, pragmatic, capable, hard working and honorable.
If you can’t find anything positive to say about your candidate of choice “Politics 102” to you.

72 BG - May 4, 02:22 pm
It’s interesting to note how fanatically some attack Mr. Dieu for being a couple of days late on his finance report when the former Fort Bend County Republican Chairman was several months late on reports for both the party and himself and I believe one of the most active critics of Mr. Dier was a party secretary during the period the reports should have covered. Guess it all depends on agendas.

73 Susan - May 4, 03:31 pm
Mr. Gaston,
As you well know the party secretary has nothing to do with the filing of finance reports. ALL political candidates and office holders should file ALL required reports in a timely fashion. I do not hold my political adversaries to a different standard nor do I excuse anyone just because they happen to be my friend. That’s just one difference between us.

74 The Umpire - May 4, 03:44 pm
Fanatically? Pointing it out is considered “fanatic”? Please… save your hyperbole for something worthy of extremist exaggeration.

Perhaps if Mr. Dieu had provided a better reason other than he was “too busy”, it would not be as much of a concern considering the amount of time it takes to serve on a school board.

Oh, and last I checked, nine days is not “a couple of days”.

Also, your lame defense of “Well, Eric Thode did it, too” doesn’t fly. Just because Eric “Out-of-Town” Thode couldn’t take care of business and left office is wave of disgrace is no excuse for Mr. Dieu.

I have nothing against Mr. Dieu, per se. For all I know, he’s the nicest guy around and would represent the district well.

But, um, the people coming to his defense don’t serve him very well with their hyperbolic comments and bogus arguments.

75 BG - May 4, 04:19 pm
Susan,

I just noted that as the Secretary you had NO comment on Mr. Thode getting the party and himself in trouble with the Ethics Commission.

76 The Umpire - May 4, 04:39 pm
Um, I thought this thread was about Mr. Dieu?

Red herring, anyone?

77 BG - May 4, 04:42 pm
AD,

I am just a lot more willing to grant some grace to a new guy in the political arena than those who have been very active and choose to raise a ruckus in one case while ignoring others of far more gravity because they support them or were part of the problem.

Hyperbole?????

78 voterwise - May 4, 04:54 pm
I’m not sure why the ump is siding in the argument. Isn’t he from KISD? Or maybe he just likes arguing. . .=-0

79 Susan - May 4, 05:03 pm
Mr. Gaston,

Mr. Thode has moved and is not running for office so his failures are only interesting as history. Mr. Dieu is stating that he did not have time to file his campaign finance reports and yet he wants us to elect him to the school board. As the ump says, if he doesn’t have time to fill out a 3-5 page report, how will he find time to do the job?

80 BG - May 4, 05:41 pm
Susan,

I’m sure if Mr. Dieu is elected that he will be accountable and responsible. He has an excellent track record in his professional endeavors and I beleive his work ethic and attitude will make him an excellent board member.; 4:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Some people don't know what they don't know:

intheknow (Liz?),
You are not comparing apples to apples. My figures only reflect money spent on board governance issues. You report total legal expenditures which includes board governance issues plus fees for lawsuits, special education, contracts, employment issues, etc. The BOT does not have direct control over the latter issues, but they do have control over how many times they pick up the phone and call an outside attorney.

The nearly $42,000 spent between January and March 2006 under Rickert/Pedraza is what we have paid for outside counsel to give advice to the BOT or for lawyers to “babysit” the BOT during meetings. If we add on fees for lawsuits, contracts, employment issues, etc. the fees would be MUCH higher.

Let me reiterate, from January to March 2006, FBISD taxpayers paid $41,795.47 for outside counsel to advise members of the Board about how to run the district. The numbers to compare this to are $1,648.75 for January to March 2004 and $13,955.00 for January to March 2005.

Furthermore, I think if you check, the lawyer fees you list for Dr. Hooper and Dr. Chopra do not contain special education fees. During that time, special ed legal matters were not handled by Feldman and Rogers. When Dr. Baitland took over, Feldman and Rogers began to handle all FBISD legal matters.; 4:39 PM
Anonymous said...: More threads:

78 voterwise - May 4, 04:54 pm
I’m not sure why the ump is siding in the argument. Isn’t he from KISD? Or maybe he just likes arguing. . .=-0

79 Susan - May 4, 05:03 pm
Mr. Gaston,

Mr. Thode has moved and is not running for office so his failures are only interesting as history. Mr. Dieu is stating that he did not have time to file his campaign finance reports and yet he wants us to elect him to the school board. As the ump says, if he doesn’t have time to fill out a 3-5 page report, how will he find time to do the job?

80 BG - May 4, 05:41 pm
Susan,

I’m sure if Mr. Dieu is elected that he will be accountable and responsible. He has an excellent track record in his professional endeavors and I beleive his work ethic and attitude will make him an excellent board member.; 5:47 PM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;-)

Give up Susan J. your political leanings are all to obvious.; 5:48 PM
Anonymous said...: More:

13 voterwise - May 4, 02:21 pm
I don’t know how you can confirm whether Ruckman lied or not without a determination, which you don’t have, from the state. You’re continuing to use a Ruckman quote of what others said. From what I read the state hasn’t released their findings.

So I restate the question. Is it just because Ruckman is in your clique that you over-look her issues?

14 Susan - May 4, 02:32 pm
You have so much faith in your friends (Rickert, Caldwell, Bryant and Magee) that you are willing to continue paying lawyers at the rate of $41,700 per quarter to HELP Rickert and Pedraza run things?

I would much rather have that money paying for additional teachers than being used by a Board President and Acting Superintendent who are so inexperienced that they don’t know what they don’t know and have to have lawyers holding their hands every day.

15 intheknow - May 4, 04:05 pm
The legal fees paid over the past decade to Feldman & Rogers (FBISD’s recently terminated outside law firm) have been as follows. The Superintendent at the time for each year is noted as a point of reference:

Chopra:
1994—$124,750.83

Hooper:
1995—$121,573.29
1996—$144,646.43
1997—(no records found)
1998—$202,706.73
1999—$284,629.70
2000—$155,295.60

Baitland (appointed interim in April 2001)
2001—$358,039.10
2002—$383,031.62
2003—$440,235.66
2004—$381,343.30
2005—$565,543.77

These amounts were provided by FBISD and reflect payments recorded on IRS form 1099-Misc for each calendar year as “Nonemployee Compensation.”

