[Cory Vessa]

Dear Fellow Trustees,

As President Weir announced last night, we have planned a June 14th meeting at 12:30 PM on extending a contract to our lone finalist for superintendent – Dr. Azaiez. Many in the community have asked us why we did or did not support this candidate. I personally have 3 reasons. I have included them below. I would encourage other board members to put on this message board thread their reasons. I think this promotes transparency to the community, which I know we all value highly. I know also that some community members have expressed a desire to engage with Dr. Azaiez in some way prior to the vote. I know President Weir and our attorneys have drafted a response to this request and I ask that it be posted here for transparency’s sake.

Here are my reasons. There were also links, graphics, and data that I posted to my social media that was difficult to include here.

In a previous post announcing our new lone finalist for superintendent of Round Rock ISD, I stated three main reasons for choosing Dr. Hafedh Azaiez. The first was that he was innovative. Below I will detail some of the innovative things he has done over his career. At every level, elementary, middle and high school, Dr. Azaiez has brought innovation to every district he has served in.

In elementary, he established pre-k 3 and UNIVERSAL prek-4 in Donna ISD. Round Rock ISD does not have pre-k 3. But if we did offer it, the state would pay for it. Universal pre-K 4 is harder for a district like Round Rock ISD to pay for. We only get paid by the state for those students that qualify under a limited set of parameters, and universal means every 4 year old in the district would be eligible. But I am eager to hear his ideas to expand our offerings in pre-K, as we know this investment pays HUGE returns in terms of improved student outcomes.

In middle school, he increased to 9 the high school level courses offered to middle school students so that high school students would have space to take more advanced course work during their tenure. Some of those courses included AP Spanish and Biology.

In high school, he expanded the CTE offerings, including skills and trades that previously had never been offered before. Donna ISD has CTE courses in Cosmetology and Personal Care Services and Real Estate. Students can graduate and start earning money as a cosmetologist or real estate agent immediately.

This is just a small snapshot of the innovation Dr. Azaiez will bring to Round Rock ISD.

In a previous post, I cited three reasons I selected Dr. Hafed Azaiez as the next superintendent of Round Rock ISD. The second reason I cited was that I believed he could unite our district. Specifically, I want him to unite us behind the shared community value of achieving the highest student outcomes. In Round Rock ISD, our board and community disagree on many things – but no one disagrees with the desire to see our students succeed, and at the highest levels. Dr. Azaiez can unite us behind this shared vision. He has a proven record of coming into a district and refocusing on student outcomes. He came into Donna ISD, a community that had been rocked by scandal, and refocused on student outcomes, showing impressive gains in a very short time.

In the years prior to Dr. Azaiez coming to Donna ISD, the district had faced lots of scandal. Two trustees were indicted and convicted of bribery and extortion.

Then, replacements were chosen by a simple vote by the board, an action which wasn’t publicly posted and violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

It seemed to all, including TEA, this district was extremely dysfunctional. And yet, in 2018, Dr. Azaiez came in and sought to change things. With his leadership, they instituted Lone Star Goverance (RRISD instituted LSG in 2019). He refocused the board and community back to student outcomes. In just one year, the district went from a C rating (77) to a B rating (85). I have attached the screen shots of their improvement below. In almost every category, they improved signficiantly. No district in Texas was rated last year due to the pandemic, but I have no doubt, under Dr. Azaiez’s leaderhip, the improvements would have continued.

Round Rock ISD is not Donna ISD. We already have a TEA rating of 89. But Round Rock is a place that isn’t content with an 89. Like I said above, we have a shared vision to be really great. But in order to achieve that shared vision, we need to put all our focus on student outcomes. We need to lift up those students who are struggling and propell higher those students who are already high achieving. I believe Dr. Azaiez can help us do that. I selected him because I believe he can and will unite us behind achieving our shared goals.

In a previous post, I cited three reasons I selected Dr. Hafed Azaiez as the next superintendent of Round Rock ISD. The third reason I cited was that I saw that he has proven helps ALL students succeed and reach their fullest potential.

