15 vie for 5 HISD board seats
Elections held during a turbulent time with possible state takeover, budget gap
As Houston ISD faces a possible state takeover, a $106 million budget shortfall and millions of dollars in needed repairs from Hurricane Harvey, six of its board’s nine seats are up for election on Nov. 7.
Fifteen candidates are vying for school board seats in regular elections, and four are competing in a special election for the District III seat held for 14 years by Trustee Manuel Rodriguez, who died in July.
The election comes at a turbulent time for Texas’ largest school district, which educates about 212,000 students.
If 10 of the district’s longest-struggling schools don’t show academic improvement through student test scores this spring, the Texas Education Agency could either take over the district or close those campuses. The district wrote a $77.5 million check to the state earlier this year to pay its recapture fee, which the TEA uses to buoy school districts with lower property values. Those recapture payments are forecast to increase to about $200 million by next year, even as the district struggles to provide extra services, such as counseling to students in high-poverty schools.
It’s also Superintendent Richard Carranza’s second year at the helm, and although he has not yet made any seismic changes, he has signaled his administration will look into altering magnet programs and funding, overhauling the budget, centralizing some school operations and providing more equitable resources to historically underserved schools and communities.
District I
Monica Flores Richart, 43, has served as a volunteer and activist with groups such as the Houston Heights Association’s education committee and the Houston ISD Hispanic Advisory
Committee. She worked as a civil litigator from 2000 to 2006 before joining then-U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson’s staff for one year in 2007.
Her main priorities include analyzing the district’s finances to find efficiencies and better
balance the budget, supporting struggling schools that must improve this year to avoid state intervention and ensuring equitable access to programs and resources.
“I am the only candidate that has worked in front of the school board for four years, advocating for positive policy changes and getting positive policy changes to come about,” Richart said. “I’m an attorney who has experience with contracts and employment issues, as well, and I think that’s a unique experience I bring.”
Gretchen Himsl ,46,isa policy analyst for Children at Risk, an education and childwelfare advocacy nonprofit, where she has worked since October 2016. She previously served as a staff member for the Texas House Appropriations Committee.
Her primary issues include improving education outcomes for children through higher graduation and reading comprehension rates, setting a sustainable budget that puts more money in classrooms faster and rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey in a more equitable manner.
“I have policy experience going back quite a ways,” Himsl said. “I’ve been trained to look at systemic programs through the lens of equity and sustainable government.”
Elizabeth Santos, 35, has taught English literature in Houston ISD since 2008, spending seven years at Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center before moving to Northside High School in 2015.
Santos’ areas of focus include strengthening ethics rules on the board, hiring and retaining high-quality teachers by reallocating funding to the classroom and reducing the culture of emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing.
“I’ve been a student, a volunteer and a teacher all in District I schools,” Santos said. “People can relate to me because I’m from the community. I’m a teacher. This is not a political stepping stone for me. Education has been my passion and the love of my life for as long as I can remember.”
District V
Sean Cheben , 32, a chemical engineer by training, has worked at Chevron since 2007. His current role is in process engineering and project management. He has volunteered as a fifth-grade math tutor at Poe Elementary and served in several roles with the Harris County Republican Party.
He wants to better focus spending on learning, to prepare students for careers that will be in demand in the future and to create a culture that encourages community volunteerism.
“I think I bring a unique perspective, which is a data-driven, analytical, longterm, strategic approach,” Cheben said. “I do this every day at work as a project leader. I understand and know how to hold people accountable for doing things.”
Sue Deigaard, 48, has served in recent years as a representative on the Houston ISD District Advisory Committee, a member of the Houston Center for Literacy’s board and a communications committee chairwoman for the Arts Access Initiative.
She favors balancing the district’s budget and finding financial solutions with help from a third-party group, recruiting and retaining highquality teachers through increased salaries and an improved culture of respect and prioritizing engagement with the community and families.
“I’d say my leadership experience is by far the thing that sets me apart from my opponents,” Deigaard said. “I’m the only person who has been actively involved in the policy and funding space in HISD before I was running for office.”
Kara DeRocha, 41, is an environmental consultant who has worked as a contractor focused on regulatory compliance. She has founded and served on several community groups at Lovett and Herod elementary schools.
According to her website, DeRocha’s priorities include reducing the emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing, ensuring tax dollars are spent efficiently and providing additional resources to support children receiving special education services.
DeRocha did not return messages seeking comment for this article.
Susan Shafer, 56, retired from Houston ISD in 2015 after 27 years with the district. She taught elementary school for five years, then served as a librarian. Her final 20 years were spent at Parker Elementary School.
Shafer’s primary focus would be on improving lowperforming schools that have chronically struggled, adequately funding and supporting special education and ensuring magnet programs are maintained and replicated across the district.
“I’m the only candidate that comes to this with the perspective of having been in HISD for 27 years,” Shafer said. “I know the impact that the policies of the board can have in the classroom with the teachers. It’s time to have a career educator working on this board.”
