Lynn Walsh

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Local Democrat questions GOP turkey-and-bike give away at Houston public school
Thursday, Jan 06, 2011, 05:55PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

A program by local Republicans to give free turkeys and bikes to kids at a Houston elementary school crossed the line into a political event and should be stopped, a local Democratic activist and blogger says.

The Harris County Republican Party has donated turkeys to students at J.R. Harris Elementary in southeast Houston for the past nine years, according to a complaint filed with the district by John Cobarruvias of Houston.

“There needs to be an investigation,” said Cobarruvias, who has filed a formal complaint with the Houston Independent School District. “Bringing candidates into a school and having the students make banners for the Republican candidates is not OK.”

According to county GOP newsletters, more than 200 bicycles were given to third, fourth and fifth graders who passed all three sections of state achievement tests. The bikes were distributed in May 2009.

In December 2009, the party continued its “tradition of donating holiday turkeys to economically disadvantaged families” at Harris, according to one newsletter.

“First and foremost this activity must stop immediately,” Cobarruvias wrote in a letter to HISD trustees and Superintendent Terry Grier. “Partisan political activity in a public school is illegal. And second, I am requesting the HISD board to call for an investigation into this activity to determine if rules and/or laws were broken with appropriate action being taken.”

HISD Trustee Manuel Rodriguez said he has been told by the district that nothing was against the law.

“After checking with the district, there was probably some gray area, but nothing that was illegal,” Rodriguez told Texas Watchdog. “They were not handing out GOP literature. They made posters, but that was not, per se, a political event.”

Cobarruvias, who blogs at Bay Area Houston, disagrees. “We cannot have them listen to the president of the United States, but they can bring their candidates into the school and everything is OK?” he asked, referring to how some parents in Houston and elsewhere objected to allowing public school students to hear a live talk by President Obama on the importance of education in 2009 . “It’s about more than political differences.” (For an opposing blogger viewpoint on the giveaways, here’s a piece sharply critical of Cobarruvias at Rhymes with Right.)

In an e-mail to Cobarruvias, Sam Sarabia, head of HISD’s elementary schools said:

“There was no such activity this year at JR Harris. As you are aware, we do accept partnerships which are willing to assist our children. At no times do we allow political banners inside the school or promote one political party over another one.”

“No turkeys were given out this school year,” Sarabia told Texas Watchdog. He said HISD would accept bicycle donations from the county GOP again this year or in the future.

Dem Cries Foul Over Free GOP Turkeys: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

“At this point, yes,” Sarabia said. “This is a 10-year partnership. If they were to offer any incentives for student performance, we would accept them. It is almost like a scholarship for these students,” he said.

In the past, he said, the bicycles were handed out during school assemblies. But because of a new state law, now and in the future, the bike donations or other incentives for students in HISD would be handled with a voucher system.

“If there are 100 students at the end of the year that qualify for an incentive, each would receive a letter and a coupon for the bike in a sealed envelope,” Sarabia said. “In the past, yes, there was an assembly, but not anymore.”

At press time, neither the Harris County Republican Party nor the principal of J.R. Harris Elementary responded to phone calls from Texas Watchdog. However, blogger Rhymes With Right has published here a spirited defense of the GOP incentive program.

Do you think it’s acceptable for a local political group to give turkeys and bikes to elementary school students? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

A investigation for Texas Watchdog:

Boxes of Houston ISD records yield additional details about gifts, freebies in E-Rate controversy
Monday, Jan 03, 2011, 03:04PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Top technology employees at the Houston school system were privy to friendly lunch invitations, happy hour parties, sporting event tickets and after-hours smoking meet-ups courtesy of vendors doing $75 million in business with the school district, documents show.

A happy hour at Dave and Busters, a baseball game invitation, a secret gift to one employee and requests for trinkets are the latest examples to be revealed of the gift-giving culture between Houston Independent School District employees and vendors through the federal E-Rate program, which funds computers in schools.

The gifts — which began as early as 2005 and were provided as late as 2008 — cost the school system $105 million in federal funding, plus an additional $1 million in direct costs.

Some of the E-Rate swag available to HISD workers, including offers of personal loans and trips to Las Vegas, had already been made public. However, Texas Watchdog turned up these additional details by using state public information laws to gain access to boxes and boxes of e-mail correspondence between HISD employees and E-Rate vendors and documentation associated with the investigation into the gift-giving.

The more than 25 boxes of documents show friendly and sometime flirtatious e-mails between HISD employees and E-Rate vendors, countless invitations to sporting events, lunches and happy hours and careful and precise control over communication with federal E-Rate officials.

The investigation did not yield criminal charges for anyone involved in HISD but did in the Dallas Independent School District. A DISD official is now in a federal prison in Fort Worth, and the former owner of one of the vendor firms is being held at a federal facility in Bastrop.

