Over the next couple of months there will be a series of forums where candidates for CCISD school board will be able to express their plans and concerns if elected. Unfortunately I believe the questions are just too nice, such as questions about school vouchers and how they intend to adjust to the cuts in funding. Moderators rarely will ask follow up questions. I’m also wondering why the educational community has not arranged a forum. Why do we have to depend on the Chamber or the Southbelt news paper to organize an event. Both are having forums soon.
Community Impact is a pretty good local publication. Yesterday they posted Q&A for Rebecca Lilley and Trustee Scott Bowen. Today they published answers by Trustee Cejka and Joe Machol to some generic questions. My thoughts below.
Trustee Cejka As I have said before I just don’t understand why Trustee Bowen recruited a candidate to run against Trustee Cejka. With major funding issues about to hit our district we need stability, experience, and level heads. Unlike other School Districts who have elected chaotic Trustees such as Keller, Katy, and Cypress, CCISD has been able to excel despite Scott Bowen’s political chaos. Cejka’s commitment to the tax payers, parents, teachers, and students has contributed to CCISD being selected as finalists for the HEB Excellence in Education Award. Cejka’s responses to the questions are what we expect from our Trustees.
Council Member Joe Machol As posted yesterday, Seabrook Council Member Joe Machol has a long resume of football referee experience including with the NFL. In his first remarks to the public, as a candidate for CCISD Trustee, Machol fumbled the kick off. The questions by CI are as simple as putting the ball on the half yard line with 1st and goal. CI asked the candidates to keep answers to 50 words or less. Machol took full advantage of this requirement answering with short, generic, unresponsive responses. For example responding to the question:
“Should the district address declining enrollment? If so, how?“ he answered “Declining enrollment could be offset with recruitment.”.
And/Or Duh. I thought Machol would have taken a few minutes to confer with Trustee Bowen and answer the questions with thoughtful responses. He didn’t. Instead he took a knee. Take a few minutes to read the article and bookmark Community Impact for future articles.
Community Impact asked Trustee Bowen and his opponent, Rebecca Lilley, a couple of generic questions concerning their positions on education. The article avoided the kind of questions I would ask like “Do you support vouchers?” or “Will you accept money from outside the district PACs?” or “Will you bring partisan politics into the classroom?”. If you read between the lines Bowen answers some of these questions. Here is an analysis of the interview, Get to know the candidates running for Clear Creek ISD’s board of trustees At-Large Position B.
Vouchers Bowen’s opponent voiced her opposition to vouchers. Bowen didn’t even mention it even though he has been the champion of school vouchers for the Republic Party and he was caught on video doing it. Bowen sponsored a resolution in the Party urging passage of the voucher program. It passed, although NOT unanimously. You can watch the video here.
Bringing partisan politics into the classroom Bowen is real proud of stopping “CRT” being taught at CCISD schools even though CRT was never taught and would never be taught since it is a specialized, advanced, graduate course taught in just a few colleges across the country. (Personally I don’t even know WTF CRT is.)
Bowen in his response to the Community Impact repeat the catch phrases being used by his Republic Party, including ” prioritizing traditional education (including phonics), reducing device dependence.” These are the current hot topics his party is pushing. They sound common sense but his party has been in control for 25 years and yet this is an issue now? His comments on property taxes are, again, out of his Party’s playbook. CCISD property taxes were cut two years ago, almost in half. School districts are struggling and vouchers will NOT help. For a party that has been in power for 25 years it is amazing how difficult they have made it for public education.
This article just touches the surface of the important issues. I wish someone would ask the tough questions like “Do you have any association with white supremacists?”. To read about Bowen’s record you might want to read the article “Scott Bowen: A Threat to CCISD Education“.
The Public Education Committee in the Texas House has scheduled a hearing on School Vouchers Tuesday March 11. You can, and should, submit comments to the bill on the House Comment Webpage. Submit your name, address, the bill you are commenting on (HB 3 by Buckley) You are limited to 3000 characters.
My personal issue with this bill besides cutting funding to Public Schools, is that this bill will give parents 10 times more money than what they contribute to public education. If you pay $1000 in school taxes the State will give you $9000 more, all paid for with your tax dollars. This is nothing more than Welfare for the Wealthy.