We really only have one year of TEA data. What he did from when he started in 2018 to 2019 (because then the pandemic hit and the data is spotty after that). If you look at the improvements he made for Economically Disadvantaged students (EcoDis), English Language Learners (ELL) and Special Education Students (SpEd) in ONE YEAR for College, Career and Military Readiness (CCMR), it is absolutely astounding. The table below clearly demonstrates that his impact on these students ability to enter college, the military or the workforce prepared was nothing less than miraculous.

Now I will admit, his STAAR score improvements for that group (which in terms of EcoDis is basically his whole district) over that year weren’t great. In some cases, his scores went down. But I don’t live and die by STAAR. It is a test that is supposed to be an indicator of likelihood of being ready for college, career or military. That was actually the goal of the test – to predict if you would be ready. But REALLY being ready to enter college, a career or the military is the actual goal. That is why HB 3 (the major rewrite of school finance passed in 2019) awards performance bonuses ONLY for CCMR. There aren’t performance bonuses for STAAR. They tried again to do that this legislative session and it died. Why? Because STAAR is just a test. It’s a predictor. Districts should be evaluated not if a kid can get a good score on a test, but rather if that district has prepared that student to enter the world and be a productive citizen.

And furthermore, an ELL or SpEd student may really struggle to succeed on a test, especially if they’ve only been in the country a couple years (or less), which is the population he was dealing with in Donna ISD. So the fact that he was able to help these students, many of whom just entered the United States, be ready to succeed outside of school, as they enter the real world, and made these gains in ONE YEAR, really speaks to the leader he is.

I want that kind of leader in Round Rock ISD. I want a leader that is a GAME CHANGER! And I think that game changer is Dr. Azaiez. I think after a year here, you will see it too.

[Cory Vessa]

Dear Fellow Trustees,

This morning we received a Public Information Request asking for our Score Cards for the final two candidates we interviewed. What I submitted was a partially filled out first page. Why? As I was filling it out, I realized that I just couldn’t make a decision based on a score card. Both candidates were qualified. Both candidates had pluses and minuses. In the end, it came down to other things: 1. Who is a better fit? 2. Who will work better with this board? Those who hire regularly know that you use score cards to weed down from a multitude of candidates. But the final selection is more about the things I cited above. Your final candidates could all do the job. They wouldn’t be in the finals if they couldn’t. Then it becomes about the fit.

I am posting this because I believe in transparency. It is a core value of mine. So, I reveal this to you, my fellow trustees, and the community because I have nothing to hide. I stand behind my decisions. I don’t make them lightly. I can back them up. And if I can’t, I reconsider.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

Here are some of the of reasons that I voted No and still believe Dr. Azaiez’s potential for success at RRISD is not worth risking student’s futures or tax money on:

1. Less than 3 years of Superintendent experience with only 20 months of pre-COVID experience. This includes only ONE year of data to do comparative analysis.

2. District size is less than one-third of the students in RRISD (approx. 14,000 versus 48,000)

3. Donna has no “A” rated schools (NOT ONE). There are five failing schools 4 “D’s” and 1 “F” this is 5 out of 21 rated campuses. That is a 23.8% FAILING schools.

4. I only agreed to 2.5 out of the 10 Characteristics/Skills on the Community Criteria Matrix that was developed by the search firm through Student, Staff, Parent, and Community input.

a. Inspires trust, self-confidence, and models high standard (0 points)
b. Has leadership skills to respond to opportunities & challenges of ethnic & cultural diversity (0.5 points)
c. Strong communicator; speaking, listening and writing (0 points)
d. Promotes a positive and professional environment for district employees and Board (0 points)
e. Strongly committed to “student first” philosophy in all decisions (0 points)
f. Has experience recruiting and maintaining exceptional staff for the district and schools (0 Points)
g. Commitment to and experience dealing with all genders, races, socio-economic groups (0 Points)
h. Has classroom experience (1 point)
i. Willing to listen to input, but is a decision maker (0 points)
j. Possesses ability to enhance student performance, identify and close/narrow gaps (1 point)

5. The “F” that the district had prior to Dr. Azaiez’s arrival in FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas) was due to a report not being filed before or on the due date. Once the report was filed with help from the State the district received an “A”.

