TIME FOR THE TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY TO APPOINT A CONSERVATOR FOR THE ALIEF SCHOOL BOARD

Damon Barone Patron Presentation, Alief ISD September 15, 2020 Regular School Board Meeting.

Damon Barone, Alief ISD parent, taxpayer, and alumnus. 
 
Senate Bill 11, was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019 to address school safety in the wake of tragic school shootings such as the one here in Santa Fe, Texas.   
 
The bill created a school safety allotment of $9.72 per student. The allotment is supposed to be used to improve school safety, including: improvements to school infrastructures; use or installation of physical barriers; purchase and maintenance of security cameras or other security equipment or technology; employment of school district peace officers. 
 
• Safety and security audits must comply with procedures from registered providers.  
• An auditor must certify that the district spent its school safety allotment only on the purposes designated for those allotments. 
• Plans must provide for immediate notification to parents in circumstances involving a significant threat to the health or safety of students including identification of the individual who is responsible for overseeing the notifications to parents. 
 
I attended the livestream of the 2pm Safety and Security Committee meeting on August 31, 2020. During the presentation of the audit report, I notice that every campus received a negative mark for allowing undocumented visitors on campuses without a single staff member questioning them. Given that the district has used taxpayer dollars in 2018 to improve our vestibules, added social media monitoring, hired K9 officers, allege the use of metal detectors and wands, there were 17 violent incidents that occurred during the 2018-2019 school year. Alief ISD received $735,199 on January 17, 2020 from the Texas Education Agency as it related to the 2020-2021 School Safety and Security Grant which was a provision of funding to increase safety and security on school campuses as a result of Senate Bill 11.  
 
Per the Texas Education Agency report, Alief ISD has not spent any money and has until May 31, 2021 to spend the grant that they applied for to improve the safety of our children. My questions are, when and how will Alief ISD spend the grant money? Given that two Alief ISD Board members, Vice President Darlene Breaux and Board Secretary Lily Truong are directly paid by Harris County Department of Education, why did Alief ISD choose Harris County Department of Education to perform the districts safety and security audit instead of another agency?  MAYBE IT IS TIME FOR THE TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY TO APPOINT A CONSERVATOR FOR THE ALIEF SCHOOL BOARD. 
 
Here are a few examples of correspondence sent to parents by Superintendent Henry David Chamber Jr. beginning in 2018: 
 
In a letter dated February 23, 2018 Superintendent Henry David Chambers Jr. stated: 
By now, I am sure most, if not all of you have seen or heard about a situation at Collins Elementary yesterday where a student brought a gun to school.  Thankfully, after the student showed another classmate the gun, that courageous classmate reported the incident to the teacher who immediately alerted administration at approximately 1:30 p.m. As soon as the investigation was completed, a call out informing parents about the incident was sent out at 4:45 p.m. to all parents who have phone numbers listed in the Home Access Center.  
 
My questions are why were parents notified 3 hours after the incident, and continued to be kept in the dark about the occurrence by the district while picking up our children from elementary schools at 3:15? 
 
In a letter dated October 1, 2018 Superintendent Henry David Chambers Jr. stated: 
A Hastings student made a terroristic threat to campus last night on social media, yet no parents were notified about the incident. The student was allowed to come to campus the next morning after making a terroristic threat. Why were parents not notified the night before, why was school not cancelled for the following day, and most importantly why was the student allowed to come to campus? Did the campus not use all the comprehensive security measures including K9 officers, active shooter plan, and increased social media monitoring to stop this student before he arrived on campus that day? The student even attended multiple classes that day. 

I noticed the use of taxpayer money to protect the board members from each other with the use of plexiglass, I pray that you all employ equal or greater measures to protect our teachers whom you have scheduled to return back to in person learning tomorrow.

I am also concerned about the manner in which the school board meetings were abruptly changed at the last minute to in person board meetings with patrons having an opportunity to view the meeting online but do not have and opportunity to participate in patron presentations online as we have done since March 13, 2020.

This is strategic deliberate measures taken by the district to silence the voice of our community after the August 25, 2020 board meeting when a high school student, special needs parent, general ed. parent, two district teachers, and other community members uniformly expressed concerns for the districts lies, misrepresentation, and retaliation for those who do no willfully participate in district efforts to misdirect our community.

So much so that the next meeting on August 31, 2020, the district safety and security meeting, did not allow for any patron presentations as required by law.

Damon Barone, Alief ISD parent, taxpayer, and alumnus.