Why is Seabrook City Councilman running for CCISD Trustee? It’s a valid question and has not been answered.
Joe Machol is a Seabrook City Council Member. Seabrook has been having an internal conflict with the extreme right wing, led by Jackie Rasco, attempting to take over City Council. It seems that Machol is in the middle of this chaos. Yesterday I posted a video of Jackie Rasco, candidate for Mayor, at a CCISD meeting complaining about rainbows in the classroom. It should come as no surprise that CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen endorses both of these individuals.
I have asked CM Machol about why he is running especially against a very good Trustee, Jessica Cejka. Cejka has been a great addition to the Board and has served her community very well. Machol, who was recruited by Trustee Bowen, has no real answer except for one response that was shared with me “I’ve lived in Seabrook for decades [sic]”. He has no website or Facebook page but he has been asked on various social media sites many times. Still no answer.
Unlike the other candidates Machol does not have a treasurer on file, as of last Friday, which means he cannot raise or spend money. That is a big no-no with the Texas Ethics Commission. You must have a treasurer on file with CCISD before spending any money, including your own, on campaign related items such as signs and buttons. It is a pretty easy rule to follow.
High School Football Machol brings a long resume of football referee experience including with the NFL but that seems to have been abruptly ended with the filing of a lawsuit by Machol against the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO). (Case #201873227- 7 filed in Harris County)
This suit was filed in 10/2018 and was dismissed (settled?) on 2/2020. The TASO removed him as a high school referee and as President of TASO for some kind of ethics violations. Machol sued for about $1,000,000. According to documents filed with the County, TASO investigated allegations made by Machol against other members of the board and dismissed all of his complaints. Why he was specifically removed as a referee is not clear. You can read the original petition here and the results of the TASO investigation here. All the documents can be found with the County Clerk. The Houston Chronicle also covered this story in 2019.
According to the documents Machol was pulled from refereeing 14 high school games. It is not known if he was reinstated after the suit was settled. CCISD has been through a lot of unnecessary chaos created by Scott Bowen. What we do not need is more chaos such as the chaos with Seabrook and TASO. It would be great if Machol would consider staying on City Council.
Charles Pond with the Association of Former CCISD Trustees wrote a great article about voting for a CCISD Trustee. Two seats are open this year with the election in May. I have my favorites, Trustee Cejka and Candidate Lilley. Both would enhance our Board. You can read the entire article here. My favorite lines of the article:
They are relationship builders. They build positive relationships with all constituents, not just the ones who are like them. A school board member should be a role model for students and the community.
Scott Bowen has brought chaos, division, and stupidity to the CCISD School Board. Taxpayers, parents, teachers, and students deserve better. Prior to Bowen’s election the Board was populated with members of the community whose interests were solely educational. They had a background in education, kids in CCISD, or a skill needed by the district. Bowen had/has none of these. The Trustees put the district’s well being ahead of their political views. Bowen brought his political bullshit into the classroom.
It’s time to take Bowen out. Here is a list of good reasons to end Bowen’s time on the Board. Keep in mind while reading this Bowen always campaigns on “Keeping politics out of CCISD”.
He has personal relationships (Served on the Texas A&M Senate) with the Director of Texans for Strong Borders who was seen chauffeuring [Nick] Fuentes
He has personal relationship with Cary Cheshire, (Served on the Texas A&M Senate) the executive director of Texans For Strong Borders and a longtime employee of Defend Texas Liberty.
CRT, DEI, Vouchers and more.
Bowen spearheaded the worthless effort calling for the end of “CRT” in the classroom. CRT or “Critical Race Theory” was never taught in CCISD and was never planned to be taught. It’s a graduate course taught in a few colleges, not k-12. It was a huge waste of effort, time, and money.
He spearheaded the book ban targeting the Gay community including parents, teachers, and students. (his family members are gay)
He was caught on camera advocating for school vouchers by sponsoring a resolution for the Texas Republic Party. It passed but not unanimously.