The records show the legal fees escalated not because of board counsel—but because of increased reliance of the administration on outside legal counsel. Note the large jump the year Dr. Baitland became Super. Nice try, Susan.. but you seem to be grasping at straws.; 5:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Is this the same Susan J., the secretary of the repubs, that worked closely with the last republican county chair (Eric Thode) who pretended to live in Missouri City when he actually was in Houston with his special interest buddies? Didn't this draw a great deal of controversy in the press? Is this even legal? Why did she defend him during the questionable ethics charges? Everyone knows he wasn't living here and that created a problem with one candidates late filings running for county office. Now she's criticizing Dieu for being a little late on his filings, but defending another public official for a complaint that she was campaigning on public time and servers. . . hum!; 5:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Some people don't know what they don't know:

intheknow (Liz?),
You are not comparing apples to apples. My figures only reflect money spent on board governance issues. You report total legal expenditures which includes board governance issues plus fees for lawsuits, special education, contracts, employment issues, etc. The BOT does not have direct control over the latter issues, but they do have control over how many times they pick up the phone and call an outside attorney.

The nearly $42,000 spent between January and March 2006 under Rickert/Pedraza is what we have paid for outside counsel to give advice to the BOT or for lawyers to “babysit” the BOT during meetings. If we add on fees for lawsuits, contracts, employment issues, etc. the fees would be MUCH higher.

Let me reiterate, from January to March 2006, FBISD taxpayers paid $41,795.47 for outside counsel to advise members of the Board about how to run the district. The numbers to compare this to are $1,648.75 for January to March 2004 and $13,955.00 for January to March 2005.

Furthermore, I think if you check, the lawyer fees you list for Dr. Hooper and Dr. Chopra do not contain special education fees. During that time, special ed legal matters were not handled by Feldman and Rogers. When Dr. Baitland took over, Feldman and Rogers began to handle all FBISD legal matters.; 6:19 PM
Anonymous said...: Susan - May 4, 03:31 pm

Mr. Gaston,
As you well know the party secretary has nothing to do with the filing of finance reports. ALL political candidates and office holders should file ALL required reports in a timely fashion. I do not hold my political adversaries to a different standard nor do I excuse anyone just because they happen to be my friend. That’s just one difference between us.; 7:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Is this the same Susan J., the secretary of the repubs, that worked closely with the last republican county chair (Eric Thode) who pretended to live in Missouri City when he actually was in Houston with his special interest buddies? Didn't this draw a great deal of controversy in the press? Is this even legal? Why did she defend him during the questionable ethics charges? Everyone knows he wasn't living here and that created a problem with one candidates late filings running for county office. Now she's criticizing Dieu for being a little late on his filings, but defending another public official for a complaint that she was campaigning on public time and servers. . . hum!; 4:07 AM
responsible_dvlpmnt said...: I just wanted to mention how selective the code enforcement seems to be Ms. Sandy Denton. I see several front streets in Sienna Plantation that are being allowed to run 4 political signs of a certain developer backed candidate in their yards giving the appearance of more support. I even saw the yard crowd cutting around one in Village Lakes in a common area. I guess this is the new order, right Mike Smith, Susie Mahoney & Doug Goff, Cynthia Hernandez? Can someone take pictures of these. I will post them here.

Nothing like selective code enforcement, huh guys and gals of the new order (our SPRAI board and employees).

Hi Mr. Keville! See you on the 16th Doug . . .; 4:14 AM
Anonymous said...: More threads:

78 voterwise - May 4, 04:54 pm
I’m not sure why the ump is siding in the argument. Isn’t he from KISD? Or maybe he just likes arguing. . .=-0

79 Susan - May 4, 05:03 pm
Mr. Gaston,

Mr. Thode has moved and is not running for office so his failures are only interesting as history. Mr. Dieu is stating that he did not have time to file his campaign finance reports and yet he wants us to elect him to the school board. As the ump says, if he doesn’t have time to fill out a 3-5 page report, how will he find time to do the job?

80 BG - May 4, 05:41 pm
Susan,

I’m sure if Mr. Dieu is elected that he will be accountable and responsible. He has an excellent track record in his professional endeavors and I beleive his work ethic and attitude will make him an excellent board member.; 7:57 AM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;-); 7:57 AM
Anonymous said...: More from FBNow thread for your edification:

36 Bob Dunn - May 4, 05:57 am
Just to clarify, FBISD administrators told me a representative of the Texas Ethics Commission said no law had been violated in this case.

However, representatives of the Texas Ethics Commission told me, as they have before in similar cases, that no one from the TEC is allowed to comment on a complaint. They specifically said no one from TEC may comment to a school administrator in this case. All complaints are confidential unless or until there’s a finding of wrongdoing.

So their position is that no one from TEC could have commented because to do so would have been forbidden.

Interesting paradox, but there you have it.

37 intheknow - May 4, 07:39 am
Linda, in her emotional allegiance to “keeping things they way they are”, ..... unwittingly revealed the crux of the problems on the Board these past 12 months when she says—- “and they (newly elected Board members) refuse to listen to their experienced fellow board members.”

Why should they have? It was the “experienced” board members who have refused to serve on ONE Board committee. It was “experienced” Board members who did not understand they had line item veto authority over the budget. It was the “experienced” board members who were happy to keep voters and taxpayers in the dark about embarrassing internal audits that revealed substantial mismanagement of the district.

It was the “experienced” board members who were going to back the administration’s recommendation to only give teacher’s a $1000 pay raise this past year—the new Board fought, and won, a $2,100 increase.

It is the “experienced” board members who ran to TEA with complaints against the newer members—all of which the TEA ruled were unsubstantiated.

It was the “experienced” board members who NEVER bothered to put a long-range growth plan in place and who sat by while our student/teacher ratio has sunk to one of the worst in the state.

It is the newer members of the board who have been working, with much success, to bring more open governance and fiscal accountability to this District. And that, my friends, is something some in the administration are having a very hard time dealing with.

It should be clear to anyone with an ounce of sense that the division on the Board for the past several months has been driven by “experienced” board members who were simply not ready to give up their “social club” atmosphere on the Board and take on their elected responsibilities of true oversight. Rubber stamp boards certainly may be more congenial—but voters should ask if they want to go back to those days or if we should press forward for positive change.

