From the Chron: Candidates Discuss Over-development Stress Hurting FBISD? --get the full story by clicking here--

POSITION 7
FBISD candidates target crowding
Discipline, accountability cited as issues

By CARISSA D. LAMKAHOUAN
Chronicle Correspondent

Candidates for the Position 7 trustee seat on the Fort Bend school district's board all back passage of a fall bond proposal to address campus crowding.

Incumbent Ken Bryant, an attorney, faces Ann Hopkins, assistant principal at Hodges Bend Middle School; Noel Pinnock, an educator in the Houston school district; and David Reitz, who works in management.

According to district policy, Hopkins would have to resign if she wins the election. . .

. . . Pinnock, 33, said he wants to make sure the board is fiscally responsible.

He agreed that by informing the public of bond specifics, the board can build support and trust.

"I want to make certain the community is aware of the details of the proposed bond and what the goals are intended to do," Pinnock said.

To do that, he said, the district needs to rely on more than one method of dispensing information. Although he sees the district Web site as a good information source, not everyone has access to the Internet, he said.

He suggested holding town-hall-style or committee meetings to inform people about the bond-building process. Trustees and the public need to have access to the opinions that result from those gatherings, he said.

"I want to see the output of these meetings," Pinnock said. "In addition to the meetings and committees that might form, we need feedback, and we need to present that feedback in such a way so that the least common denominator can relate to it and not just leave to the Web site to communicate." . . .

. . .Pinnock said he wants to bridge the gap between residents and students in the eastern and western parts of the district.

"There's a perception of disparity with the lower east end of Fort Bend County," he said. "A lot of communities felt they have not gotten their fair share of the pie."

--Click the title link above to get the full story.