Three companies were at the center of the federal investigation involving HISD: Analytical Computer Services, Micro Systems Enterprises and Acclaim Professional Services. From 2000 to 2006, ACS earned more than $68.4 million through E-Rate, and Micro Systems received more than $9.8 million from 2000 to 2003, documents show.

Allegations of accepting gifts, sporting tickets and lunches were included in the Sept. 3, 2008, memo from Bracewell & Giuliani lawyers to officials with the Federal Communications Commission. Texas Watchdog’s most recent review of documents found e-mail correspondence related to some of the gifts described in the memo, including:

* Fanny packs: HISD employee Lori Cummings sends an e-mail to both Laura Palmer, an HISD assistant superintendent of technology, and Scott Blankenship of Micro Systems, asking when more free fanny packs will be available. “Scott, when can we expect 100 of the above? Laura spoke with you last week regarding this. We to stuff items into them …”

* Rockets suite tickets: Among the thousands of pages of documents made public to Texas Watchdog was a copy of the $300 check then-HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra wrote to ACS owner Frank Trifilio to reimburse the firm for tickets to a Houston Rockets playoff game. Along with the check was Saavedra’s letter to Trifilio, saying: “Thank you for your hospitality during the recent Rockets playoff games. As you know, I cannot accept gifts from vendors. I am reimbursing $300 for the three playoff games that my guest and I attended in your suite. If this does not adequately reimburse the value of the tickets, please let me know so I can ensure full reimbursement.”
* Free cellphones: E-mail correspondence included a list of Nextel phone numbers and the corresponding HISD employee using those phones. The Bracewell & Giuiliani memo had said E-Rate vendors had provided HISD employees with free Nextel phones to use.
* Trinkets: In an e-mail, Palmer asks about “trinkets” from Micro Systems: “I need some trinkets…do you have left from the stuff Lori gave you?” HISD employee Andrea Teasley replies, ”just the drink holders from MSE. I ran out of my little gifts…”

Along with Palmer, William Edwards, then HISD’s assistant superintendent for technology, and Steve Kim, then HISD’s head of computer networking, were accused of accepting gifts from E-Rate vendors, documents show. None of the three currently work for the school system.

Close-up of box

Invitations to lunch and social events from the E-Rate vendors were common, the documents show. An e-mail from Palmer to fellow HISD technology employees thanks them for attending a party at Collina’s restaurant.

On another occasion, Heather Konlande, an employee at ACS, emailed Kim, Edwards and other HISD employees, inviting them to an “HISD appreciation Happy Hour at Dave and Busters.” The goal of the social hour, according to the e-mails, was “to have fun as well as have casual discussion on how we at ACS can improve and ultimately make your jobs easier by providing even more services.”

Kim was invited to a baseball game via e-mail by Allan Folz of ACS but turned it down, saying, “On any other day I would have jumped at the opportunity. However, I have plans tonight that I cannot break. Please let me know if this happens again.”

Another e-mail shows Kim agreeing to a lunch invitation from a Hewlett-Packard representative, the turning the invitation down saying, because it is “RFP season…” The representative responds by inviting Kim to drinks after a Rockets game: “Boo. OK, how about drinks after the Rockets game tomorrow?” Kim does not respond.

In November, HP was forced to pay more than $16 million to the federal government and people in Houston and Dallas in the aftermath of allegations of fraud in a federal program supplying computers to the Houston and Dallas school districts.

In another e-mail from May 2002, Mark Jones from Micro Systems invites Kim to smoke with him at the Downing Street Pub, a haven for Scotch and cigar lovers on Kirby. Jones writes:

Just an FYI that I’ll be at Downing Street tonight from around 6:30-10:00ish. I didn’t bring anything to smoke so I will be getting some local stuff. Let me know if you’re coming and I’ll pick out something nice for you to smoke.”

According to the documents, other instances of lunch invitations and gifts include:

* Discussion about a “secret gift” given to Kim by Frankie Wong, the owner of one of the E-Rate vendors being investigated. Wong is currently in federal prison.

* In one e-mail, Blankenship, of Micro Systems, offers to repair a broken HISD computer for free. Palmer refuses the offer, saying, “regarding your question to request a gratuitous repair; I do not plan to set such a precedent. The vendor won the bid due to low and fair pricing. I have no reason to take advantage of this.”
* In another e-mail, Palmer declines a congratulatory gift from a vendor associated with Classroom Connect.
* Wong asks Kim to have lunch with vendors from NetBotz in another e-mail.
* An invitation from Wong to Kim, Edwards and Lehman to attend a Micro Systems happy hour.

Several e-mails showed trouble with communication between HP, ACS and Micro Systems. E-mail correspondence shows HISD employees had a hard time getting in touch with Trifilio and Wong when a service problem came up.