38 thinkaboutit - May 4, 08:10 am
In the Know,

As always, your “facts” are strictly your opinion! This district will have a hard time getting administrators to move in here because this is one of the only districts I know of, where the board thinks they have the “duty and right” to run the district. No Superintendent will agree to let Mrs. Rickert continue to be in charge. Team Rickert’s actions will be watched very carefully. I think we are in for a long wait.

39 Susan - May 4, 08:57 am
intheknow,
I am going to give you another “inconvenient” fact. An open records request to FBISD yielded the following information.

During the first quarter of 2006 (January – March), FBISD paid out $41,795.47 to outside attorneys for legal advice and counsel to the Board of Trustees. There is a longstanding policy that only the Board President and the Superintendent are supposed to contact outside attorneys to minimize costs. I do not know if this was followed in every case, but one can assume that MOST of the calls/contacts were instigated by either Lisa Rickert or Dr. Pedraza. A request for more detailed information will reveal the truth.

This figures compare with $1,648.75 spent in the first quarter of 2004 (before Rickert and Bryant’s election) and $13,955.00 in 2005 (internal dissention was reported in the press during this period).

Thus, my assumption is that Mrs. Rickert has chosen to ask outside counsel for advice about anything and everything rather than seeking information from our internal counsel or those who have done the job before to the tune of almost $42,000—enough to pay the average teacher’s salary for a year!

40 schoolwise - May 4, 09:20 am
Bob,

I believe the Susan J. post above either belongs in another one of her “smear Liz/Dieu” threads, but not on the principal thread? What do you think?

Think-about-it—The Supt. doesn’t hire the board, they are elected and in TX the Supt. answers to the board, whom represent the people. I thought a correction was needed in your post. Hope this was helpful.

41 Dan Kerr - May 4, 09:57 am
Both IntheKnow and ThinkAboutIt have interesting comments – unfortunately, they have let their bias substitute for reality.

A Board has both a fiduciary and moral obligation to develop policy. As a result of that policy, they are, in fact, running the district. The Super answers directly to the Board and the Super’s job length is determined, in reality, from 1 Board meeting to the next – it is not thier perogative to insert their own agenda in place of the Board’s – it is the Super’s job to implement the Board’s policy. The Super doesn’t have equal footing with the Board nor does that person have a duty and right to run the district. That is specifically the perogative of the Board. By stating otherwise, you have displayed your lack of knowledge of how the structure of a Board and it’s Super is. Unfortunate.

Finally, to only elect or to complain that new Board members do not listen to old Board members is ludicrous. The fact of the matter is that the reason that new members get elected is that those who have the power of the vote FAIL to vote. The fact that voter turnout was low this last time or previous has nothing to do with satisfaction but rather apathy. The voting history for ISD over the past 10 to 15 years has remained statistically constant at around 5300 as compared with a dramatic increase in the voting population. When 4 to 6 percent of the eligible people bother to turn out for a primary in an on year and even less of those people turn out for a ISD election, one wonders whether people are just lazy or narcisistic in their attitudes. What these people fail to realize is that a no vote is the same as a yes vote for whom ever decides to run.

Linda – insult or not – the people of this community are incapable of or unwilling to spending their time to voice their hard fought vote. That statement is backed up by the REAL numbers.

Linda – the people of this community are incapable of or unwilling to take an interest in the REAL solutions to the ISD as evidenced by their absence at the voting booth.

Linda – the reason people stay home and do not vote IS NOT their satisfaction with the current status quo but rather they are either TOO busy watching TV or anything else to care.

Linda – While these facts are unfortunate – never the less – these ARE THE FACT

Finally – your constant reference to the “Gang of 4” is OLD – in order for there to be a “Gang” each of these members must act as one consistently – that has not happened nor is it in the interest of each member to do so – saying it only leads one to assume that your comments are baseless and without merit and thus should be ignored as I am sure you have been – sort of like if they don’t agree with you – pout and go home

42 Susan - May 4, 10:46 am
Welcome back Mr. Kerr. Are you still employed by candidate Wayne Howard? Did you apologize to Jean Charuk for attacking her credibility after you read her documents?

It appears that several posters do not want to deal with the fact that under the rule of the “new guard” or “gang of 4” (I believe those monikers originated with the new majority), almost $42,000 was spent “consulting” with outside attorneys over a 3 month period. Is that they kind of fiscal responsibility that we want in FBISD? What excuses have you guys come up with for this irresponsible behavior?

43 Dan Kerr - May 5, 09:19 am
Susan – This is my final response to you and your ilk – You obviously have nothing better to do than to try and get the last word in – symptoms of one who is blind to either truth or to the pursuit of knowledge
First – Gang of 4 is OLD – get a new mantra –
Two – despite jl – She did show me some interesting info – info that confirms my first impression –
Three – no appologies necessary to Mrs. Charuk – the police report supports my contentions – YOU NEED TO REREAD IT
Lastly – no further response will be made by me on this subject as I consider the matter closed
Finally – your personal attacks on Levine are below the level of a sane person and you should be ASHAMED OF YOURSELF; 5:03 PM
Anonymous said...: 44 Linda - May 5, 04:50 pm
Dan – a quick lesson in fact vs. opinion…

Fact – can be proven, something known to be true, consistent
Opinion – conclusion based on a person’s judgement rather than on what is known to be true or can be proven…

We start teaching these concepts in second grade.

You said, “the people of this community are incapable of or unwilling to spending their time to voice their hard fought vote.”

You said, “the people of this community are incapable of or unwilling to take an interest in the REAL solutions to the ISD”

You said, “the reason people stay home and do not vote IS NOT their satisfaction with the current status quo but rather they are either TOO busy watching TV or anything else to care.”

Finally, you said, ” While these facts are unfortunate – never the less – these ARE THE FACT.”

Sorry, but I cannot give you credit for comprehending the difference between fact and opinion.

Certainly you are entitled to your opinions – please, just recognize them for what they are – YOUR opinions.

Lighten up, Sweetie! Life is too short to be so cynical.

Tomorrow’s lesson:
Is the cup half empty or half full?

Once a teacher, always a teacher! :-)

Happy Friday, Dan!