6. A principal was hired in Donna ISD under Dr. Azaiez that had dragged a student down a hallway in a neighboring district where her father was a Trustee. This situation is still cloudy to me.

7. While Dr. Azaiez was Superintendent at Donna ISD Police Officer accidentally discharged a gun on a high school campus. This happened on a Thursday and parents were not notified until the following Monday.

8. During the interview I felt many of the questions could not be answered with specific answers or examples. I felt that there were many gaps that had to be filled with huge leaps of faith or stretching of the imagination to understand answers to questions.

9. Donna ISD frequently has multiple Level III grievances at Regular Monthly Meeting. To me this indicates an inability to resolve issues at the school or district level before having to be brought before the board.

10. One of the only big ideas that I found referenced was Donna ISD attempted to implement Wi-Fi towers to provide students internet during the pandemic. There is a news article dated December 28, 2020 that states “The tower project — a $3.7 million investment made by the district to beam internet from a dozen towers to upwards of 10,000 students — was contracted on Aug. 24 and scheduled to be completed on Nov. 7. An article dated March 14, 2021 discusses how this project was projected to be done in early November of 2020 and were to serve 8,000 to 10,000 students. “Despite all the towers being erected, only 800-odd students were using internet provided through them at the board’s last update on the project on March 9th. This issue demonstrates to me the inability to ensure and work to completion of important and expensive projects.

11. The Academic Growth of Donna went from a “B “to “D” under Dr. Azaiez leadership. This is the true academic measure compared to all other school districts in the state.

12. Dr. Azaeiz has never passed a Bond as a Superintendent.

13. I did not hear a clear commitment or knowledge of Special Education. I desire a Superintendent that has great experience and/or knowledge of Special Education.

14. Donna ISD has only 0.6% of their students identified with dyslexia while RRISD has 4.5%. This very low number demonstrates to me that Dr. Azaiez does not value the importance of dyslexia intervention for students. This includes Donna ISD under the direction of Dr. Azaiez apparently attempted to withhold the taxpayer funded Gibson report from the public that exposed the Special Education issues in Donna.

15. Currently Dr. Azaiez currently only oversees five direct reports. Currently there are over twice as many reports, eleven, at RRISD to the Superintendent.

16. Dr. Azaiez’s 90-day entry plan was only four pages long with a cover sheet for a total of five pages. The information was very basic and lots of white space was left on the pages. The words provided were very fluffy and I feel the plan lacked substance. Compared to other 90-day plans the plan was extremely basic and lacked discussion of specific action.

17. Dr. Azaiez was not able to provide specific area of improvements or negatives about himself or his district in my opinion.

18. Poor school performance record at Spring ISD as area superintendent.

Trustees it is not too late to turn from this decision.

——————————- 16 Day Time Line for Selection ————————————————————————-

I think the rushed time frame is important in my No vote so I want to explain it here:
Wednesday May 5th in the afternoon I received an email with the top 12 candidates selected by the firm out of the 48 total candidates that applied. This email included recorded interviews for each of the 12 candidates along with Resumes, Cover Letters, Reference Letters, and other supporting documents.
Thursday May 6th at 5:30 pm a little over 24 hours later the board met via Zoom and was expected to narrow down the 12.
Tuesday May 11th the board met at noon to discuss Round 2 questions that would be given to the candidates during the live Zoom meeting.
Wednesday May 12th the board interviewed the first of seven Round 2 candidates.
Thursday May 13th the board interviewed three of the seven Round 2 candidates.
Friday May 14th the board interviewed the final three of seven Round 2 candidates. After the final interview, the board deliberated about the candidates. The board decided to bring four final candidates to Round Rock for Round 3 in person interviews.
Tuesday May 18th the board met to select questions for the in person Round 3 interviews. The board was informed that two of the four candidates had decided to withdraw and would not be participating in the Round 3 interviews. The board discussed options and decided to move forward with the remaining two candidates.
Wednesday May 19th the board met to interview in person the final two candidates. After the interviews, the board deliberated and discussed the candidates.
Thursday May 20th the board held the regular Monthly board meeting from approximately 5:30-11:00pm. I was not able to attend this meeting as I was at graduation, but I had spent a significant amount of time during the week preparing and submitting questions. I mention this meeting because the board was having to balance other duties with the time spent on vetting the candidates and going through data provided.
Friday May 21st the board met via Zoom to deliberate and vote on the lone finalist.
Note that this whole process of vetting and selecting the candidate was done in 16 days.

