2 open seats on Alamo Heights ISD board draw four candidates
Four candidates are vying for two seats on the Alamo Heights Independent School District board of trustees, looking to replace two longtime incumbents who are stepping down.
The races will determine the trustees for Places 5 and 7 on the seven-member board. Place 6 trustee Lisa Krenger, 56, is unopposed for a third term.
Alamo Heights ISD, which has about 4,800 students, was the only school district in Bexar County not on a military base to receive an “A” from the Texas Education Agency in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic forced a pause in the TEA accountability ratings.
The district is one of the smallest in Texas for square mileage and is located in one of the most affluent areas in Bexar County. Voters there approved a $135 million bond in 2017.
While the bond work continues — including the construction of new buildings and the renovation of existing facilities — trustees are looking ahead to a second phase, with another bond proposal expected on the ballot in the next few years.
“We have a lot of unfinished business,” said Krenger, a college counselor.
She said she had considered stepping down from the board now that her children have graduated from the district but wanted to see the district through the coronavirus pandemic, the bond work and other recently launched projects, including an equity initiative and a community-based accountability system.
“These are goals we’ve made for our district going forward that I want to be a part of,” Krenger said. “There are a lot of balls in the air and I want to see how they land.”
Trustees serve three-year terms. Early voting is April 19-27 and Election Day is May 1.
Place 5
Place 5 trustee Bonnie Giddens will step down in May after completing her third term. Her chil
dren have graduated from the district and she said she wants to make room for someone to bring a “fresh voice and new perspective,” she said.
One of the two candidates seeking the seat is Clay Page, 48, president and founder of RC Page Construction and the father of two current AHISD students.
Page said his 23 years of experience as a general contractor and eight years of experience as a business owner could help the district navigate its ongoing emphasis on construction and renovation.
“I think it would be wise for future projects and current projects to have someone on the board that understands how to spend $135 million,” Page said, noting that his company handles about $100 million in construction projects each year. “I think that I can be an asset for that . ... I want to have fiscal responsibility.”
Another point of focus if elected, he said, would be to help foster a culture in the district that more strongly prioritizes students’ mental health. While it’s crucial that students be motivated to excel academically, Page said, it is also important to acknowledge that class rankings and standardized test scores aren’t everything.
“I want every kid — I don’t care if they’re the lastplaced kid — I want them to know that he or she can be as successful as the No 1 (kid),” Page said. “Positivity goes a long way. As long as you can listen and be respectful, a lot of things can work out.”
The other Place 5 candidate is Elissa Sangster, 54, the CEO of Forté, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing women into business leadership positions and a former assistant dean for the MBA program at the University of Texas at Austin.
Sangster has a daughter in the district. She is a former PTO president at Woodridge Elementary School and also served as Woodridge’s school board liaison — positions that she said have given her an understanding of how the district works and an ability to develop meaningful relationships with various stakeholders.
“The thing that’s super important for a trustee is to be open-minded and really seek input from all of our district’s constituents,” Sangster said. “I think I bring that to the board. I know a broad range of people and I’m connected across the district in different ways.”
A priority if elected would be to advocate for more creative solutions to a wide array of district challenges, she said, from finances to student experiences and outcomes. That process would involve seeking out diverse perspectives from parents, teachers and the greater community and working to realize their ideas.
“Really listening in to all of those dimensions requires a lot of extra effort and work, and I think that’s really important for our board to prioritize,” Sangster said. “I want our district to be seen as that shining light, ... that district that gave everybody an opportunity to thrive.”
Place 7
Place 7 trustee Perry Shankle is leaving the board after two terms. Two are vying for the seat, including Travis E. Wiltshire, who believes himself to be the first Black trustee candidate in AHISD’S 98-year history.
Wiltshire, 53, owner of CNG Engineering and an associate director at Credit Human, has been involved in several local boards, including those of the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the ACE Mentor Program of Greater San Antonio.
A father to two AHISD students, one of whom recently graduated, Wiltshire said he has participated in a variety of district programs and initiatives, from field trips and PTO meetings to focus groups such as the district’s equity council.
He said he would focus on maintaining a sustainable budget for the district, improving students’ physical and mental health, and developing ways to support students of different backgrounds and financial means more equitably. Those efforts would include working to reduce stress caused by standardized testing, being tougher on bullying, and improving student access to opportunities that might be out of reach for some, like AP courses.
“I believe that with my diverse background and my extensive civic and professional board experiences, along with my business and engineering mindset, I’ll provide a valuable new perspective to the board,” Wiltshire said.
The possibility of being the first Black trustee in AHISD, where about 2 percent of students are Black, represents an opportunity to make the district more inclusive, Wiltshire said.
“Although that’s not why I’m running and I don’t believe that’s why anyone should vote for me, I do believe it would be a historic event if that occurred,” he said. “This is the community in which I live and this is something that is a good fit for what I can bring.”
Also running for Place 7 is Carey Watson Hildebrand, 41, a district parent and alumna who has been PTO president at two AHISD schools and sat on the Alamo Heights School Foundation, the district’s fundraising arm. She is now a stay-athome mother.
Hildebrand has served as chief of staff for the executive director of the Wyoming Department of Education and helped lead a small school in Wyoming for children who had been incarcerated or whose parents had been, she said.
“I’m running to allow the public to come to me with their concerns or their questions, knowing that I will in turn sit down at the board and tell them, ‘This is what’s going on, these are the concerns of our community members,’ ” Watson Hildebrand said.
Her priorities for the district would include making board decisions more accessible and transparent for families, improving student outcomes and ensuring that the district is spending funds wisely and sustainably.
“I want to build upon a long-standing tradition of academic excellence, really grounding ourselves in high academic achievement and responsible citizenship,” Watson Hildebrand said. “This is about helping our children have every single tool in their toolbox to be successful.”