These forums will give you the opportunity to meet the candidates. You can keep track of of all election information at the CCISD Elections Webpage.
South Belt-Ellington Chamber of Commerce CCISD Trustee Candidates Forum – At-Large Position B Date: Tuesday, April 1, 2025 Time: 6:30 p.m. Location: Sageglen HOA Facility (11610 Sageyork Drive, Houston, TX 77089) Visit www.southbeltchamber.com
Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce CCISD Trustee Candidates Forum – District 1 and At-Large Position B Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 Time: 5:30 p.m. Location: City of Nassau Bay City Hall (1800 Space Park Dr #200, Houston, TX 77058) Forum will be livestreamed. Visit www.clearlakearea.com
League City Regional Chamber of Commerce CCISD Trustee Candidates Forum – District 1 and At-Large Position B Date: Thursday, April 17, 2025 Time: 6:00 p.m. Location: Grand Living at Tuscan Lakes (1850 E League City Pkwy, League City, TX 77573) Forum will be livestreamed. Visit www.leaguecitychamber.com
This is embarrassing. As a reminder Joe Machol was a high school football referee hence the football analogies and boy did he fumble this one! Again. You can read about Joe’s first fumble at “CCISD Candidate Joe Machol’s Campaign: Fumbling the Kick Off“.
Candidates for CCISD Trustee provided answers to a recent questionnaire covering the issues affecting our school district including funding, retention of teachers, plans for the future and more. The answers, by most candidates, were detailed and based upon their extensive knowledge of the public education system. Seabrook Council Member Joe Machol stood out above the rest, but not in a good way.
His answer to almost every single question focused on the 3 Rs, Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic. Here are some excerpts:
Help students become efficient in reading, writing and arithmetic.
Help the teachers instruct the students in reading, writing and arithmetic.
Getting the Student efficient in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
Getting the students the help they need in reading, writing and arithmetic.
Go back to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.
Incentives to Teachers when the students achieve the best scores in reading, writing and arithmetic
Go back to the basics Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
Teachers who are focused on reading, writing and arithmetic.
I didn’t create the issue of schools going away from reading, writing and arithmetic,
Help each and every student become the best that they can be in reading, writing and arithmetic.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JANUARY 10: TreVeyon Henderson #32 of the Ohio State Buckeyes scores a touchdown during the second quarter against the Texas Longhorns during the Goodyear Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium on January 10, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by CFP/Getty Images)
Seriously that is his answer to almost every question. While other candidates have thoughtful, detailed, explanations on why they are best for the job Machol is focused on the 3 Rs as if CCISD students are dumber than a rock and teachers are incapable of instruction. His answers are not only embarrassing it is insulting to students, teachers, parents, and taxpayers. His comments about cutting waste is laughable. CCISD, as well as every school district in Texas, has been stretched to the limit due to cuts to education.
I don’t know why Trustee Bowen recruited Machol. He is clearly unqualified for the job especially when a very capable Trustee is already serving the district. I do not believe Machol’s heart is in this race. Based upon his answers to the detailed questionnaire I wonder if he would advocate for cutting out life lessons being taught in CCISD like band, music, theatre, culinary skills, and auto mechanics.
Texas State Representative Stan Gerdes, a republican with the full backing of Governor Abbott, has filed a House Bill 4814 banning animal role playing by kids in schools. (This is NOT satire) Gerdes claims this bill was a result of a complaint confirmed by the Superintendent of Smithville Independent School District. SISD has 5 schools, including 1 high school. They have a total of 1770 students and 122 teachers. The SISD is what we call “rural” like in farmers and lots of white people in Bastrop County. Many would consider this district to be in “Bum f*** Egypt”.
The bill will prohibit dress up by kids in animal costumes, role playing, and even having cat litter available. Seriously. According to his press release “I filed HB 4814, the FURRIES Act (Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Educational Spaces) to ensure that public schools are not accommodating or allowing disruptive “furry” roleplaying behavior.” His press release is below. His bill, HB4814, can be found here. It has no co-sponsors or chance for a hearing.
According to the Houston Chronicle this stupidity was debunked in early 2024 but not after it caused considerable chaos including bomb threats and threats against school districts. Even the farmers in the area were taken back by this bill. “What I do in the privacy of my barn is none of your g**damn business.” said one farmer who wanted to remain anonymous. (Ok. That sentence was satire)
The bill has the full support of CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen.
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.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 