Bay Area Houston

The opportunity for candidates to file for the CCISD Board closed yesterday. The field is set with two incumbents and 3 challengers.

District 2
Michelle Davis. Incumbent. Michelle is considered a vote for Scott Bowen, the Chaos Trustee. She nominated Bowen for President, Vice President, and Secretary. He lost all of them. She ran as a “conservative” pushing her politics into a nonpartisan race. We can do better.

Jameison Mackay. Speaking of doing better. Mackay has long ties to the Chamber of Commerce, has experience in education issues. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Jameison. I’m looking forward to his announcement.

Glencora Rodgers. Not much available about Glencora, but as with Jameison, people have good words for her. I have heard she has classroom and administration experience and would make a good addition to the Board. Unfortunately both Jameison and Glencora will be up against the Republican Party money.

District 3
Arturo Sanchez. Incumbent. Sanchez has served honorably. He is the current Vice President of the Board. He was a good choice in 2020 and he is a great choice for 2023.

Peter Lauzon. Peter is Scott Bowen’s hand picked candidate. He is an extreme right wing Trump “conservative”. He was a former member of the Texas Republican Party Executive Committee and called for the party to officially endorse Bowen in his reelection. As far as I can tell he has no kids in school, no experience in education, and is an engineer. Lauzon is not the type of person we need on the school board. He will put partisan politics over the interests of school kids.

The election is in May.

We knew Scott Bowen was going to recruit an extreme far right member of the Republican Party to run for the CCISD Board and he has.

Peter Lauzon is just that candidate. Lauzon has no educational experience that I could find. He was a member of the Senate Republican Executive Committee (SREC) after being appointed to the position when David Apley (a COVID denier) died of COVID. He was then voted off in the next election. As an SREC member Lauzon motioned for the Party to endorse Scott Bowen. (Video is here) He bragged about Bowen’s attack on the nonexistent CRT, his mask ban, and his recruitment efforts to get extreme right wing candidates to run for school boards across the county.

He ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Clear Lake Water Authority being soundly defeated by a near 3-1 margin. If elected Lauzon will be the vote Bowen needs to take over the Board and send the district into chaos. Lauzon, like most republicans, is an election denier and will probably file suit like Misty Dawson did if he loses. This is who they are. This is who he is.

Lauzon is running against Arturo Sanchez who has served the district well and was elected to the position of Vice-President. Expect to see tens of thousands of dollars to be spent supporting this UFO (Unfit For Office) candidate by the Republican Party and Senator Money Mayes Middleton.

There isn’t a lot of information on the candidate but he has filed all the paperwork and is formally a candidate for CCISD Trustee. He is challenging incumbent Michelle Davis in District 2. The district map is below.

You can check who is running for CCISD Trustee by visiting the Elections page on the CCISD website. This site includes campaign finance reports and other required documentation.

In 2023 two seats are up for election, District 2 held by Trustee Michelle Davis, and District 3 held by Trustee Arturo Sanchez. Both have filed for reelection.

I do not know much about Michelle Davis except for the fact that she nominated Scott Bowen for President, Vice President, and Secretary after the election of 2021. He lost all three. I think that speaks volumes. Arturo Sanchez is one of those elected officials who does the work of the district for the parents, teachers, and students without a lot of fanfare. He is a good choice.

I am waiting for the Qanon candidate to surface. This person will be heavily financed by the Republican Party with tens of thousands of dollars in advertisements, signs, and mailers. Look for the title of “Conservative” in their literature. That is a telltale sign of being part of the Scot Bowen Klan. I expect our State Senator Money Mayes Middleton to put some of his own money into this race. Over the last few elections we had two unqualified candidates run for CCISD, Christine Parizo who lost by 25 points, and Misty Dawson who lost by just 40 votes. That race required a recount which she lost and then sued the winner in a frivolous lawsuit that was eventually withdrawn.

Until then check the CCISD website to see who is running!

This is some great gum shoe-ing! (I can’t take credit for it)

Last weeks League City City Council meeting spent almost 2 hours taking comments from 53 individuals against their book banning resolution. These individuals were required to sign in prior to the meeting and the video of the lobby shows them signing in.

There were 11 individuals who spoke in favor of the resolution but none of them are on the list to speak. None of them are in the video of the lobby prior to the meeting starting. So….how did Mayor Nick Long know who to call if their names were not on the list? Also the first to voice her oppositions knew beforehand what the others were going to say. It was clearly a coordinated event.

I would bet one of the Council members, after getting hammered by those who were against the resolution, sent a text to someone (Possibly Scott Bowen?) to round up the troops and voice some support of what they were doing. An Open Records request has been made for the list of the missing names yet League City has yet to respond. It’s easy to find the names since they were announced on the video of the meeting. That secret list was probably provided to the Mayor by Justin Hicks who sponsored the resolution. It really didn’t matter. Council was going to pass the resolution regardless of the outcry. It passed only by 4-3.

The list contains some extreme far right individuals including Scott Bowen, CCISD Trustee, Jeff Foxworth who leads the “I hate CCISD” group (or something like that). Also included at the end is Council Member Justin Hick’s wife. Was this illegal? Against City rules? Who knows. The missing 11 are below. I’m surprised that Christine Parizo didn’t shown up!

Demree Jennings
Joshua Foxworth
Rhonda Dohr
Rachel Judd
Justin Russell
Chuck McWirther
Richard Lewis
TC Judd
Tiffany Chapa
Scott Bowen
Sherrie Russell
Deborah Hicks

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I was invited to participate in a program called Inside CCISD and I attended the first session yesterday. OMG! I am already impressed and can’t wait for the next sessions that will continue monthly through May. According to CCISD’s website:

For more than 10 years, INSIDE CCISD has provided a unique opportunity for parents and community members to learn about the Clear Creek Independent School District. Through lunch and learn meetings, participants meet District leadership, staff and students and go behind the scenes of CCISD’s infrastructure, programs and services, and exchange ideas about the challenges and opportunities for improvements.

ccisd.net/insideccisd

Our first session was an introduction to the program, our CCISD Board Members, and self introductions. In the class were realtors, members of the Chamber of Commerce, parents, retirees, and others who have an interest in education. Board members in attendance were Michelle Davis, Jay Cunningham, Johnathon Cottrell, Jeff Larson, and Jessica Cejka. We also were provided a “State of the District” presentation by the interim Superintendent Karen Engle. Some interesting facts about the district:

• The district covers 103 sq miles
• 2 Counties, Harris and Galveston
• 13 Cities
• 45 schools
• 41,000+ students
• 5,000+ employees
• In 2020 CCISD lost 1400 students (3.5%), the first reduction since 1948!
• Average salaries for teachers is $60,000
• Their last budget included a 2-3% raise for teachers and support personnel
• Tax rate was reduced due to property value increases
• CCISD has 54 officers assigned to schools
• 5 additional officers were added for 2022-2023
• $35 Million added for security since the Santa Fe shooting

The next session will be focused on school safety with City, County, and State Leaders. Needless to say I am going to be very interested in this session. I doubt anyone will bring up the elephant in the classroom, easy access to weapons used in mass shootings like Uvalde, Santa Fe, El Pass, Sutherland Springs, and Odessa. Schools across Texas are spending millions of our tax dollars just to protect the rights of an 18 year old to buy military style weapons. But…..I digress….

Each month I will give a report on the session. I really appreciate being invited!