Our community members we need, we require additional circumstances beyond the bare minimum

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

I just have a couple of comments, questions, and concerns regarding the bond committee. As a previous bond committee member, I noticed while sitting on the board [sitting on the bond committee], that we were separated into particular groups and silos, I like to call them. I received a survey, recently, regarding the recent bond committee; however, my concern is that I never, while I was on the board [bond committee], even after the time, I never received an update on when the board [Alief school board] was going to discuss these items. So, the same way which you all send these surveys out to get our so-called opinions, why are not included in the board [Alief school board] decisions and discussions? I noticed that Mr. Chambers [Superintendent Henry David Chambers Jr.] is the only individual that talks in between the silos. Soon after I became a committee member, a bond committee member, I was invited to be on several other committees because I was out spoken, asked questions, and I was in tune with what was going on in the district. Those same attributes that made me great committee members now seem to make me public enemy number one with the board [Alief school board], and the district. Now when I ask questions, I have to go through the attorney general’s office to get simple things like open records request of the boards [Alief school board] meeting minutes. My question is, why is only 5% of the eighty people (4 out of 80) on the committee in this board room today? Why are not ever advised when the board is going to discuss these items? I remember when trustee Ho [Alief Trustee Nghi T. Ho] was on the board, he was the only finance members [only trustee with a finance degree] with a degree in finance from Texas University, he stated that he would never vote to approve raises [raise taxes], or increased raises here in the district because he was concerned about how the district utilizes its funds. And now we have another trustee on the board  [Alief school board] that is in finances [finance degree from Texas A&M], and she was also on the [bond committee with me], Natasha Butler. She was also a committee member with me a well, that was outspoken.

Immediate past trustee [Tiffany Thomas, now Houston City Council Woman], what is her? Anyway. My concern is that our voices are not being heard. Those who challenge or ask the difficult questions are being excluded. You asked for committee members who wanted to volunteer and be a part of the committee, I raised my hand, nobody reached out to me. My telephone number is 281-752-6823. The same address in which you sent me the survey [bond survey], I never received any information to be on the committee. My address is 3423 Cascadia Dr, Houston, Texas, 77082, and my email address is damon_barone@hotmail.com. That’s damon _ barone @ Hotmail .com.

I am tired of only receiving the literature in which you all want for me to have. Individuals are making decisions for our community that do not represent the community. You asked us specifically during the last bond committee, what did we want? We stated that we wanted a place in which our children could graduate [host graduation ceremonies] here in the district. We did not receive those things. We stated that we wanted a place where our community members could meet and have meetings. We did not receive those things. That was supposed to be the career center [what the career center was supposed to be allowed for], remember when we talked about the dividing parcels, where they could open it up and we could have meetings? Now we are being denied those very same accesses to the information and the requests that we had. We said that we wanted new busses [school busses]. All areas did not receive new busses. We said that we wanted seatbelts on our busses. We did not receive that; instead, we received card keys that notify us [notify the district] when our kids get on the busses.

I am concerned that these agendas are being pushed by certain individuals, small groups, and our voices are not heard. Nor are we being represented when the chips fall on the table. I remember when trustee Darlene Breaux first got elected to the board [school board] she stated that, “if you are not sitting at the table then you are on the menu”. Since then, not only have the tables [for us to eat at] been removed, the chairs [for us to sit at] have been removed, and we are not even allowed to stand in the room [where decisions are being made]. I am tired of getting eaten on. I am tired of getting beat up, and abused, and before you sit up here and act like I am a disgruntle employee, or I am a disgruntled parent, I have the audio records from all of the meetings. Trustee Natasha Butler was in all of the meetings [bond committee meetings] with me. Trustee Ann Williams was on the board [school board], trustee Rick Moreno was on the board [school board] with trustee Ho [Alief Trustee Nigh T. Ho], so these are not conversations that can not be verified. I am not disgruntled, what I am disgruntled about, or what I am disappointed about is the lack of communication, and the one-sided communication, and what is dictated to our community, to our teachers, to our parent, and then why do we only have certain amount of individuals that are representing the masses that do not look like our community? Thank you. Damon Barone, Alief ISD parent, taxpayer, and alumnus.

PUBLIC COMMENTS SECTION OF AGENDA ITEM #10 ESSER III UPDATE ON THE USE OF FUNDS AND SAFE RETURN PLAN:

Greetings again. Thank you. Once again, Damon Barone, Alief ISD parent and taxpayer. My question is how were parents and community members advised of the ESSER funds and the information? Specifically, I noticed that on the bond committee [presentation] it talked about you all called us, letters were sent out to us, they had online surveys, you talked about the four languages that the survey came in, and I even received robo calls, but yet something as important as this ESSER funding for the millions of dollars [168 million dollars], lets go back to a comment that trustee Breaux said about not painting the students with the same broad brush. I feel like the parents and the community members are being painted with the same broad brush. So if they [parents and community members] are only allowed to go to a website to be notified of this information I do not feel like that is equitable. I feel like the same effort that you put into notifying us about the bond election, should go into the ESSER fund [notifications] but that was not the case. Thank you.

Let me be more specific in my comment. 85% of our district is socially and economically disadvantaged; so, that means 85% of our parents and community members may not have access to a computer, may not have internet services, they may be working multiple jobs, so if you are reaching out to me in the same manner [only on the Alief ISD webpage] and your only response [to my statements] are that the survey is still on the website, then you are not addressing the issue of my concern of community members not being involved.

Yea I just wanted to address the legal requirements [statements by board president Ann Williams] that is the bare minimum. That is the bare, I am not talking about the bare minimum. I am saying that our community members we need, we require additional circumstances beyond the bare minimum, and that is not what I am seeing unless it is something that the district wants, such as a bond referendum. That is what I am saying. Thank you.