45 Dan Kerr - May 5, 07:31 pm
Linda – Ha Ha – Funny – Sometimes one has to wonder what is going thru a voter’s mind when only 4 to 6% of the registered voters turn up in primaries with a 360% increase in voter population over the last 10 years and with 150% increase in the last 4 years alone – all the while the number of people who BOTHER to show up to vote in ISD elections has fallen from 21,000 in 1992 to just over 5900 this past year –
Pretty sad concerning the people they are putting into office are affecting their supposed most prized possession – their kids – What this leads to is a fractured community and the end result is an influx of special interest with rumors taking the place of reality, subgroups vying for power, and charges being leveled against people willing to stand up –
A candidate once told me why would he put himself on the line with all this manutia for a position that is unpaid and unappreciated –
You tell me why the voters decide to stay home – I have been doing this for over 30 years on both the local and national level – Perplexing

46 jc - May 5, 11:03 pm
Dan,
Are you kidding? The police reports went to a grand jury and the grand jury indicted the student that hit my son. The student took 6 years deferred adjudication plus many other penalties. What exactly is your point? Read the judgement from the court. Did you miss the part, in the police reports, where the assailant tried to get the other students to change their statements? Do you think they were lying? I will be glad to publish the entire set of documents if thats what you want. Did you not recognize the “resignation and release” document for what it is? I have no reason to lie. I will share these documents with anyone who wants to know the TRUTH. And there is more where that came from.; 6:07 AM
Anonymous said...: 57 razincane - May 1, 08:19 pm
You failed to mention that if you look at Ms. Rickert’s board voting record you would find the following:

Voted against a long term auditor contract – Null Lairson

Voted against 2 story elementry school – Lina Sabouni

Lynne Humphries and Allen, Boone, Humphries – not a school district vendor nor want to be

Obviously bucked the developer community since Wallace, Owens and the EDC cronies unsecessfuly tried to intimidate her.

Lisa Rickert is truly the type of person that we in Fort Bend ISD are lucky to have represent us! No Strings attached! I would bet that is why those that were in control are so vicious when they precive they are losing control. The power is with the people not the privliged….

58 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 2, 06:07 am
And you citizen seem fixated on smearing candidates who aren’t even in the race that you don’t consider in your clique. You might be reminded that Rickert isn’t running, but several other candidates are. I believe you are the one misleading the public and I would be willing to bet your behind the smear ad too. We do not need to put those back in power that allowed the district to slip or simply want to create a facade of “all’s well”. The problems need to be genuinely addressed.

59 JRK - May 5, 05:30 pm
BRAVO Chris Calvin. Well said. I’ve been talking about this “slip” for a long time. And when poor, unfortunate Dr. Baitland had to take the fall for that and then some board members and candidates said it was just because the state changed the criteria and standards (tests) for judging schools, I said just what you said, “all that proves is what a great job the so-called administrators were doing at covering up what a crapping job we were doing.” So hooray to those who want to fix this and out with those who want to continue on the old course.; 6:28 AM
Anonymous said...: 57 razincane - May 1, 08:19 pm
You failed to mention that if you look at Ms. Rickert’s board voting record you would find the following:

Voted against a long term auditor contract – Null Lairson

Voted against 2 story elementry school – Lina Sabouni

Lynne Humphries and Allen, Boone, Humphries – not a school district vendor nor want to be

Obviously bucked the developer community since Wallace, Owens and the EDC cronies unsecessfuly tried to intimidate her.

Lisa Rickert is truly the type of person that we in Fort Bend ISD are lucky to have represent us! No Strings attached! I would bet that is why those that were in control are so vicious when they precive they are losing control. The power is with the people not the privliged….

58 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 2, 06:07 am
And you citizen seem fixated on smearing candidates who aren’t even in the race that you don’t consider in your clique. You might be reminded that Rickert isn’t running, but several other candidates are. I believe you are the one misleading the public and I would be willing to bet your behind the smear ad too. We do not need to put those back in power that allowed the district to slip or simply want to create a facade of “all’s well”. The problems need to be genuinely addressed.

59 JRK - May 5, 05:30 pm
BRAVO Chris Calvin. Well said. I’ve been talking about this “slip” for a long time. And when poor, unfortunate Dr. Baitland had to take the fall for that and then some board members and candidates said it was just because the state changed the criteria and standards (tests) for judging schools, I said just what you said, “all that proves is what a great job the so-called administrators were doing at covering up what a crapping job we were doing.” So hooray to those who want to fix this and out with those who want to continue on the old course.; 6:28 AM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;-); 6:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Additional on this thread from FBNow.com:

44 Linda - May 5, 04:50 pm
Dan – a quick lesson in fact vs. opinion…

Fact – can be proven, something known to be true, consistent
Opinion – conclusion based on a person’s judgement rather than on what is known to be true or can be proven…

We start teaching these concepts in second grade.

You said, “the people of this community are incapable of or unwilling to spending their time to voice their hard fought vote.”

You said, “the people of this community are incapable of or unwilling to take an interest in the REAL solutions to the ISD”

You said, “the reason people stay home and do not vote IS NOT their satisfaction with the current status quo but rather they are either TOO busy watching TV or anything else to care.”

Finally, you said, ” While these facts are unfortunate – never the less – these ARE THE FACT.”

Sorry, but I cannot give you credit for comprehending the difference between fact and opinion.

Certainly you are entitled to your opinions – please, just recognize them for what they are – YOUR opinions.

Lighten up, Sweetie! Life is too short to be so cynical.

Tomorrow’s lesson:
Is the cup half empty or half full?

Once a teacher, always a teacher! :-)

Happy Friday, Dan!

45 Dan Kerr - May 5, 07:31 pm
Linda – Ha Ha – Funny – Sometimes one has to wonder what is going thru a voter’s mind when only 4 to 6% of the registered voters turn up in primaries with a 360% increase in voter population over the last 10 years and with 150% increase in the last 4 years alone – all the while the number of people who BOTHER to show up to vote in ISD elections has fallen from 21,000 in 1992 to just over 5900 this past year –
Pretty sad concerning the people they are putting into office are affecting their supposed most prized possession – their kids – What this leads to is a fractured community and the end result is an influx of special interest with rumors taking the place of reality, subgroups vying for power, and charges being leveled against people willing to stand up –
A candidate once told me why would he put himself on the line with all this manutia for a position that is unpaid and unappreciated –
You tell me why the voters decide to stay home – I have been doing this for over 30 years on both the local and national level – Perplexing

46 jc - May 5, 11:03 pm
Dan,
Are you kidding? The police reports went to a grand jury and the grand jury indicted the student that hit my son. The student took 6 years deferred adjudication plus many other penalties. What exactly is your point? Read the judgement from the court. Did you miss the part, in the police reports, where the assailant tried to get the other students to change their statements? Do you think they were lying? I will be glad to publish the entire set of documents if thats what you want. Did you not recognize the “resignation and release” document for what it is? I have no reason to lie. I will share these documents with anyone who wants to know the TRUTH. And there is more where that came from.