[Danielle Weston]

I personally conducted a lot of research our final four candidates. I watched board meetings from their current districts, looked at years of social media posts of their districts and of them personally (if they have an official professional social media account) and I spent a lot of time on the internet looking for media articles on current events in their districts over time. I also reviewed district, campus and student academic performance as reported and publicly available by TEA. Between the time we narrowed our focus from seven to four candidates, two candidates withdrew from our search. One withdrew because his/her current board of trustees significantly increased his/her annual compensation upon learning of their interest in becoming our next superintendent. The second candidate withdrew to accept another job that he/she applied for three weeks prior to interviewing with us. After our board interviewed the two finalists, I asked my colleagues if any of them had watched board meetings from the districts our two finalists are currently employed in. All said “no.” I was the only trustee who had watched these board meetings as part of my preparation for those important superintendent finalist interviews on 19 May 2021. My understanding is that since I posed that question, some of my colleagues have now gone and watched board meetings of our two finalist’s districts.

That left us with two finalists. After the research I did, Dr Azaiez was not my choice to be the next superintendent and that’s why I voted “no” on naming him the lone finalist.

Here are my reasons:

-Lack of relevant work experience and job performance.

Donna ISD is one of the poorest ISD’s in Texas and has a homogeneous student body of 14k. RRISD is one of the wealthiest ISD’s in Texas and has a heterogeneous student body of 48k students. I also did not see an established record of improving and sustaining student academic performance. TEA data is nuanced. A grade of “B” in one district doesn’t necessarily equate to a “B” in another district. Allowances and adjustments are made in these ratings for things like the % of economically disadvantaged students. Furthermore, the almost 3 years Dr Azaiez spent as Donna ISD superintendent represents the entirety of his experience as a superintendent. I respect his work in Donna ISD but I do not believe that this enormous jump in size, scope, diversity and needed experience level is in the best interest of our students or community. I want to add that I have tremendous respect for Dr Azaiez’ work in Donna ISD. My “no” vote for him is rooted in my commitment to finding a superintendent I believe is ready and prepared to serve in RRISD, right now. That is the standard on which I made my decision. My decision has nothing to do with my opinion on his work in Donna ISD and whether or not I believe he is doing a good job there.

-Concerning media articles I found about incidents and decisions made in Donna ISD during his tenure.

I shared the specifics of these concerns with my colleagues in our deliberations multiple times. One incident involved an SRO accidentally firing his weapon in a high school and the community’s concerns about the timeline of their notification of this and the other is about the hiring of a principal in Donna ISD who was filmed on video dragging a student with special needs down a hallway while employed in another district. We asked Dr Azaiez about these incidents and I was not comfortable with the answers/explanations we were given.

If Dr Azaiez does come to RRISD as the next superintendent, I will do everything in my power to help him be successful. I want more than anything for my instincts on this decision to be wrong.

Many community members spent time away from their professional and personal commitments to participate in community engagement events so that our board could learn what this community wanted in the next superintendent and make that part of our decision making. Our school district doesn’t belong to the school board members, the superintendent, employees, or the legislature. Our school district belongs to the taxpayers and citizens who pay for it. And our commitment is to the students who populate our schools. To that end, our search firm took the time to create two scoresheets for our use in comparing the finalists. One scoresheet is a list of the top 10 priorities that were born out of the hours of community engagement events that took place around the district. The second scoresheet was a list of 13 questions, we as a board decided to ask both finalists. I took these scoresheets seriously out of respect for the community and my colleagues. Thus I filled them out and based my decision on how both finalists ranked on the scoresheets.

[Danielle Weston]

I think it’s important for the community to understand that the first opportunity this board has had to discuss, deliberate and negotiate the superintendent contract terms and conditions with our attorney was at the 10 Jun 2021 meeting. There were two segments of time in which the contract was discussed in that meeting. The first was a 30 min segment of time early in the meeting. Trustees Weir, Vessa, Harrison, Feller, Bone and Weston were present for this 30 min discussion. Later in the meeting there was a much longer period of time (almost two hours) to continue our deliberation, discussion and negotiation of the contract with only five trustees present (Weir, Harrison, Feller Bone & Weston).

