10-05-2021 Patron Presentation, Damon Barone

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

Tonight, you all are giving an update on Districts Priorities for early childhood and post-Secondary.  It’s evident the last 10 years under the leadership of Coach HD Chambers and the Board, you all have not been focused on these priorities.  Coach Chambers openly stated that the district only makes changes when required to do so by TEA or the Federal Government.  

During the September 21, 2021, School Board Meeting, I was taken aback by Coach Chambers tearing up as he spoke to the audience about his parents, and the board passing tissue back and forth to one another.

Now allow me to give the board some reasons that I cry, as it relates to the district priorities.

I cry because the board claims to be committed to the core beliefs and changed policy AE Local in November of 2019. Although the policy changed, nearly two years later, the districts practices still remain the same.

Alief Board President Annie Joseph Williams and Vice President Darlene Elizabeth Breaux serve in leadership positions with the Texas Black Caucus of School Boards, and still African American male students are 3-4 academic years behind in their education here in Alief. 

To add insult to injury, the districts September 2019 Equity Audit states, “When viewed as a proportion of the total student population, while comprised of only 29% of the student population, African American students in Alief were subjected to nearly twice as many exclusionary disciplinary consequences than their counterparts.” 

Each year the district earmarks $250,000 in the annual budget to send our kids to the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program.  It was even states that in this year’s budget, you all used the same $250,000 based on last year’s students.

I suppose the district forgot there were no students in JJAEP last year because students were learning online most of the year.

I cry because only 33% of all Alief students (K-12) can read at a 3rd grade level. The Board’s Goals for 3rd graders to read on grade level for the next five years, never reaches 50%. In fact, the only reason the Board created this goal was because you all were forced to do so by TEA, as it was tied to funding by House bill 3. 

I cry because six elementary schools are currently in improvement required status: Landis, Best, Sneed, Horn, Collins and Cummings, and parents have no idea that this has been happening for several years straight and will cause each of those schools to be taken over by TEA. 

I cry because HR gives themselves so much credit for being the best workplace for five years in a row, yet in the TEA Equity Toolkit from 2017-2019, Executive Director of HR Darrell Alexander states Alief’s policies and procedures are implemented in ways that create a revolving door of teachers in high poverty, high minority, and lowest achieving schools.  

If new teachers and highly qualified teachers keep leaving, how does the district expect to increase 3rd grade reading scores?

Coach Chambers stated during the September 09, 2019, Board Workshop that he has not been focused on early childhood education because he and his administrators have been focused on senior graduation rates.

How can graduation rates in Alief be so high when 3rd grade reading is so low? Let us not forget that jails and prisons are built based on 3rd grade academic data, not 12th grade graduation rates.

I cry because House Bill 3 was meant to give our Alief teachers raises. The bill explicitly stated that full-time administrators, were not to receive raises; however, with approval from this board, Coach HD Chambers violated House Bill 3 and gave money meant for our teachers to administrators.

I cry because Master Trustee Rick Moreno sits in board meetings focusing on the residency of other Trustees who he seems to have personal issues with. However, during the August 24, 2021, board meeting patron presentations, Trustee Moreno appeared to be giving the thumbs up sign to the Pastor announcing that he was running for the upcoming school board election, even though the Pastor list his church as his residence on his voter registration card when he actually lives in Katy and has had a homestead exemption in Katy since 2013.

I cry because Coach Chambers and his staff are more interested in telling our community about the Bond Election than keeping us informed of the status of our schools. We get 100 phone calls, emails, and text messages a day reminding us about the bond election, which will increase everyone’s taxes, while more than 85% of our students get free and reduced lunch.

It is for these reasons, 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.