47 schoolwise - May 6, 07:22 am
LR—I think Dan has adequately responded to your fact or opinion piece. Use real data next time to support your opinion, even an old teacher needs to do their homework at times!

48 Linda - May 6, 11:02 am
Schoolwise,
“Even an old teacher need to do their homework at times!”

Teacher is singular and hence, needs a singular pronoun. Your comment should read, “Even an old teacher needs to do her homework at times!”

(Once a teacher….)

I’m not even offened to the reference to my age; older is frequently wiser!

Lighten up, Sweetie! Don’t take yourself too seriously. Do you really think I needed “data” to make my point?

I’ll be voting at Hightower today, say about 2:00. Would love to meet you! People who hide behind aliases always intrigue me….

49 Dan Kerr - May 6, 11:30 pm
jc – Last and final response to your postings on this or any other subject as this is not a forum for your rantings –
Answers – One – The student was the one – not Howell – who was prosecuted – don’t try and connect apples to oranges
Two – Did YOU miss the part that states from the police report “This account of the events is consistent with almost EVERY OTHER WITNESS STATEMENT EXCEPT THE ORIGINAL THREE …” – Did you conviently miss that part
Three – Statement by Harold Strachan and Elijah Cork that has an equal validity factor to it as the other 3 if not more considering it is backed up by Officer Harvey’s statement
Four – Do you think the police officer is lying?
Fifth – Do you not recognize what a retirement is?
Sixth (and final)-
As I have said before – and will finally say again – it is unfortunate that your son received a zygomatic fracture which is the 2nd most common fracture of the facial bones behind the nasal bone fractures and occures in males 4 to 1 over females due to the nature of fist fights occuring more often in males than females and that it’s prominent location makes it prone to fracture – I still stand by my original opinion based upon provided duplicate papers by you and further research on my part. You cannot tie a student that was not supposed to be there to anyone except that student.
That is all – finally

50 schoolwise - May 7, 06:44 am
LR-

Offened . . . Offended?

Isn’t life fun! I know some great ethics courses too for managers and perhaps some of your business backers here locally.

=-{; 5:24 AM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;-); 5:25 AM
Anonymous said...: Susan - May 7, 08:35 am

OK Henry, you asked what we think about Rickert’s new priorities for the district—those she publicly espouses now that she is desperate for Mitton and Dieu to be elected so she can retain her power as “President of Fort Bend Independent School District.”

1. Selecting a leader for FBISD – Remember that it was on Yom Kippur that the “new guard” first voted on Dr. Baitland’s forced retirement—a goal they had all been working for long and hard since their election. Because they had all run telling us that the “other” Board members and the administration were fiscally irresponsible, they decided not to hire (and pay) an acting superintendent with the qualifications to run a district of this size and instead settled upon Dr. Pedraza who has no experience as a superintendent. On Mitton’s SOS site, bloggers actually praised the “new guard” for their wisdom because they were leaving Human Relations without a head (save $) and because Pedraza’s inexperience would allow Rickert to run the district—a good thing in their opinions. I guess that the SOS bloggers were correct because in 7 months Team Rickert has made no move towards hiring a superintendent. Some here want to blame their lack of leadership on the board minority; however Team Rickert is in charge. They have the votes and they must now accept responsibility for their own actions instead of always throwing stones at others. We have just learned that since neither Rickert nor Pedraza have any experience running the 7th largest school district in Texas, we paid almost $42,000 for consultations with outside attorneys during the 3 month period of January to March 2006.

My opinion of the above: outrageous, stupid, wasteful, self-serving, idiotic, disgusting and obviously showing no regard for fiscal responsibility or the education of students.

2. Develop a comprehensive long-range plan – Although this is an admirable goal, it is not the be all/end all that the “new guard” would like to proclaim. Demographers and statisticians can forecast and predict the economic growth and where people will choose to buy homes, but they are often wrong. Life is messy. The economy grows and stalls. Most of Team Rickert moved here within the last 15 years. They do not remember that the economy has not always been booming in Fort Bend. They do not know that there were neighborhoods started in the late 1970’s and 80’s that sat for years and years with no activity. Their inexperience makes them think that they can accurately predict growth patterns so that schools can be built before they are needed.

My opinion: Desperate not to talk about their own actual record, this is a campaign ploy that will prove to cost a lot of money with few results while allowing them to deflect blame on others. It is another example of what happens when people do not understand complex systems and problems and yet claim to have simple solutions, i.e., they don’t know what they don’t know.

3. Improving student achievement – This is everyone’s goal, but removing the popular instructional leader of the district and failing to begin the process of locating a new one for over 6 months while systematically attacking individuals and departments in the district are counter productive to the goal. Teachers, administrators and principals are leaving in droves and are stating on and off the record that they are doing so because Team Rickert has created a climate of negativity that is counterproductive to quality education.

My opinion – Until the names of Rickert, Caldwell, Bryant and Magee are relegated to the list of “former” BOT members, we will continue to see quality employees leaving FBISD for a work environment where they are respected and valued. The slash and burn methodology used by Team Rickert to obtain power has consequences and an exodus of experienced educators and principals is one of them.

4. Enhancing safety and discipline in schools – Another goal we can all agree upon. However, given the rude and unprofessional behavior we have witnessed during Board meetings, it is doubtful that the “new guard” will find itself able to accomplish much in this area either.

My opinion – How can you expect to demand that students behave in a civil and dignified manner when the Board does not hold themselves to that standard? Rickert herself is especially guilty in this area because as Board President she had the power to demand that her fellow board members act professionally. When she herself was not engaging in disparagement of employees and fellow board members, she allowed other members of her “gang” to do so without intervening, thus indicting agreement.

Henry, I hope this helps. BTW, I am still waiting for any Team Rickert supporter to explain why spending about $14,000 per month on outside attorneys to advise Rickert and company is a good thing.; 9:19 AM
Anonymous said...: more--50 schoolwise - May 7, 06:44 am
LR-

Offened . . . Offended?