[Amy Weir]

In response to various emails from the community and one trustee I wanted to remind the entire Board that all Board members were informed about the situation with Donna ISD and the conservator.

The Donna ISD conservator was appointed in 2017 by TEA due to a forensic audit showing financial mismanagement by the former superintendent and 2 board members who were illegally appointed to the Board. All this information has been available to the public for years and can easily be found online. It predates Dr. Azaiez being hired at Donna ISD.

TEA Deputy Commissioner Jeff Cottrill confirmed today, Saturday June 11, 2021, that the conservator has never had to direct Dr. Azaiez or his administration on decisions or activities that he and his administration were not already pursuing. According to Deputy Commissioner Cottrill the conservator has worked alongside Dr. Azaiez, but all the administrative decisions were made by Dr. Azaiez and all the progress in the district is due to the outstanding leadership of Dr. Azaiez.

The conservator was there to resolve the issues of the forensic audit and has only stayed due to additional issues completely unrelated to Dr. Azaiez.

Dr. Azaiez is considered by TEA to be an exemplary leader. TEA has full faith in Dr. Azaiez’s abilities to be superintendent at RRISD, as do I.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

Fellow Trustees,

Due to my concerns regarding the Texas Open Meetings Act I was told by board legal counsel that the message board is the appropriate place for this email and my response. I feel the community deserves to see the whole email conversation and would have hoped that President Weir herself would have posted the entire email for full transparency and to enable the board to discuss the entire email openly not just the selected parts she posted above.

————————- Start Full Email Unedited Content from Amy Weir ———————-

There has been some concern on social media, in emails to the Board, and from Board members regarding Donna ISD’s conservator. This information is not a bombshell and if you will remember, was discussed with David Faltys at the in person interview. The fact that 2 Donna ISD board members were arrested, the former superintendent fired, TEA coming in, the former superintendent then being elected to the Board; all the stuff about what a mess Donna ISD is. I spoke with TEA Deputy Commissioner Jeff Cottrill today to make sure I had the facts straight before responding to any of the emails. I have also asked Deputy Commissioner Cottrill to send an official letter to our Board detailing this information. We are not going to interview the conservator or postpone the meeting for Monday.

Here are the facts for the Board, per TEA:
The Donna ISD conservator was appointed in 2017 by TEA due to a forensic audit showing financial mismanagement by the former superintendent and 2 board members who were illegally appointed to the Board and who then approved the superintendent’s contract. All this happened prior to Dr. Azaiez being hired. All this information can easily be found online.

TEA Deputy Commissioner Jeff Cottrill confirmed today, Saturday June 11, 2021, that the conservator has never had to direct Dr. Azaiez or his admininstion on decisions or activities that he and his administration were not already pursuing. According to Deputy Commissioner Cottrill the conservator has worked alongside Dr. Azaiez, but all the administrative decisions were made by Dr. Azaiez and all the progress in the district is due to the outstanding leadership of Dr. Azaiez. The conservator was there to resolve the issues of the forensic audit and has only stayed due to additional issues regarding governance and the Board, which is now made up of many of the individuals accused of the 2016/2017 financial mismanagement. In fact TEA is worried about the district backsliding now that Dr. Azaiez is leaving.

The conservator has had to continually try to keep the board on track. A board that includes Fernando Castillo, the former superintendent, who was removed due to the forensic audit. It is the Board that has experienced challenges at times to focus on student outcome goals and adhere to Lone Star Governance and direction from TEA. According to Deputy Commissioner Cottrill the conservator is still there because of the Board and issues with proper governance. A Board not adhering to it’s governance role is something that our RRISD Board is intimately aware of at this time and should know firsthand is not an issue with the superintendent or in our case, acting superintendent.

Dr. Azaiez is considered by TEA to be an exemplary leader. TEA has full faith in his abilities to be superintendent at RRISD.