While the amount of money the companies collected piled up, the relationships between the companies and HISD employees became more friendly. HISD documents show:

* Friendly e-mailing back and forth between Karyn Dubose of Micro Systems and Steve Kim. In an e-mail Dubose said, “hee hee! This is from yesterday morning! You are working way too late! I believe he left you a message. Karyn.” Kim responds in an e-mail, “interesting. I didn’t get it until 12:38 am. I’m going to blame your mail server = ).”

* A vendor requests an HISD e-mail address and access to other accounts that would have provided the vendor access to student data. Palmer submits the request through e-mail to Kim who said, “I will leave this one to your decision, however, I do have some very strong objections to this.” It is unclear whether the person ever received the access requested.
* Friendly e-mail correspondence between Wong, Blankenship and Kim, including some inside jokes.
* In December 2001, Wong asks Kim if he would serve as a reference in Wong’s bid to do business with the Clark County, Nev., school system in Las Vegas.

QUESTIONS ABOUT ID CODES

In an interview several months ago, Trifilio said his firm was wrongly connected to Micro Systems because some of HISD’s E-Rate paperwork used the same identification code for both ACS and Micro Systems.

The 25-plus boxes of documents Texas Watchdog reviewed strengthens his argument.

E-mails suggest HISD employees were unclear as to whether ACS and Micro Systems had separate E-Rate codes.

In a 2005 e-mail, HISD procurement specialist Ken Phillips asks: “So, is ACS named on the E-Rate extension request and we are only required to have extensions with that company or is it ACS and MSE?” The response from project manager Jacqueline Martin: “It is ACS only.”

Almost a year later the issue comes up again — this time, about whether or not multiple vendors can use the same ID number. The conversation is stopped by Palmer who writes, ”please set up a meeting. This is not an e-mail topic.”

“We were the scapegoat” in the controversy because of confusion over vendor identification numbers, Trifilio told Texas Watchdog. Micro Systems and Acclaim took on some of the contracted work because the district believed the volume was too much for one company to handle, Trifilio said.

E-Rate obtains the ID numbers from the Universal Service Administrative Co., which administers E-Rate under the direction of the FCC, said Richard Patton, HISD’s internal E-Rate watchdog. Patton said he was not aware of any problems with the vendor ID numbers like what Trifilio described.

Confusion over how to process E-Rate vendors and trouble communicating with them was not all the HISD documents show. Other e-mail correspondence shows Palmer trying to control what was shared with E-Rate auditors. In an June 2005 e-mail, Palmer chose a shorter response, instead of a longer one with more details, to be sent to E-Rate auditors who had posed questions to the district:

“I would [send] the short one because it does not cause someone (like an E-rate auditor) to it a second thought. Sometimes you just do not want to draw attention…I think my language, below, is all we need to satisfy the E-rate administration. If they saw a lot of additional language, it may obscure the issue….”

The e-mail is in response to an E-Rate official asking HISD’s legal department for contracts associated with ACS in June 2005.

Do you have more information about what’s going on in HISD? Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

Photos by Lynn Walsh/Texas Watchdog staff.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Houston ISD releases list of 66 ‘small schools’ being discussed for possible closure, consolidation
Thursday, Dec 16, 2010, 10:51AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Want to know if your child’s school could be on the chopping block as the Houston school system considers whether to close or consolidate its smallest schools?
The Houston Independent School District this morning released the official list of 66 “small schools.” School board members began discussions this morning on the possible school closures.

The school system named nine high schools on the list of 66. Even though the district had previously said it considers high schools with less than 1,000 students to be “small schools,” the nine schools named today each have less than 1,250 students. (School board member Larry Marshall, for one, had told Texas Watchdog earlier this week that he thought 1,250 was a better cutoff point than 1,000.)

The nine high schools include Houston’s two oldest high schools for African-Americans, Yates and Wheatley. The complete list:

* Scarborough
* Washington
* Kashmere
* Wheatley
* Furr
* Yates
* Jones
* Worthing
* Sterling

Fifteen middle schools are on the list, each with less than 750 students. They are:

* Williams
* Black
* Key
* Hogg
* Fleming
* McReynolds
* Ryan
* Grady
* Long
* Sharpstown Middle
* Sugar Grove
* Fondren
* Cullen
* Attucks
* Thomas

And 15 elementary schools are on the list, each with less than 500 students. They are:

* Osborne
* Wesley
* Durham
* Burrus
* Paige
* Houston Gardens
* Mcdade
* Kashmere Gardens
* Isaacs
* Ross
* Looscan
* Atherton
* Field
* Love
* Stevenson
* Memorial
* Crockett
* Crockett ECC
* MacGregor
* Blackshear
* Henderson NQ
* Pleasantville
* Port Houston
* Briscoe
* Hartsfield
* Whidby
* Alcott
* Grimes
* Frost
* Rhodes
* Young
* Fondren Elementary
* Elrod
* Shadowbriar
* Gordon

The list also includes seven pre-kindergarten programs, each with less than 750 students. They are:

* Wharton
* Rusk
* Gregory-Lincoln
* E.O. Smith
* Woodson
* Wilson
* Briarmeadow

Not included on the list of 66 are schools designed to be small, such as unique and separate magnet schools, charters, alternative schools, early colleges, early childhood centers and specialty high schools.