Isn’t life fun! I know some great ethics courses too for managers and perhaps some of your business backers here locally.

=-{; 3:04 PM
Anonymous said...: These seems to sum up things nicely given the recent sign destruction by the "old guard" (pro-cronyism grp.)--

37 intheknow - May 4, 07:39 am
Linda, in her emotional allegiance to “keeping things they way they are”, ..... unwittingly revealed the crux of the problems on the Board these past 12 months when she says—- “and they (newly elected Board members) refuse to listen to their experienced fellow board members.”

Why should they have? It was the “experienced” board members who have refused to serve on ONE Board committee. It was “experienced” Board members who did not understand they had line item veto authority over the budget. It was the “experienced” board members who were happy to keep voters and taxpayers in the dark about embarrassing internal audits that revealed substantial mismanagement of the district.

It was the “experienced” board members who were going to back the administration’s recommendation to only give teacher’s a $1000 pay raise this past year—the new Board fought, and won, a $2,100 increase.

It is the “experienced” board members who ran to TEA with complaints against the newer members—all of which the TEA ruled were unsubstantiated.

It was the “experienced” board members who NEVER bothered to put a long-range growth plan in place and who sat by while our student/teacher ratio has sunk to one of the worst in the state.

It is the newer members of the board who have been working, with much success, to bring more open governance and fiscal accountability to this District. And that, my friends, is something some in the administration are having a very hard time dealing with.

It should be clear to anyone with an ounce of sense that the division on the Board for the past several months has been driven by “experienced” board members who were simply not ready to give up their “social club” atmosphere on the Board and take on their elected responsibilities of true oversight. Rubber stamp boards certainly may be more congenial—but voters should ask if they want to go back to those days or if we should press forward for positive change.; 3:05 PM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;-); 3:06 PM
Anonymous said...: More from FBNow:

21 Susan - May 8, 07:34 am
schoolwise,
Please note that in my post (submitted before your #20 containing the nasty slam against all who do not support Team Rickert, Dieu and Mitton) I stated that if outsourcing the tax dept saved money and worked, that was a good move by the “new guard”.

You owe me an aplogy. Mose people who disagree with the antics of Rickert, Caldwell, Bryant and Magee are not so narrow minded to think that every action that they do is wrong just because they did it. I wish that were true of all…...

22 Susan - May 8, 11:13 am
I have repeatedly asked Team Rickert supporters to provide a justification for spending $41,795.47 on Board governance issues with outside lawyers over the first 3 months of 2006. So far, no one has been able to defend this outrageous expense. So I pose a different question.

If Team Rickert refuses to take the advice of our current full time in house attorney and/or she has too much other work to do to handle assisting Rickert and Pedraza in the day to day operation of the district, couldn’t we hire another attorney to help Pedraza and Rickert run the district for less than the $178,000 rate currently being billed by Bracewell Guiliani? Looks to me like we have a case where our “outsourcing” is not giving us a good bang for our buck.

23 intheknow - May 8, 01:34 pm
Susan—if you’d bother to read this week’s Board agenda you’d see that is exactly what is being proposed. They will be discussing hiring a second in-house special education attorney (where, most of the legal fees have been going in recent years).

Really—if you would take a deep breath and do some homework instead of just ranting and playing “gotcha” games, you might find that there are a LOT of very good things happening toward making the district more accountable and fiscally responsible. Or is that what you’re afraid of?

24 Susan - May 8, 02:01 pm
Liz,
I was referring to hiring a second attorney to hold Rickert’s and Pedraza’s hands. That is what the almost $42,000 has been spent upon in the first 3 months of 2006. Special education is a totally different area and I did not include it in the data I presented. That is contrasted to your manipulated “data” that included special education fees during Dr. Baitland’s tenure but did not include it under Hooper and Chopra’s because then you could use your “discovery” in an attempt to denigrate Dr. Baitland and to try to justify how your friends fired David Feldman.

I just received results of an open records request for emails you sent to your buddy Rickert, Dr. Pedraza and the in house attorney whining about Linda Ruckman. It is interesting to see how you argue with attorneys and seem to think you know more about the law that those with a law degree and also more than members of the Texas Ethics Commission.

Your strident claim that Hal Jay committed a “clear violation of the law” because he purchased contact information for PTO/PTA presidents is quite comical. It is surprising that you, the queen of open records requests, did not know that such information was available to anyone who asked and VERY telling about your modus operandi that your immediate response was to contact an attorney to report this “clear violation.” I guess that answers the question of what type of trustee FBISD would get if they elected you. Another ready, fire, aim BOT member just like the “new guard” clowns we already have—IMHO.

Another tidbit for voters—Mike and Shawn Ryan, the couple who filed the ridiculous complaint against Linda Ruckman have contributed money to both Mitton and Dieu’s campaign. I guess they figure these 2 individuals would be most likely to agree with their shenanigans.

25 schoolwise - May 8, 07:50 pm
See yet another Susan smear—“Another tidbit for voters—Mike and Shawn Ryan, the couple who filed the ridiculous complaint against Linda Ruckman have contributed money to both “Mitton and Dieu’s campaign. I guess they figure these 2 individuals would be most likely to agree with their shenanigans.”

And the Susan smear train now includes lists of supporters, taxpayers, homeowners who live in the community. Looks like an intimidation/scare tactic to me! I haven’t voted for the current board, but because of your crap I’m gonna vote for any candidate but yours Susan. . .

SUPPORT THOSE CANDIDATES THAT TOOK THE PLEDGE OFF VENDOR AND OUT OF DISTRICT FUNDING (DIEU, CARREON & MITTON)!; 5:31 AM
Anonymous said...: 26 Susan - May 9, 02:47 am

schoolwise,
For your edification, Webster defines “smear” as “a usually unsubstantiated charge or accusation against a person or organization.” It is a FACT that Shawn and Mike Ryan contributed money to both Steve Dieu and Liz Mitton. It is also a FACT that their lodged a ridiculous complaint against Linda Ruckman. So just how have I “smeared” them? Anytime anyone points out factual information that paints the new guard or their favored candidates in a negative light, you (or one of your alter egos with a different moniker) react with a reflexive hysterical attack, which really doesn’t contribute to intelligent debate. Nor does it sway thinking people towards your point of view.

