Diverse candidates seek to fill board vacancy
Four months after longtime Houston ISD Trustee Manuel Rodriguez Jr.’s death from a heart attack, four men will vie in a Nov. 7 special election to serve the remaining two years of the trustee’s term.
The Board of Education appointed Jose Leal to serve in Rodriguez’s place until the election could be held. As a condition of his appointment, Leal pledged not to seek election to the seat.
Running to replace him are Sergio Lira, Carlos Perrett, Rodolfo “Rudy” Reyes and Jesse Rodriguez.
Sergio Lira, 55, currently serves as an assistant principal at Bellaire High School, though he would have to leave that position if elected. He has worked in education for 27 years, including 20 in the Houston ISD, and has two master’s degrees and a doctorate in education.
He said that he would focus on making sure children of color and those who live in poverty receive a high-quality education, helping the district better recruit and retain teachers and providing wraparound social services to schools directly affected by Hurricane Harvey. As a victim of Hurricane Ike, Lira said it’s critical to support students and their families who lost everything.
“I just realized the critical issues in education are very important to our students and they needed someone with some education experience (to work on) issues such as those facing at-risk students, reduce drop-out rates, help students through public school and get them ready for college and to have a career,” Lira said.
Carlos Perrett, 21, is a recent Houston ISD graduate and a senior at Pitzer College in California who is set to graduate in May. He said he flies back to Houston every week to campaign, volunteer and visit family and would continue to do so if elected.
Perrett said he’s uniquely positioned to help connect the board with challenges students face in their classrooms. He said he’d focus on passing a balanced budget after HISD trustees approved one with a budget shortfall and on better preparing students for college and careers. He said Houston ISD’s over-reliance on testing often takes precedence over college and career preparation.
“As a recent HISD grad and someone who works with students, I can attest to how bad it is in HISD,” Perrett said. “When I went off to college, I was not prepared to think critically — I was ready to take an exam. I want to reduce benchmark testing, reduce testing in grade levels where it’s not required by the state of Texas and come up with a new method to evaluate teachers.”
Rodolfo “Rudy” Reyes, 64, worked as a contract negotiator for 35 years before retiring and becoming a substitute teacher. He served as a League City Council member, represents Houston ISD on the Tax Increment Re assessment Zone No. 8 and sits on the board of Gulf Coast Community Services, Inc.
Reyes said he felt a responsibility to run after seeing the multifaceted issues Houston ISD is facing this year, including the district’s recapture payments, the 10 schools facing potential state closure and the district’s budget shortfall. He said his experience in negotiations could help him strike better deals with the Federal Emergency Managenent Agency, insurance companies and other groups after Harvey.
“I felt it was my responsibility, duty and obligation to give something in return to the community and especially to children’s education,” Reyes said. “There are many dynamic major issues that need to be entertained and resolved.”
Jesse Rodriguez, 63, has worked as a customer care manager for United Airlines for 19 years and was a volunteer radio host for KPFT for 10 years.
He hopes to help the district better promote itself to encourage parents to engage with HISD and to keep students from moving away to suburban school districts, such as the Conroe and Deer Park districts.
He also wants to help reduce the dropout rate by providing more resources to long-struggling schools, especially those in low-income and minority neighborhoods. He thinks districts can be more creative about generating revenue, for example, by naming football stadiums after companies for a licensing fee or putting advertisements on the sides of school buses.
“There’s a lot of disarray on the board — a lot of grandstanders and TV lawyers and career politicians on the board who may only have their self-interest in mind,” Rodriguez said. “But you can’t do this job by yourself; you have to build a team. The board has to work as a team to achieve anything, and now, the board is not working with our superintendent, not letting him do his job. I’m very passionate about supporting our new superintendent.”