Also excluded from the list are schools where plans are already in place to make major changes, such as already planned construction and consolidation work.

For a list of schools receiving extra funding for being small this year — a total of 79 — check out our story from yesterday at this link. The enrollment thresholds to receive the extra money, according to HISD, are 1,000 for high schools, 750 for middle schools, and 500 for elementary and early childhood centers.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. On Twitter, follow her at @lwalsh and at @TexasWatchdog.

An investigation produced for Texas Watchdog:

Race, history factor into debate over costs to operate Houston Independent School District’s ‘small schools’
Wednesday, Dec 15, 2010, 11:58AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston’s public schools will spend more than $10 million this year helping schools with the fewest students try to provide the same resources as bigger schools, such as foreign language offerings and music classes.

Many of the 60-plus “small schools” are located just a few blocks from one another. Some serve just 100 to 250 students — far less than what the Houston Independent School District and some members of its school board say is needed to run a school economically.

The cash-strapped school district will soon debate whether to close or consolidate some of the small schools. The school board will take up the issue this week.

But the discussion of whether to keep the small schools open isn’t just about money. It’s also about Houston’s complex racial politics and changing demographics.

Nearly half of the schools getting extra funding this year for their small size have student bodies in which three kids out of four are black, or three kids out of four are Hispanic, HISD records show. A dozen of the schools are at least 90% black or at least 90% Hispanic. At one school, Sherman Elementary in the city’s Fifth Ward, 99% of the student body is Hispanic.

And supporters of small schools want to keep it that way: Small schools reflective of the racial makeup of their surrounding neighborhoods.

Take Gordon Elementary in Bellaire. It has less than 400 students this year, four out of five of whom are Hispanic, HISD says. It is expected to receive more than $163,000 in additional funding this school year because of its small size, HISD records show.

Grimes Elementary in Sunnyside has less than 350 students this year, nine of out 10 of whom are black. Named for Buchanan H. Grimes, whom HISD’s website says “rose from the position of janitor to that of teacher and then principal in the Houston Public Schools,” the school will receive more than $190,000 from HISD’s “small school subsidy” this year.

Less than two miles from Grimes, Alcott Elementary is expected to serve 450 students this year. More than 70% of the students at Alcott last year were black, according to HISD. The school is slated to get $55,000 in small school funding this year.

The debate over the small schools may come down to whether they’re important to the fabric of Houston’s patchwork quilt of racially diverse neighborhoods, or whether they cost too much to operate.

“We cannot afford luxuries anymore,” school board member Larry Marshall said. “We need to compress and consolidate. It is going to be tough, and a lot of people choose not to run for boards of education because this is one of the most difficult decisions in education to make.”

For school board member Carol Mims Galloway, the small schools are not a luxury. More than a quarter of them are in her district.
HISD small schools by trustee Pie chart

“These communities have so much history,” she said. “It is important to keep these students and schools there, because they live in those communities and should go to school in those communities.”

HISD defines a “small school” at the elementary level as having 500 students or less. For middle schools, the cutoff is 750, and for high schools, 1,000 or below. (For a complete look at schools receiving small school funding, click here.)

By comparison, the largest school in HISD, Bellaire High, has 3,300 students this year.

PRODUCT OF A PREVIOUS ERA

The small schools have roots in the time when HISD schools were racially segregated — and in the school system’s efforts to integrate.

“That was the way it was back then — we knew our place,” said Galloway, who is African-American and a graduate of the Fifth Ward’s Wheatley High School. “We had to live on the other side of the street, we had our own schools, we had African-American police that could only ticket African-Americans.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 1954, the same year Alcott Elementary was built, was supposed to end segregation in schools across the country. But it didn’t in many places, including Houston.

“HISD did not approve a desegregation plan until 1969,” said Marshall, who is also African-American. “We waited more than ten years.”

To help with desegregation, HISD created some of the nation’s first magnet programs to attract students to schools outside their neighborhoods. According to Marshall, the district also built new schools in predominantly black neighborhoods.

“These communities are some of the lowest, economically disadvantaged communities in our city,” Galloway said. “They are also some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. They have a lot of history.”

Many of those schools are now considered small schools, including Durham Elementary in the Oak Forest/Garden Oaks neighborhood northwest of the 610 loop; Elrod Elementary in Fondren Southwest; and Gregory-Lincoln Elementary, just west of downtown.

Houston has changed since they were built. As in many American cities, urban dwellers fled for the suburbs, following the rivers of concrete in Houston’s expressways, nearly emptying some of the city’s most historic minority neighborhoods.

“Now, the population has dwindled,” Marshall said, “and there are not enough families or children in the areas to maintain a school.”