Give me a break, schoolwise,—”because of your crap I’m gonna vote for any candidate but yours Susan.” You probably wouldn’t agree with me on whether the sun was shining so the chance of us voting for the same candidates is virtually nil.; 5:52 AM
Anonymous said...: "It is also a FACT that their lodged a ridiculous complaint against Linda Ruckman."

I don't think that the subjective term "ridiculous" qualifies as a FACT of any kind. Perhaps it's a "Susan FACT". . . ;-)

I guess the Susan smears now include homeowners and taxpayers who don't support her candidates???

Bring it on! You can't hang. . .; 6:14 PM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;-); 6:15 PM
Anonymous said...: She may want to re-spell the "their" above too (I believe a mistype?) . . . must be the old teacher in us?; 6:17 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 6:17 PM
responsible_dvlpmnt said...: From FBSun. This is what separates good candidates from special interest:

School board candidates comment on campaign contributions
By: Diane Tezeno, News Reporter
04/25/2006

Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
Liz Mitton, candidate for Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees, Position 6, has said that she will not accept campaign contributions from vendors who do business with the school district.

Mitton said, "I will not accept campaign donations from anyone with a significant interest in a current FBISD vendor or one seeking to do business with the school district. She challenged her opponents in the race to do the same.

"Accepting donations from vendors, while certainly legal, can lead to a perception of conflict of interest," said Mitton. "This has been an issue in the recent past when Board members have voted to award sizeable contracts to organizations from which they have accepted campaign funds."

In a further clarification, Mitton said, "I will not accept donations from any individual (or partnership) who has a primary interest in a company doing business with (or actively seeking to do business with) the district for the reasons I outlined in my original press release.
Mitton said she respects companies that do business with Fort Bend ISD but feels they should limit their contributions to service organizations like the Fort Bend Education Foundation or school PTOs.

"The perception of a conflict, unfortunately, cuts both ways," said Mitton. "Respectable companies that do a great job for FBISD and deserve to do continued business with it, should not be subjected to suggestions that their campaign contributions influenced the decision making process.

"This is not a 'business as usual' decision, but I am not a 'business as usual' candidate. The growing grassroots support I have is based on a broad coalition of parents and citizens who want independence and integrity from board members.; 4:30 AM
Anonymous said...: From Fort Bend Now. This is what separates the competent from the incompetent:

Susan - May 10, 06:34 am

Team Rickert apologists continue to claim that the new guard has brought us more open governance. I just re-read Mr. Dunn’s story above have the following observations about the kind governance offered by Rickert and company:

* Obviously there is open warfare between Rickert/Caldwell and Bryant/Magee. IMHO war strategy and winning battles appears to be of the highest priority to each of these individuals.

* The new guard has absolutely no respect for the administrators who must attend board meetings and the public who may wish to attend meetings as evidenced by the fact that they went into closed session from 7:42 until 10:07. After this time out to fight with one another, the meeting did not end until after 1:00am. Many FBISD staff members had reported to work at 6-6:30am on Monday and had to be back on the job early Tuesday morning. Protracted meetings like this one are commonplace under Rickert’s rule and demonstrate a total lack of competence and disregard for others’ wellbeing.

* Parliamentary procedures are commonly used to obtain personal or political goals and this is just one of the many causes for the almost $42,000 spent out outside legal counsel in the first 3 months of 2006. I have been told Mr. Horner’s hourly rate is about $350 and if that is correct, he probably billed FBISD taxpayers over $2,500 for attending Monday night’s meeting.

* Rickert, Caldwell, Bryant and Magee were all elected by insinuating that the “old guard” trustees had formed some sort of sinister cabal and were not acting in the best interests of the district. The facts seem to assert that the “old guard” trustees are the only ones willing to look at each issue individually and vote for or against it based upon the facts and the best interests of FBISD rather than making decisions based upon pledged allegiances or grudges. Knox, Hauenstein and Bain vote with the Magee/Bryant faction at times and with the Rickert/Caldwell faction at others.

Saturday’s election is a referendum on FBISD governance. Several candidates, most notably Dieu and Mitton, have voiced their wholehearted support for the actions of Team Rickert. Others, especially Smelley and Bhuchar, have stated emphatically that they disapprove of the unprofessionalism and ineptitude displayed by the gang in charge. The voters will make the final call.; 5:05 AM
Anonymous said...: From FBSun. This is what separates good candidates from special interest:

School board candidates comment on campaign contributions
By: Diane Tezeno, News Reporter
04/25/2006

Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
Liz Mitton, candidate for Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees, Position 6, has said that she will not accept campaign contributions from vendors who do business with the school district.

Mitton said, "I will not accept campaign donations from anyone with a significant interest in a current FBISD vendor or one seeking to do business with the school district. She challenged her opponents in the race to do the same.

"Accepting donations from vendors, while certainly legal, can lead to a perception of conflict of interest," said Mitton. "This has been an issue in the recent past when Board members have voted to award sizeable contracts to organizations from which they have accepted campaign funds."

In a further clarification, Mitton said, "I will not accept donations from any individual (or partnership) who has a primary interest in a company doing business with (or actively seeking to do business with) the district for the reasons I outlined in my original press release.
Mitton said she respects companies that do business with Fort Bend ISD but feels they should limit their contributions to service organizations like the Fort Bend Education Foundation or school PTOs.

"The perception of a conflict, unfortunately, cuts both ways," said Mitton. "Respectable companies that do a great job for FBISD and deserve to do continued business with it, should not be subjected to suggestions that their campaign contributions influenced the decision making process.

"This is not a 'business as usual' decision, but I am not a 'business as usual' candidate. The growing grassroots support I have is based on a broad coalition of parents and citizens who want independence and integrity from board members.

