Bay Area Houston

Wow. Two Caught on Camera posts in one week!

There was a hearing for Senate Bill 175 which would gut the ability of the Texas Association of School Boards to advocate on behalf of the 1025 school boards that are members. According to their website:

The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) is a voluntary, nonprofit, statewide educational association that serves and represents local Texas school boards and was established in 1949 with two main goals in mind:

To share information through publications and training to help Texas board members serve their communities more effectively.

To speak with a unified voice to decision makers to chart the best future for Texas public schools.

Trustee Scott Bowen, identifying himself as a Trustee of CCISD and speaking as a Trustee, on behalf of less than 50% of those who voted for him, spent his “own time and own dime” to speak in support of cutting TASB advocacy and giving the State more control over a local school district.

TASB has 1025 districts as members out of 1250 districts in the entire state. They were created in 1949 and have sustained their membership for over 30 years. They do the job that Trustees, working parents, teachers, and students can’t do. They advocate for public education, informing and advising elected officials on the impacts of legislation.

If you have ever been a citizen lobbyist (I have) you know how much time it takes from work and your family to speak with staff and elected officials and to speak at hearings. Unlike the high paid lobbyists working for the homebuilders in Texas, I could only spend a week or two in Austin to advocate for consumers. The little guys (you and your family) are out gunned especially when it comes to the cost of home insurance, electricity, new homes, and other consumer issues.

And students, parents, and teachers are also out gunned especially when the State and Scott Bowen is hell bent on dismantling public education. You can watch Bowen’s 3 minutes of fame here.

This is just plain dishonest.

Peter Lauzon is running for CCISD Trustee. He is a political hack, deeply involved with the Republican Party, recruited by Trustee Scott Bowen, another political hack, will probably be funded by the party and should never be anywhere near a public school. I have said this before about Lauzon:

So here comes yet another election denier, one that will whine if they lose instead of graciously accepting the loss and move on. Lauzon has strong ties to Scott Bowen, the Corporal Chaos of CCISD and the Republican Party. He was a member of the Texas Republican Executive Committee. His wife is the Vice President of the Bay Area Republican Women’s Club. Lauzon, as a Committee member, motioned for the Texas Republican Party to endorse Bowen and they did. He most probably will have tens of thousands of dollars to spend from his party just as Scott Bowen did in latest reelection.

So it just bothers the living snot out of me when Lauzon, in his interview with the Houston Chronicle, says “Lauzon said as a trustee he would ensure that politics stays out of the board’s decision-making process and work to create an environment of accountability to students and parents.”

What an incredibly dishonest statement. Just like his predecessors, Misty Dawson and Christine Parizo, Lauzon is claiming he wants to keep politics out of the CCISD board yet he is the only person running that will bring extreme right wing politics into the board along side of Scott Bowen. This is dishonesty at it’s worse.

To compound this, Lauzon claims that CCISD needs to prepare kids for careers outside of attending college. Someone ought to tell Lauzon that CCISD has one of the BEST programs in the State that does exactly that. Maybe he should get a tour of the CTE (not CRT) program at CCISD before opening his pie hole. The Career and Technical Education program provides students with the opportunity to prepare for college as well as a career in many different fields such as IT, Constructions, Audio/Visual, Culinary, manufacturing and more. It is a very impressive program.

The fact that Lauzon doesn’t even know of this program is yet another hint that he has no business being on the school board. His stated goals is straight out of the republican talking points “I want to give parents a voice in the decisions that will impact their child’s education because I know what it’s like to have to fight for the educational needs of my own child,”. Parents have a voice. They have always had a voice. What Lauzon is referring to is a voice of the extreme far right that wants to ban books, ban the gay community, and ban anything that doesn’t adhere to his party of perverted “family values”.

Make no mistake about this. Lauzon will bring his perverted values and extreme right wing politics into the board. CCISD doesn’t need partisan politics from any political party.

Usually I start blog posts with a comment that is full of wit. Today I have no wit to give.

CCISD Scott Bowen, (Corporal Chaos) seen here grinning like a 12 year old under the bed covers watching porn, must have a perpetual woody over the new CCISD book challenging policy although I bet this isn’t exactly what he is expecting.

According to the Galveston County News CCISD voted unanimously on a book challenging policy:

“With the vote, parents and community members can challenge any instructional or library book they believe violates a new set guidelines, which include examples such as promoting or endorsing race or sex stereotyping or race or sex scapegoating.”

According to the GDN this new policy came about partially due to the new law that Bowen drooled all over banning CRT. CRT (Critical Race Theory) is an elective class taught to those seeking a PHD. It has never been taught in any school in CCISD because it is an elective class taught to those seeking a PHD. (It really is that simple) But that didn’t stop Bowen and the Republican Party from pushing a bill banning CRT much like they intend to ban Differential Equations being taught to kindergarten kids.

There are a lot of questions to be asked about this policy that deserve answers. On one hand this was a unanimous vote. I trust most of the board members to do what is right for the school district and to follow the law. Their hands might be tied by Greg Abbott who believes in local government, as long as he controls it. On the other hand it bothers the crap out of me to see language such as “promoting or endorsing race or sex stereotyping or race or sex scapegoating.”. What the living hell is that?

I bet there won’t be a swarming mass of parents combing through the library to find that one book that warrants pearl clutching, but I do believe the Korporal Khaos Klan has already targeted specific books and will send their purity police to keep the new review board busy for quite some time. For most parents they will be more concerned with their kids doing their homework, getting to school on time, attending their kids soccer games, enjoying the great education that is provided by CCISD, and other activities normal parents do.

Let’s review the details of the new policy and get input from those who know what they are talking about.