Meanwhile, the racial makeup of the city and the school system changed, too. Nearly two-thirds of HISD’s students are now Hispanic. One student in four is black; less than one student in 10 is white.

The racial makeup of the neighborhoods around the small schools has changed, too. While Gregory-Lincoln’s student body was 61% black last year, Elrod and Durham’s students are now mostly Hispanic.

COSTS OF OPERATION

For HISD, the price tag to supplement the budgets of the small schools this year will be $10,067,352 — a little more than $2 million for high schools, $2.8 for middle schools and more than $5 million for elementary and early child education campuses.

“The schools have to pay for all of the same services, from utility costs to teachers, yet they do not have always have the funds to do it because of low enrollment,” Melinda Garrett, the school district’s chief financial officer, said earlier this year. The small school subsidy, she said, “acts as a supplement.”

Fewer students means less money overall for a campus. The main chunk of money most schools get from HISD is based on a dollar amount per student, so a school with fewer students gets less per-student funding.

The individual schools have broad discretion in how they can spend their small-school funding, HISD spokesman Jason Spencer said, naming teachers, supplies and band equipment as just three examples.

Small school subsidies vary from $301,000 at Williams Middle, on the north side of town, to just around $2,000 for Kelso Elementary on the south side, which the state has rated academically unacceptable.

It’s unclear when HISD began doling out the extra money to the small schools. Garrett said Tuesday that the subsidy has come and gone a few times over the years.

Seventy-nine HISD campuses are getting extra money this school year for being small, according to data provided to Texas Watchdog by the school district earlier this year. However, HISD officials this week counted just 66 schools still under the enrollment cutoff points to qualify as “small schools,” Grier and Spencer said.

At a meeting with the local press Tuesday, Grier didn’t answer a question from a Houston Press reporter for the names or locations of the 66 schools. Spencer later told Texas Watchdog that some of the 79 schools may have seen their enrollment grow this year enough to disqualify them as “small,” leaving just 66 on the current list.

With anticipated multi-million dollar budget cuts from the state next year, HISD trustees are looking to cut wherever they can. Both the small school subsidy and magnet funding are on the chopping block.

The school board has already voted this year to “repurpose” one school, H.P. Carter Career Center northeast of downtown, because of low enrollment — 132 students — and high per-student costs — more than $20,000 per child.

“The bottom line is that it is cheaper to operate larger schools,” Marshall said. “… You can have a program and a successful school that has the academic rigor it needs when you have the appropriate number of students.”

But many of the small schools are academically rigorous, if the Texas Education Agency’s ratings are to be believed. Forty percent of the 79 schools getting small-school funds were rated “exemplary” by the TEA for this year, a Texas Watchdog analysis found, and another 27% were “recognized.”

CLOSURES MAY BE COMING

“Right-sizing,” as the school system calls it, could mean closures and consolidations for the small campuses.

It “very well could mean closing schools, but that’s a board decision,” Grier said Tuesday. “We want to talk to the board about options and see what they have to say.”

Marshall gave Texas Watchdog an example of one small school in his district, Rhoads Elementary in the South Acres/Crestmont Park neighborhood, which receives more than $212,000 in small school funding.

“The community there is aging, and you no longer have a population of people where there are children attending school,” Marshall said.

“There are only 300 students at Rhoads. Both Law and Woodson (elementaries) could easily absorb the additional students,” Marshall said. Law is less than a mile from Rhoads, while Woodson is even closer, only a half-mile away.

“Once the kids are moved, you move all of the funding to the other schools as well. It creates more educational opportunities for everyone,” he said.

When closing a school, there’s a lot to be considered, Grier said.

“Where would you put those students?” he said. “Is there another school nearby where you could put those students? Then you get into, how do you get them there? Are you now going to charge (for) transportation? Are transportation costs going to offset potential savings? Those are the kinds of analysis we will have to do.”

NEIGHBORHOODS MAY STAGE A COMEBACK

Small schools are positive for a neighborhood, Galloway countered.

“Being poor serviced schools,” she said. “I think (small schools are) a good thing because it helps the community and keeps the community.”

She says she’s also looking to the future.

“Enrollment is going to go up in these neighborhoods in a few years,” Galloway said. “If we consolidate now, then we will have to come up and restructure again. I think, during this economic time, we are facing hardships, but new revitalization projects are coming to these neighborhoods.”

Galloway is referring specifically to the City of Houston’s Project Hope, a plan to reinvest in some of Houston’s historic neighborhoods by providing housing to low-income citizens.

“I represent the oldest African-American neighborhoods in Houston,” Galloway said when asked why so many of the small schools are in her district. “They are no longer here, but through Project Hope, the city is coming in and revitalizing, bringing younger families to the neighborhoods.”

What do you think about HISD’s small school subsidy? Does the district need all of the small schools or should they be consolidated? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you.

Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feed in your newsreader. We’re also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, NewsVine and tumblr.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Juliet Stipeche, Judith Cruz head to runoff in Houston ISD school board race
Wednesday, Nov 03, 2010, 12:11PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

A runoff election is expected later this month in the Houston school board District 8 race between a local lawyer and stay-at-home mom.

Lawyer Juliet Stipeche and former teacher/now full-time mom Judith Cruz garnered more votes than any of their competitors, but neither reached the 50 percent threshold required to outright win the Houston Independent School District vacant trustee position.

A run-off between the two will take place on Nov. 30.

Cruz led Tuesday’s election with more than 30 percent of the votes. Stipeche earned close to 21 percent.

Dorothy Olmos earned more than 14 percent of the votes, Peter Schwethelm earned close to 13 percent and Roberto Centeno earned seven percent.

A sixth candidate, Cheryl Moodie, who dropped out of the race due to residency issues, earned 11 percent of the votes Tuesday. According to the Houston Chronicle, Moodie moved to Houston from Louisiana earlier this year but has not lived in HISD’s District 8 area for six months, a requirement for candidates.

The five candidates collectively raised more than $60,000 in campaign contributions last month. Stipeche and Cruz brought in the most money — Stipeche with more than $30,500 in contributions, and Cruz with more than $25,000. Dorothy Olmos and former teachers Roberto Centeno and Peter Schwethelm also ran for the HISD trustee position.

The District 8 seat was left vacant in July when Diana Davila stepped down from the position more than a year before her term was to end.

Check out the links below for more information on the HISD District 8 race:

* Juliet Stipeche campaign finance report.
* Judith Cruz campaign finance report.
* Roberto Centeno campaign finance report.
* Peter Schwethelm campaign finance report.
* Dorothy Olmos campaign finance report.
* Video: Cruz, Stipeche and Centeno discuss parent involvement at a candidate forum sponsored by Parents for Public Schools of Houston.
* Parents for Public Schools of Houston Q&A with candidates.

Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

HISD candidates Juliet Stipeche, Judith Cruz rake in big-bucks contributions from big-name politicos in final push to Election Day
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010, 07:00PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Five candidates have collectively raised more than $60,000 this month with hopes of filling the vacant District 8 seat on the Houston school board.

Two candidates, lawyer Juliet Stipeche and teacher Judith Cruz, brought in the most money — Stipeche with more than $30,500 in contributions, and Cruz with more than $25,000.

Dorothy Olmos and former teachers Roberto Centeno and Peter Schwethelm are also running for the Houston Independent School District’s position for District 8, which was left vacant after Diana Davila stepped down in July, more than a year before her term was to end.

The election is week from today. Early voting is going on in Harris County through Friday.

Texas Watchdog has published all of the campaign finance reports for the Oct. 25 filing deadline online for the public to view (just follow the link attached to a candidate’s name in this story or scroll to the bottom of the page for the listing.)

Cruz and Stipeche both received generous donations from some big names in Texas politics and the education community here in Houston.

State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, and the Houston Federation of Teachers each donated $10,000 to Stipeche in the last month. Stipeche also received $2,000 from state Rep. (and former Houston City Councilwoman) Carol Alvarado and another $250 from state Rep. Armando Walle.

Former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier and his wife, Elyse, donated $250 to Cruz. Lanier, a Republican and real estate developer, served as the city’s mayor from 1992-98.

Cruz also received a $10,000 donation from the Houston Business Education Coalition PAC. Former HISD Superintendent and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and 13 other business and professional leaders are members of the political action committee.

The law firm Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson donated $1,000 to both Cruz and Stipeche. The law firm has received more than $7.2 million from HISD this year and more than $16.5 million since October 2008, according to the HISD check online check register.

Check out the links below for more information on the five candidates running for office:

* Juliet Stipeche campaign finance report.
* Judith Cruz campaign finance report.
* Roberto Centeno campaign finance report.
* Peter Schwethelm campaign finance report.
* Dorothy Olmos campaign finance report.
* Video: Cruz, Stipeche and Centeno discuss parent involvement at a candidate forum sponsored by Parents for Public Schools of Houston.
* Parents for Public Schools of Houston Q&A with candidates.

Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Members of HISD committee overseeing bonds told to re-apply as district overhauls committee
Tue Aug 31 18:40:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

A watchdog committee for the Houston Independent School District’s major building projects could be injected with new membership after sitting members were notified they must reapply for their positions and verify they have no personal or professional conflicts of interest.
The nine members of the Bond Oversight Committee were e-mailed the application, as well as a new charter for the committee, on Monday by HISD Chief Operating Officer Leo Bobadilla, who announced last month a plan to rid the committee of any entanglements. The committee reform comes after former Trustee Diana Dávila tried to get her husband appointed to the panel.