District VI
Trustee Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, 36, was appointed in January following the resignation of Greg Meyers. She is chief relationship officer for think-Law, a national organization that works with educators to teach critical thinking through legal cases. She taught pre-kindergarten and kindergarten for six years in Houston ISD, Bryan ISD and KIPP Houston.
Flynn Vilaseca said she would continue to focus on improving the district’s financial standing and keeping dollars as close to kids as possible, on supporting lowperforming schools in historically under-served communities and on creating strong options for parents in both community schools and magnet programs.
“I’ve built relationships with some of the other board members and have led a lot of work around the Lone Star Governance framework, making sure we’re focusing our time and effort on the right things,” Flynn Vilaseca said. “I’m a social organizational psychologist, so I have experience looking at things from a macro level and understanding group dynamics.”
Daniel Albert , 39, is a lawyer specializing in tax and business law and has served as chief of staff for Houston City Councilman Steve Le since January 2016. He has practiced law for more than a decade and clerked for a judge at the U.S. Tax Court.
According to his website, Albert’s primary issue is addressing Houston ISD’s financial situation, including the amount of “recapture” funds owed to the state and the budget shortfall forecasted for 2018-19.
Albert did not return multiple messages seeking comment.
Robert Lundin, 39, taught for Houston ISD and YES Prep Public Schools from 2000 to 2006 before moving to the United Kingdom to establish an education nonprofit. He returned to teach at the University of St. Thomas and served as school support officer in the Houston ISD administration from 2013 to 2017. He is now a faculty member at Rice University.
Lundin’s priorities include creating programs to support low-performing schools, getting the district’s finances in order while prioritizing money for the classroom and establishing a culture of good governance that emphasizes oversight and strategy roles.
“I know how to be a tenacious advocate who gets results for the students and community he serves,” Lundin said. “I bring an understanding of the way HISD can be navigated effectively but also what great innovation looks like in places outside of HISD.”
District VII
Trustee Anne Sung, 38, who was elected in a special election against John Luman in December 2016, is a Houston ISD graduate and taught with Teach for America both in Houston ISD and in the Rio Grande Valley. She works as chief strategy officer for Project GRAD and previously worked as policy director at the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office. Since joining the school board, Sung has joined the special education, policy and budget committees.
Sung said she’s been able to guide the board in crafting a new governance framework, to build support for a common set of visions and beliefs and to help the district start tackling issues related to sub-par special education. She said her problem-solving approach will help move the district forward.
“I understand the full diversity of Houston’s schools because I grew up and worked across this district,” Sung said. “And professionally, I bring experience in strategic planning, public policy analysis, math and education, all of which I’m bringing to bear in this work.”
John Luman, 52, who has worked in Houston for more than 20 years as an attorney, has a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Texas and a law degree from Syracuse University. He ran unsuccessfully against Sung in a special election in December 2016 and said his top priority is improving the academic performance of 10 schools that could be closed by the state due to poor academic performance or could trigger a state takeover of the entire district.
Luman said he supports merit-based pay for teachers, a Legislative Budget Board review of Houston ISD and charter schools — stances that contrast with his opponent’s. He also groused over the district’s budget.
“I wouldn’t have voted for a budget that’s $107 million in the hole,” Luman said. “I think it’s time for a change. There are six seats up for election, and I think the TEA is watching. We all need to get along well in the sandbox, and that hasn’t been happening.”
District IX
Trustee Wanda Adams, 50, who now serves as board president, has represented District IX for the past four years. She served three twoyear terms on the Houston City Council representing District D from 2007 to 2013 before she reached the term limit.
Adams said she was on the fence about seeking reelection due to what she called “grandstanding” and some board members who “care more for politics than kids.” She said she decided to run again after community members encouraged her.
“I have not brought any negativity into the board room and have kept my character intact,” Adams said. “I’ve made some tough decisions to be able to move this board forward. I love what I do, which is public service and serving my community, and I want to continue to serve them and make the community proud. We’ve already made improvements, like a higher literacy rate and new literacy programs.”
Karla Brown, 45, has worked in education for 20 years, in Houston ISD and two mid-sized California school districts. She also started The Providence on Southmore, Inc., non-profit to help students transition to post-secondary education and guide them to graduation within five years.
She said she was inspired to run after seeing how poorly some district and local administrators treat local teachers and how poorly some District IX schools are performing. Of the district’s 31 schools, 14 are labeled as “improvement-required” by the Texas Education Agency.
Gerry Monroe , 49, a community advocate and executive director of the United Urban Alumni Association, comes to almost every Houston ISD Board of Education and local school meeting, often criticizing the board and Adams specifically.
Monroe said at a debate Tuesday that the district still needs to fix its special education practices, academically challenge students in District IX and serve children with passion.
“It’s too much politics in the board room right now. Thirty years ago, you could have gotten away with it, but not this year,” Monroe said. “This cohesive team needs to take ownership of all these children. If the TEA comes and says they will take over the school district, that doesn’t mean they’ll just take over District IX — they’ll take over the whole district, and we have 14 failing schools just in District IX.”