I will be responding to community member emails with the following email:

The Donna ISD conservator was appointed in 2017 by TEA due to a forensic audit showing financial mismanagement by the former superintendent and 2 board members who were illegally appointed to the Board. It is not my place to speak ill of another district, so I will leave it to you to find the details online, there are plenty of sources. This issue was discussed with the search firm.
TEA Deputy Commissioner Jeff Cottrill confirmed today, Saturday June 11, 2021, that the conservator has never had to direct Dr. Azaiez or his administration on decisions or activities that he and his administration were not already pursuing. According to Deputy Commissioner Cottrill the conservator has worked alongside Dr. Azaiez, but all the administrative decisions were made by Dr. Azaiez and all the progress in the district is due to the outstanding leadership of Dr. Azaiez.

Dr. Azaiez is considered by TEA to be an exemplary leader. TEA has full faith in his abilities to be superintendent at RRISD, as do I. The meeting for Monday will not be postponed.
Again, PLEASE DO NOT REPLY. I will forward the letter from Deputy Commissioner Cottrill if it comes to me and not the full board.
—
Amy Weir
Round Rock ISD Board President
Trustee Place 5

——————— Email Header Information ——————-
from: Amy Weir
to: Amber Feller ,
Cory Vessa ,
Jun Xiao ,
Mary Bone ,
Tiffanie Harrison ,
Danielle Weston
cc: Doug Poneck ,
Jenny Wells
date: Jun 12, 2021, 1:52 PM
subject: CBU – TEA Conservator Questions
mailed-by: roundrockisd.org
signed-by: roundrockisd.org
security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more
: Important according to Google magic.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

President Weir,

Why did you have to get your facts straight? What facts did you have to get straight that the whole board did not already know? Why was this information not shared with board prior to today if you had it? Why didn’t you already have your facts straight if you knew about this issue?

Why did you need to contact Deputy Commissioner Cottrill today since you already knew all about this situation? Why would he have answers about Donna ISD ready? Why would you contact him on Saturday? Was he in the “office”? Do you have a special relationship with Deputy Commissioner Cotrrill that he would spend his Saturday answering business related questions? How do you know him, is he a friend? Did he reference actual TEA documents and reports from Conservator Linda Romeros? Why doesn’t the whole board have access to these documents and answers? How is he able to authoritatively talk for the Conservator, is it because he works at Donna ISD or is his knowledge second, third, or forth hand? How many times and how much time has Cottrill spent at Donna ISD? The Conservator “never” had to direct Azaiez? Wow “never” is really difficult to believe and prove. What does “direct” mean in this anyway? Has the Conservator ever suggested or influenced Azaiez’s decisions, similar to a student driver (Azaiez) the instructor (Conservator) isn’t driving the car but they are heavily influencing the driving choices and if not followed then the instructor can take over driving at anytime.

I will agree that Ray & Associates mentioned that Donna ISD had issues before Dr. Azaiez arrived in 2018 and they stated that the state had been involved but there was never a conversation that the state is actually running Donna ISD and has final full authority over the district including both the Board and Superintendent.

Your statements also do not hold water because the Board directs the Superintendent so if the Donna ISD board is so horrible and the Conservator is having to direct the Board then the Conservator is directing the Superintendent, see how that works? Plus the Board and Superintendent work so closely to decouple them is almost impossible. You also say the Conservator has “worked along side” Dr. Azaiez is this Conservator going to come with him to RRISD since this statement shows that Dr. Azaiez has not been doing his full job alone like a Superintendent will be required to do here in RRISD.

We were also told that Dr. Azaiez has an amazing relationship with his board and that his board is awesome. I even recall how people bragged how well he got along with the former Donna Superintendent turned Trustee. This working relationship apparently is not the case from your email so something does not add up here.

You also make strong statements that: “Dr. Azaiez is considered by TEA to be an exemplary leader. TEA has full faith in his abilities to be superintendent at RRISD…” These are misleading statements TEA does not endorse Superintendents please retract these statements or provide the proof. One employees opinion is not “TEA”. Wouldn’t TEA endorsing a candidate be a conflict with their governance and oversight? Please clarify.