“A completed application provides a single process to know that (members have) reviewed the charter, have no conflicts and plan to continue to serve on the committee,” Bobadilla told committee members in e-mail correspondence obtained by Texas Watchdog.

According to the new charter, at least one member must have experience in engineering or building design, but none of the seats are reserved for specific community groups like the Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Houston Partnership, which was the previous arrangement. The board oversees the district’s nearly $1 billion bond program.

The committee members are also barred from making decisions that would benefit themselves, their businesses or immediate family members. The charter puts in place a cooling-off period of one year between when a member’s service on the committee ends and when he and his company are eligible to bid on district construction project.

Tension between committee members and HISD as well as discord over the filling of open seats have kept the board in the news.

Last month, the Houston Chronicle reported that Dávila attempted to get her husband, Abel Dávila, on the committee last November. He is the former chair of the Houston Community College Board of Trustees and is at the center of a conflict of interest investigation there.

According to the article, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier ultimately denied the request, but approved Dávila’s second suggestion, Manuel Barrera Jr., who had been in charge of her campaign. In the last month, both Barrera and Dávila have stepped down from their positions.

HISD Board President Greg Meyers said he favors a review of the committee’s membership and possibly getting new members.

“We will be looking at them to see if there will be a conflict interest and want to make sure they are completely transparent,” he said in an interview with Texas Watchdog. “The active members who are in compliance — meaning they have no conflict of interest on the personal or business side — have the opportunity to stay on.”

Meyers said applications for the vacant positions will be available online.

“The best thing in the world would be to have people come in and serve,” Meyers said. “We want people to be involved.”

At least one member, former Houston City Council member Carroll Robinson, indicated he doesn’t intend to re-apply.

In an e-mail to Bobadilla, Robinson said:

“Does your request for current Bond Oversight Committee Members to file an application mean that our service has come to an end and is no longer needed? If so, I am happy to have served and do not wish to apply to be considered for reappointment.”

Robinson spoke out in the Chronicle article, apparently frustrated that for an oversight board, the members were given little power.

“The expectation was you just shut up, listen and go home. That’s never been my experience when I’m responsible for exercising some fiduciary responsibility,” said Robinson, an associate professor at Texas Southern University.

According to Meyers, if a member chooses not to fill out the application the position will become vacant, and trustees will appoint a replacement based on Superintendent Terry Grier’s recommendation. The new charter does not have to be approved by HISD trustees, Bobadilla said in an e-mail to a district spokesman.

Committee members have until Sept. 10 to fill out the application, according to district officials. Those who are determined by HISD not to have any conflicts of interests “may continue to be on the Committee for the remainder of their term (not to exceed one year),” district spokesman Norm Uhl said via e-mail.

Unlike the old charter, the new charter does not name any professional groups as receiving guaranteed representation, but it does give broad guidance on community involvement, characterizing the committee makeup in this way:

“1. Members active in a business organization representing the business
community located in the District.
2. Members who are parents or guardians of a child enrolled in the District and also active in a parent-teacher organization.
3. Members of the community at-large.
4. At least one member with building design and/or construction experience.”

Current members of the Bond Oversight Committee:

* Terence Cheng, nominated by the Greater Houston Partnership
* Edmund Gor, nominated by the Asian Chamber of Commerce
* Chris Hudson, nominated by the American Institute of Architects, Houston Chapter
* Mary Nesbitt, nominated at-large by Superintendent of Schools Terry Grier
* Ber Pieper, committee chair, nominated by the Associated General Contractors, Houston
* Carroll Robinson, nominated by the Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce
* Gary J. White, nominated at-large by Superintendent of Schools Terry Grier

HISD Trustee Mike Lunceford served as a member of the bond oversight committee prior to becoming a school board trustee.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter, #HISD.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

HISD parents and students will learn, then earn
Thu Aug 26 12:48:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Some Houston parents and students will get paid for participating in a new academic incentive program after Houston Independent School District trustees approved the $1.5 million privately-funded program Thursday at a board workshop.
Parents will receive $20 up to nine times a year to attend conferences with their child’s teachers, Chuck Morris, HISD’s chief academic officer, said. Students will receive $2 for every objective they complete.

Morris said these objectives will be in the form of homework sheets the student would complete and the parents would sign. If all of the 200 objectives are completed, a student could earn $400. The students’ work will be based on skills measured by the standardized test TAKS, or Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

Twenty schools will be selected for the program, which is being funded by the Dallas-based Liemandt Foundation.

Morris said HISD is still working on developing a relationship with a bank or financial institution that would provide financial education to students as well as set up bank accounts for the students’ earnings.

HISD trustees approved the new program with a 7-0 vote. Trustee Carol Galloway was absent, and Trustee Diana Dávila’s seat is vacant.

Trustee Harvin Moore said he was intrigued by the new program.

“I know experts have looked at this, and this is not just an initial idea,” Moore said. “It’s been tried before, so I kind of trust them for the moment.”

Listen to his entire comments in the video below.

