09-21-2021 Patron Presentation, Damon Barone

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

During the September 07, 2021, Alief ISD School Board Workshop, Assistant Superintendent of School Improvement and Accountability, Dr. Rayyan Amine discussed agenda item #4, an Update on State Assessment and Accelerated Instruction. Dr. Amine made an orchestrated effort to give the public a false impression that the districts low STAAR test results were from an influx of non-Alief ISD students entering into the district, from some unknown districts that were implied not to be on the same academic level as Alief ISD students.

Contrarily, there has not been a significant number of students or families moving into Alief or out of Alief because of the year and a half long covid-19 pandemic, hints the moratorium on evictions for families unable to pay their rent, which ended July 31, 2021.

Secondly, even if Dr Amine’s false narrative about unknown students was true, the Public Information Management System (PEIMS) uses the Texas Records Exchange System (TREx) to electronically transfer student records and transcripts from one school district to another, or to an institution of higher education (colleges/universities) throughout the state of Texas, including students who leave Texas to go to other states, or arrive to Texas from other states; thus, for the district to imply that a group of “unknown students” came to Alief ISD at the end of the 2020-2021 school year while the district claimed, at the October 20,2021 School Board Meeting, to have “lost” 3,530 of our own Alief students during the same school year, yet now mysteriously a large group of “unknown students” took the STAAR test, and greatly impacted the STAAR passing ratings of the district, is absurd and a blatant disregard for the truth.

Imagine the implications that the districts false narratives have in our community and how community members respond, when Superintendent Henry David Chambers Jr. openly states that he and his administrators have the ability to make data say whatever they want it to say, while 85% of the districts families are socially and economically disadvantaged, Aliefs Director of Risk Management, Katina Gordan stated during the August 24, 2021 School Board Meeting that “a lot of the parents in the district do not have computer access or internet access to report covid-19 cases online”, imagine those same Alief parents listening to  someone with the title of Dr (Dr. Amine) selling them a false narrative which parents do not have the ability or the proper resources to verify whether the information being provided to them by the district is accurate or sensationalized.

The truth of the matter is that the State of Texas did not require parents to have our children take the 2020-2021 STARR test, we had the ability to opt our children out of taking the test because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and online learning. Alief ISD administrators and staff falsely told parents and students that online learners had to come into campuses to take the STAAR test in person, all while the district did not practice proper social distancing, nor did the district implement proper covid-19 protocols to ensure the safety and health of students and staff.

(https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/covid/hcm-teaparent1pager_4_things.pdf

(https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/covid/FAQs-for-Spring-2021-Assessments.pdf

Coach HD Chambers openness about he and his administrator’s ability and willingness to falsify data by making data say whatever they want it to say also explains why Coach Chambers former boss, Executive Director, Dr. Pamela Wells awarded Coach Chambers the Superintendent of the year award for Region 4 Education Service Center (ESC).  

It is for reasons like this, and many others that I have decided to run for the November 02, 2021 Alief ISD School Board election, Position #7.

It is time for a new voice, and new direction for our district; especially on the school board, and I intend to be the voice for the students, by the parents, of our community.

New voice, new direction.

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

#NewVoiceNewDirection #DamonBarone #AliefSchoolBoardElections #TrusteePosition7