During this hard time, keep NEISD incumbents
This isn’t the school year anyone imagined. Public health concerns and an uncertain economic future have made the job of the policymakers on school district boards exceedingly challenging. This fall, five seats with the North East Independent School District board are on the ballot. They include three board members who are seeking reelection and two appointees appearing before voters for the first time. We recommend all five. They have earned it, having made tough decisions, such as shifting all learning online for the district’s 64,000-plus students last school year, and then shifting again as some students returned to campuses this fall.
This summer, board members had to set a budget for a fiscal year that began July 1 despite uncertainty about student enrollment and state funding. Some of the incumbents have drawn worthy opponents, but this is not the time for change. The district is best served by keeping the current board. Nevertheless, should the incumbents win this election, we urge the board to address some of the concerns raised by their challengers.
Among the complaints was a lack of open discussion before board votes. Several of the candidates voiced concerns about the more than 500 unanimous votes taken by the board and raised questions about whether the board has become a rubber stamp for the administration.
The placement of the public comment period at the bottom of the agenda was also questioned. The practice means citizens wishing to address the board must wait hours until all the board’s business is concluded before they can speak. This is backward.
This Editorial Board is concerned about a lack of transparency for votes taken after executive sessions. The school board has adopted the questionable practice of coming out of closed meetings and voting on items “as discussed in closed session” without clearly explaining to the public the nature of the vote. This is unacceptable.
We encourage public conversations on these issues. NEISD has been a destination school district for many families moving to San Antonio for decades. School board governance and the public perception of how the school board operates play important roles in maintaining that reputation. We urge all eligible voters in this sprawling school district not to overlook the names of the candidates in these school board races. They will be near the bottom of the lengthy ballot.
In District 1, we recommend the re-election of Sandy Hughey, who has been on the board since 2000. Hughey, an active member of the Texas Association of School Boards and the North East Educational Foundation, has long been a strong advocate in Austin for Texas public school children. In District 3, we recommend Omar Leos, who works as the fine arts coordinator for Harlandale ISD. His job as a school administrator brings a unique perspective to this board. Leos was appointed to the board in November following the resignation of Joseph Treviño and is running to finish the last two years of Treviño’s unexpired term.
In District 4, we recommend David Beyer, a landscape architect who was appointed in January 2019 to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Jim Wheat. The parent of students attending middle school and high school in the district, Beyer has been an active volunteer in his children’s PTAs. He has been on the board of the North East Educational Foundation for seven years.
In District 5, we recommend the school board’s current president, Shannon Grona, for a third term. Grona, who comes from a family of educators, has been an active volunteer in the school district for decades, and her accounting background is an asset on this board.
In District 6, we recommend Tony Jaso, an investment banker, for a second term. He brings extensive knowledge of finance and capital markets to the board. Prior to his banking career, he served as regional director of the South Texas and El Paso regions for former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.