Morris said the elementary schools with the lowest math scores in the district will be selected for the program. According to HISD, none of the schools in a separate academic achievement program known as Apollo 20 will be involved. Elementary schools for that program have not been named.

In the planning phases for Apollo 20, Superintendent Terry Grier said students could get paid between $7-$8 an hour to attend tutoring sessions. HISD has put that plan on hold, but Morris said it could be discussed for the 2011-12 school year.

When the option of paying students at the Apollo 20 schools was being discussed in May, Texas Watchdog asked Grier if it was fair to pay some students and not others.

“It would be nice to have money to provide tutoring for everyone, but if you don’t have that type of resource then you have to provide tutoring with the resources you have for the students who need it the most,” Grier said. View his entire comments in the video below.

Do you think HISD should pay students to learn? Do you think parents should be paid to attend conferences with teachers? Let us know what you think. Message us on Twitter, @texaswatchdog or @lwalsh. E-mail Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

HISD alternative school provider Community Education Partners releases 2001-03 contract documents with Trustee Larry Marshall
Wed Aug 25 13:25:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston Independent School District Trustee Larry Marshall made at least $72,000 over two years from a company that will be paid $13.7 million this year to run an alternative school for HISD, documents show.

Contracts obtained from Community Education Partners show that Marshall worked for Community Education Partners, or CEP, as a consultant earning $3,000 per month from 2001-2003. Marshall’s work was performed under the auspices of his firm M Associates of Houston.

According to Randle Richardson, chief executive officer for CEP, Marshall was also working for the alternative school company in 2000 under similar terms, but he could not locate that document. With three one-year contracts, Marshall would have earned $108,000 from CEP from 2000 to 2003.

The figures conflict with the salary of $72,000 annually reported by the Houston Press in 2006 based on court documents, but Marshall has said the higher figure is incorrect.

The contract documents support Marshall’s earlier statement that he didn’t work on the Nashville, Tenn.-based company’s behalf in Texas, and that he resigned in 2004 when a policy was put in place to bar trustees from earning income from district contractors. In fact, Richardson said Marshall performed no work after the contract term was up in June 2003.

According to the contracts:

“The responsibility of the Consultant shall be to initiate contacts and perform duties requested in the normal course of the Company’s business development efforts. This responsibility only includes efforts outside of the state of Texas.”

Richardson said both Marshall and CEP wanted to make sure that Marshall “didn’t do anything in Texas.”

“At the time everyone patted it on the back for going above and beyond what was necessary,” Richardson said. “Lately when I have been contacted people act like this was a deep dark secret. It was not, we did not go behind closed doors, we disclosed everything to the board and did this in public.”

Marshall has acknowledged working for CEP as a consultant many times. At a board meeting in June, Marshall said he was a “consultant in Atlanta assisting them with business development and helped them to have a presence in Atlanta.” You can view his entire comments in the video clip below.

According to Marshall and Richardson, before Marshall signed a contract to be a consultant for CEP, it was discussed with HISD lawyers, the district and trustees “in order to avoid a conflict.”

Richardson said HISD lawyers allowed the arrangement as long as “the contract was disclosed openly, Marshall did not vote on anything dealing with CEP and Marshall did not enter into any discussions involving CEP or lobby district staff on behalf of CEP.” The standards are listed in the contracts.

Individuals associated with the alternative school provider — which Superintendent Terry Grier in March said should be cut loose, then a few months later said should be retained — have also donated to Marshall’s campaign. Marshall’s most recent campaign finance reports show that his campaign received $2,500 from individuals associated with CEP during the months of debate over whether to renew the contract. HISD trustees approved the contract in June, 6-1, with Marshall voting in favor. Trustee Anna Eastman voted against the contract renewal, and Trustees Paula Harris and Diana Dávila, who resigned earlier this month, were not present.

“If someone sends us a solicitation, we will send something. If there is a golf tournament and someone asks us to buy a ticket, we will,” Richardson said.

Marshall has said the donations did not create a conflict of interest because it was not the first time CEP had donated to trustee campaigns. Richardson and another executive at CEP gave $1,000 total to HISD Trustee Mike Lunceford, who voted to renew the contract.

Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or 713-228-2850. Follow @lwalsh or search #HISD on Twitter for news about the Houston Independent School District.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

Covering Elections: TrentTV | Aired August 24 via newmediatv.org
Tue Aug 24 12:50:00 2010 CST
By Lee Ann O’Neal
Texas Watchdog logo

View today’s TrentTV episode on covering elections below. Hosts Mark Lisheron and Jennifer Peebles chatted with our live audience about backgrounding candidates, in-depth profiles, and issues coverage.
Texas Watchdog’s Lynn Walsh, usually behind the camera producing the show, will host the next TrentTV, a live discussion of watchdog stories on schools to air at 11:30 a.m. CST Sept. 28.

newmediatvorg on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free