Also this Deputy Commissioner Cottrill is Commissioner of Governance and Accountability so how does this make him an expert on Dr. Azaiez and his ability to be the Superintendent of RRISD? Are they friends? Did Cottrill do an analysis of what type of Superintendent RRISD needs? How does this Cottrill know Dr. Azaiez since he apparently speaks so highly of him? Is it normal for TEA to get involved with a Superintendent hire?

Also you state “the conservator is still there because of the Board and issues with proper governance”. Are you saying that Dr. Azaiez has never been a Superintendent under a board with proper governance? I wonder how he will do under a board with proper governance because as you know from our board training he (a Superintendent) should only be doing the will of the board so if there is no governance from his board at Donna ISD who is directing him, the Conservator maybe?

You are a lawyer so you can go through your statement and see all the other unsubstantiated claims you make throughout your email especially those using “all”, “only” and “never” those are words that usually indicate exaggeration or lying. You see President Weir I believe in getting real answers directly from the source with documentation to do my due diligence in protecting this district and providing a Superintendent that our children and community deserve. Not opinions from one Deputy Commissioner at TEA. Maybe you already have all the information for these claims then please provide it to the whole board and community. Otherwise please be very clear that your claims are just a bunch of feelings and not facts.

I also would like to understand who gave you the authority to contact the Deputy Commissioner regarding Azaiez? I don’t remember a motion regarding this? It appears to me you were acting for the Board but I don’t recall asking for this? Please let me know if I can contact whomever I would like to get references for Azaiez.

What does it hurt to verify and validate these issues? Why are you so quick to dismiss legit concerns? Why don’t you care enough to dig in and understand the candidate better? Why are you and other Trustees already making so many excuses for him? What are you afraid will happen if we pause and get more clarity on the concerns? This is a horrible way to start a relationship in my opinion.

Also since you have a connection at TEA please get the reports that show two different investigations into the principal that dragged a student down the hallway and then was hired in Donna ISD. It should be a very simple thing to verify and get clarity on how this principal who was hired by Dr. Azaiez after such an incident.

You also seem to know that a majority of Trustees will not have concerns about this issue, how is that? I am really curious if you just feel that a majority of the board doesn’t care or you have other insight.

I am sure I will have more questions but I figured this was enough for now.

[Cory Vessa]

Dear Fellow Trustees,

Trustee Weston above cited the fact that I went home after open. I wish to explain why. The truth is I was afraid of physical harm to me. Those in attendance at the meeting were so angry in their demeanor, I felt afraid for my person. That may have been misguided and I admit it may have been driven more by my emotions than the reality. But it is how I felt in that moment. When that much anger is coming at you, your brain has an autonomic protection reflex. You can’t control it. That is especially true if you are a small female and don’t have much means of self-protection. Please consider this when you judge my going home to recover. Please consider how scared I got (whether warranted or not, it is the reality).

[Cory Vessa]

Just as an addition, if this behavior at the meetings continues (the intense anger and outbursts), I don’t know how effective I will be. It took everything in me to make it through the last meeting. I was so emotionally distraught, I left the dias several times to compose myself. I felt ill. I pray we can lower the intensity in the room and that those in the community who are upset can present their concerns in a respectful manner.

[Cory Vessa]

Dear Trustee Bone,

The concerns you cite regarding the incident referenced above were addressed. We all know the answers provided us. I can understand if you felt the answers were inadequate. But to say those of us who were satisifed with the answers don’t care, is just not correct. Moreover, it is disrespectful to your fellow trustees. Your tone and content above is very disrespectful. You know we all take this responsibility of choosing a new superintendent very seriously. To say otherwise is to defame your fellow trustees.

[Amy Weir]

I did not post the entire email as I did not want to be disrespectful to another Board.

I can’t win with you Trustee Bone. Either I don’t share enough information with the full Board or I share too much.

Trustee Weston asked me several questions. I could have answered with my own information; I could have referenced all the articles to be found on the internet about the situation in Donna ISD. I did not think she would find those satisfactory, so I contacted Deputy Commissioner Cottrill. After speaking to him, I could have simply answered Trustee Weston. Given how many times I have been criticized, particularly by you, for not providing the entire Board with the same information I felt I should inform the whole Board with the answers I was planning to give to Trustee Weston.