Recruiting candidates to run against sitting Board Members
Katy ISD Trustee
Since being elected he has recruited 5 candidates to run for the board to advance his political agenda. Two won. One is currently sitting on the Board. (Larson)
He ran for President, Vice President, and Secretary but received just 3 votes on each, and was rejected by the Board. He continues to look for the 4th vote.
He solicited money from extremist PACs with one goal of taking over School Boards.
CCISD Voters have resisted the takeover of School Boards by extremist PACs unlike voters in Keller ISD, Katy ISD. They are in turmoil.
He recruited Christine Parizo to run against the sitting President. She lost by 25 points, called for a recount, claimed voter fraud, called for an investigation by the Texas Attorney General. She lost all claims.
He recruited Misty Dawson the most unqualified candidate to run for the School Board. She lost, called for a recount, then sued. Eventually she dropped her suit.
Bowen, as a sitting Trustee, meddled in the lawsuit Dawson brought against her winning opponent.
He has a disturbing relationship with Steven Hotze who has been indicted on 3 felonies including aggravated assault and organized crime concerning voter fraud.
He won his reelection by less than 50% with his two opponents taking a combined 52%.
It’s time to end Bowen’s career at CCISD and let him start running for State Representative or Congress. These districts are so gerrymandered he will win no matter how much money he takes from white supremacists.
Both CCISD Trustees Jessica Cejka and Scott Bowen have drawn opponents. Seabrook City Councilman Joe Machol will challenge Jessica Cejka and the Chairman of the Board of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, Rebecca Lilley, will challenge Scott Bowen. You can find filing information about the candidates including financial reports at the CCISD Election site.
This is very disturbing and CCISD parents and voters should be concerned.
The True Texas Project is an extremist, anti-government, christian nationalist group partially funded by the two West Texas billionaires featured on a CNN special. (Deep in the Pockets of Texas.) According to the Houston Chronicle Buzz Aldrins church, the Webster Presbyterian Church, banned the far white group from holding their meetings in their facilities and removed the group’s events from its calendar.
Upon learning about the group’s fringe political positions, clergy took action to ban the group from meeting at Webster. Church authorities confirmed that TTP was off the schedule, and “no longer meeting at Webster Presbyterian Church.”
TTP moved their meetings to the Webster Community Center for a few months. Then again moved to the Holiday Inn on Bay Area Blvd. But there is more. In June of 2024 their 15 year anniversary event was cancelled by Fort Worth. If that wasn’t bad enough a number of far white speakers withdrew because of their plans to amplify white nationalist figures and rhetoric. According to The Texas Tribune:
Billed as the 15th anniversary celebration for True Texas Project, the conference agenda claims that there is a “war on white America,” and urges attendees to embrace once-fringe ideologies such as Christian nationalism or the Great Replacement Theory, which claims that there is an intentional, often Jewish-driven, effort to destroy white people through immigration, interracial marriage or the LGBTQ+ community.
This event was so extreme even some of the far white extremists refused to participate. The event“lineup features figures with ties to antisemites and extremists, including Paul Gottfried, a far-right author who mentored neo-Nazi Richard Spencer.”
Sitting Trustee Scott Bowen is a member of this organization and has been a speaker at one of their events. Now the wife of Seabrook City Council Member and CCISD Trustee candidate Joe Machol has been tied to the local group. I’ve asked CM Machol about her and his affiliation with the group and have not received a response. I hope she would consider distancing herself from this group.
I’m looking at their fundraising numbers and will report.
If you have been a reader of my pathetic blog you know I do not like what Scott Bowen has done to our school district. I will have more to say, in detail, about that soon. (Like next Monday morning) Bowen has drawn an opponent one that will hopefully bring civility back to that particular chair.
Rebecca Lilley has filed to run against Bowen. I know very little about her but from what others have been telling me she is a great candidate and would be an excellent Trustee. As one person put it “Classy and Brilliant”. She is listed as the Chairman of the Board on the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce website. She was the former League City Regional Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board. She is the Director of Community and Physician Engagement at Memorial Hospital.
Quite a great start! The filing deadline is Feb 14, this Friday.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 