-----Keep trying! . . .;-); 5:38 AM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;->; 5:39 AM
Anonymous said...: Must not forget JK this week:

Question and answer jokes

Q: What do you get if you put 100 lawyers in your basement?
A: A whine cellar.
Q: What do you call a lawyer gone bad?
A: Your honor.
Q: What do you call a judge gone bad?
A: Senator.
Q: Have you heard about the lawyers? word processor?
A: No matter what font you select, everything comes out in fine print.; 5:41 AM
Anonymous said...: I wonder if that Sienna elem. group FBCP is aware they are being used by the special Houston interests operating in this area (LR,SJ, JDC)???; 5:53 AM
Anonymous said...: For certain many FBISD teachers, students, parents and taxpayers know that they are being used by people with personal and political agendas. The silent majority is waking up to the antics of the "new guard."; 6:10 AM
Anonymous said...: For certain many FBISD teachers, students, parents and taxpayers know that they are being used by people with personal and political agendas. The silent majority is waking up to the antics of the "old guard."; 7:11 AM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;-); 7:11 AM
Anonymous said...: I just thought your mistake should be corrected again.; 7:12 AM
Anonymous said...: and more FBNow:

Susan - May 8, 02:01 pm
Liz,
I was referring to hiring a second attorney to hold Rickert’s and Pedraza’s hands. That is what the almost $42,000 has been spent upon in the first 3 months of 2006. Special education is a totally different area and I did not include it in the data I presented. That is contrasted to your manipulated “data” that included special education fees during Dr. Baitland’s tenure but did not include it under Hooper and Chopra’s because then you could use your “discovery” in an attempt to denigrate Dr. Baitland and to try to justify how your friends fired David Feldman.

I just received results of an open records request for emails you sent to your buddy Rickert, Dr. Pedraza and the in house attorney whining about Linda Ruckman. It is interesting to see how you argue with attorneys and seem to think you know more about the law that those with a law degree and also more than members of the Texas Ethics Commission.

Your strident claim that Hal Jay committed a “clear violation of the law” because he purchased contact information for PTO/PTA presidents is quite comical. It is surprising that you, the queen of open records requests, did not know that such information was available to anyone who asked and VERY telling about your modus operandi that your immediate response was to contact an attorney to report this “clear violation.” I guess that answers the question of what type of trustee FBISD would get if they elected you. Another ready, fire, aim BOT member just like the “new guard” clowns we already have—IMHO.

Another tidbit for voters—Mike and Shawn Ryan, the couple who filed the ridiculous complaint against Linda Ruckman have contributed money to both Mitton and Dieu’s campaign. I guess they figure these 2 individuals would be most likely to agree with their shenanigans.

_____________________________
schoolwise - May 8, 07:50 pm
See yet another Susan smear—“Another tidbit for voters—Mike and Shawn Ryan, the couple who filed the ridiculous complaint against Linda Ruckman have contributed money to both “Mitton and Dieu’s campaign. I guess they figure these 2 individuals would be most likely to agree with their shenanigans.”

And the Susan smear train now includes lists of supporters, taxpayers, homeowners who live in the community. Looks like an intimidation/scare tactic to me! I haven’t voted for the current board, but because of your crap I’m gonna vote for any candidate but yours Susan. . .

SUPPORT THOSE CANDIDATES THAT TOOK THE PLEDGE OFF VENDOR AND OUT OF DISTRICT FUNDING (DIEU, CARREON & MITTON)!

____________________________
schoolwise - May 9, 07:17 am
“It is also a FACT that their lodged a ridiculous complaint against Linda Ruckman.”—SJ

So just how have I“smeared” them?—SJ
The answer to the above question is simple. using the descriptives “ridiculous” is highly subjective and not a FACT as you put it. This fits your MO for posting. You find a small tidbit and then rely on exaggeration to appear to be building a case.

As for the Ryan’s complaint, by all reports, it appears warranted, justified and should be seriously considered. That isn’t a Susan FACT, but certainly my opinion.

One last question Susan. How is reposting this families full name repeatedly and Ms. Ruckman’s statements in the e-mail, not to mention her position at the school, not support for the bullying claims made about your group? For that fact (little f), how is the deliberate destruction of private property (the signs) not another case-n-point for your cliques bullying?

These are FACTS too sprinkled with opinion.—Enjoy!
_______________________________
schoolwise - May 10, 01:02 pm
” the Texas Ethics Commission revealed that although Ruckman’s action “was not a wise practice”, it did not constitute a violation of law. ”

Again you see the facts and then defend your people with them. Read the statement above and know that this justifies/validates the complaint. Also look at who is behind the group Ruckman is leading. For gods sake she has a brother working for Perry and her yahoo group is lead by another developer. These are the same people backing your candidates. Not special interest?

It looks to me like, according to your posted ethics board statements, Ms. Ruckman acted unprofessionally. You call that “ridiculous”. That is not a FACT and it is your subjective opinion. Ethics don’t always equal legal as you and thode already know.

You need to sign your posts and let people know what your political position is in this county and stop pretending to be joe/josephine citizen.

You continue to try and link Liz, Steve D. and anyone else you don’t support to current board members. That is dishonest. These candidates have their own plat-form and at least did something you’re Smelley will never (and can never do now) by pledging off the special interest & vendor funding.

It’s just too bad you all seem to know how easily lead the electorate is. That’s why I will keep speaking as long as I have 1 dollar to my name and a free internet access.

You are dishonest Susan in your spin. Tell everyone your position with one of the parties and why you back the special interests so much (old guard as you like to call your retread candidates). . .; 12:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Susan - May 10, 02:00 pm

—-wise,

I would be glad to tell you once again why I back the candidates that I back. Thanks for asking!

I back them because before our new “fiscally responsible” BOT members seized control, we spent about $1600 dollars in three months on outside lawyer fees. Now we spend almost $42,000 during the same time period.

I back them because before the “new guard” took over, FBISD used to be a respected place where children received a good education and education was the primary focus of the BOT and administration. Now the focus seems to be personal vendettas and power plays between the Rickert/Caldwell faction vs the Magee/Bryant faction.

I back them because we had an excellent instructional leader that the “new guard” forced out and now, 7 months later, nothing has been done to find a replacement while the district drifts and suffers.

I back them because up until the new guard took over, the BOT was able to change vendors in a professional and private manner that did not give any excuse for anyone to file a lawsuit against the district for false termination.

I back them because under Team Rickert, FBISD has become the laughingstock of the state and I am embarrassed to say I live in the district.

I back them because I care deeply about children and education and I want other’s children to have as good an education as mine did.

I back them because it makes me angry to see grown adults place personal agendas above educating children and use elected office for the purposes of self-aggrandizement.

That is just off the top of my head. I can think of more reasons if I spend more the 5 minutes this took. But I think you get the drift.; 8:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Is this another cut/paste from Susan Johnston the FB county republican county secretary? No she couldn't be spinning this because the old delay-thode machine are concerned about real reform movements not directed by the party machine? hum....; 4:40 AM
Anonymous said...: . . . ;-); 4:40 AM
Anonymous said...: See this FBSun update:

http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16674426&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532245&rfi=6; 4:13 PM
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