Editorial
In the days following Monday night’s Roby CISD School Board Meeting, the newspaper received numerous phone calls, text messages, emails, and social media queries about what happened after the board convened in executive session at 6:58 p.m. It’s a good question, the answer to which is both as complex as the human brain and as straightforward as the rectal cavity it seems to be inserted into.
Although not the longest agenda the Roby CISD Board has tackled, an hour and a half into the meeting, the trustees had narrowed the list of items to only a few. Two of which — consideration of security matters and the superintendent contract extension — were reserved for executive session deliberations, while any resulting action, as well as reviewing the results of the board’s self-evaluation — the third remaining agenda item — would be done when the regular meeting resumed.
However, after more than two hours in executive session, when the doors opened, board members began to file out saying the meeting had been adjourned with no action taken. They figured since the board wasn’t going to take a vote on anything they discussed in executive session, they would simply try to get out of there as quickly as possible. Parliamentary procedures be damned.
Although school security is undoubtedly a concern for trustees across the nation, I don’t think it takes much of a deductive reasoning application to guess what could make seven politicians scurry away so fast. I’m all in with a bet on that contract renewal.
Additionally, since they all took off before reviewing the results of the board’s self-evaluation, the public still doesn’t know how good of a job the officials think they are doing. Since I have sat through as many hours upon hours of the often three-to-four-hour board meetings as they have, I figured I would give my own bare-knuckle performance evaluation.
Allow me to preface what follows by saying it is a reflection of my opinion of a governmental body and not those of the individual men or women who serve. It is also fair to exclude board member Michelle Terry from the evaluation, as the most recent board meeting was her third, which equates to a week in any other job. Welcome to politics.
Despite whatever omnipotent educational powers some school board members believe they have been bestowed with, the duties of a board of trustees are far more limited in scope than its field of vision. At its core, there are three: Hire and fire the school district superintendent; set the district’s annual financial budget and be accountable for it; maintain, amend, and create school district policy.
1. Hire/fire district superintendent. Honest answer now trustees: How’s that been going for you lately? Roby CISD is now on its third superintendent since 2018, and it took the trustees five years to hire the guy they turned down the first time and now seem to be displeased enough with to run from his contract renewal like it was attached to a detonator.
I would like the board to work on its decisiveness. Doubt and delay are prevalent in those who have been promoted beyond their ability or understanding. However, with all trustees having served more than four years in office and some more than a decade, indecision of this magnitude is obviously counterproductive.
2. Fiduciary responsibilities. Since 2018, Roby CISD has set and maintained a balanced budget, growing its account surplus by over 30% and accumulating more than 120% of its annual operating cost in its general fund. This was partially achieved due to the board declining salary increases above base pay when HB-3 raised teacher salaries in 2018.
In the future, the board would be wise to remember that the success of the district rests on the shoulders of its workforce. An organization that acquires wealth at the expense of its workers’ livelihoods inevitably reaps negative results. Now ask yourself why it is your STAAR scores have declined to the lowest levels in years.
3. Policymaking. While many of the policy creations and revisions are set within the state and or drafted by the Texas Association of School Boards, there are few policies each year that require the board’s direct involvement. However, on those rare occasions, the board typically fumbles. Many policies are weak — like the punitive aspect of the district’s toothless drug policy — or vague — resulting from discussions where in an effort for clarity, officials spent 20 minutes discussing the molecular differences between spandex and stretchable denim before approving the policy.
I would like to see the board take the time—perhaps to focus on only one major revision a year— and focus on amending the policy to better reflect contemporary regulatory needs based on a more defined path for educational progress.
Once again, these issues — even those met with resistance — can be improved through better decision-making practices. Simple but not easy. It takes courage, but from what I’ve seen, there are lions in OZ with more courage than those representing Roby taxpayers, and if it doesn’t change from within, then it’s likely voters will be clicking their heels on the way to the ballot box.