The Deputy Commissioner is not a friend. He is over Governance for TEA. When RRISD lost our LSG coach it was my responsibility to discuss the situation with him and try to secure a new LSG coach for our district. As part of that process he gave me his contact information. He did not have to respond to me on a Saturday.

You will have an opportunity to say whatever you need to say to the Board and the public tomorrow.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

President Weir,

First, I do not understand what there is to “win” with me? Maybe this is the issue you have with me and that is that I want literally nothing from my board position and not here for my personal “win” or gain.

I am still waiting for Deputy Commissioner Cottrill’s official letter. I assume we will receive it prior to the vote tomorrow (June 14th, 2021) to at least validate your interpretation of what he said which I believe is at least 3rd hand information of the Donna ISD Conservator situation. This is in regards to the statement from your email “I have also asked Deputy Commissioner Cottrill to send an official letter to our Board detailing this information.”

I also want to thank you for being honest that you intentionally sent the board a private email with more information than you are willing to share openly with the community. I believe this is another area that we do not align as I believe in true open and transparent government.

It is very clear that the board did not know the extent to which the Conservator was embedded in Donna ISD prior to yesterday which is evident by your investigation and prompted conversation with Cottrill. For Trustees to pretend that this is old news either makes me wonder if I am being left out of meetings or information is being withheld from me. How is this “old” news to some while at least two of us honestly find this new. I still also have a hard time understanding why if this was “old” news to you, why you would wait till it blew up on social media to contact Cottrill and get clarity on the situation? Why wouldn’t you have already contacted him to ensure you thoroughly understood this issue? Don’t the students at RRISD deserve to have a well vetted Superintendent? I would like to be clear that the Board still has no authentic information that I know of regarding this situation including direct information from the Conservator herself.

I am also awaiting answers to all my questions above not to “win” me over but to simply give the whole community more in-depth understanding and comfort regarding this situation and the possible future leadership of RRISD.

I think the BIG question is if the Donna ISD board is so horrible and dysfunctional per Cottrill that they are the only reason the Conservator is still there then who is directing Dr. Azaiez at Donna ISD, the Conservator or the Board? Which from the June 8th Donna ISD board meeting that is available online it appeared to be the Conservator, our students deserve for us to have factual documented information when making this decision regarding the Superintendent.

[Amy Weir]

Trustee Bone,

“I can’t win with you” is an idiom that I believe all English speakers are aware is an idiom.

I have forwarded you Deputy Commissioner Cottrill’s contact information. You may contact him directly regarding your questions. I will provide his contact information to any trustee that wishes to have it.

I will see you at 12:30.

[Tiffanie N Harrison]

As a teacher, I seek to be a lifelong learner and as a trustee, a Lead Learner…a phrase I learned from the incredible principal of Wells Branch Elementary, Eliza Gordon.

I have learned to be measured with my words. The weight of my words as a trustee can be harmful. They can induce panic. They can be seen as a directive to staff members. I have learned to choose my words wisely and to be intentional with what I say.

I have learned to not engage in bad faith arguments. There is little to be gained from going rounds with those who lack basic respect for the rights, dignity, or autonomy of others. However, I do still listen and reflect on each and every piece of feedback I receive.

Initially I expressed concern about our very few choices for a Superintendent search firm, but I must say that I ended up being thoroughly pleased with Ray & Associates and would recommend them over and over again.

The timeline for the Superintendent search was laid out in early March (March 11th was the first draft) and at that time it did feel swift. However, I still felt that the process was fairly straightforward and clear. As someone who ran on the belief our district needed more transparency, I say this: If I had it to do over again, I would like for us to have set it up differently than the previous two searches and would’ve updated the community throughout the process even more. More on that in just a bit.

We engaged the community through a survey in six languages in late March and received quite a bit of feedback. I read and re-read every single one of the 70+ pages provided to us. We also hosted over 30+ forums to engage the community in the selection process. This included open forums for each of the learning communities. Some of these were not well attended even though there were multiple opportunities. I do find this curious and wonder about the participation of those who are now extremely vocal in their opposition of our lone finalist. In hindsight, I would have liked more feedback from students.

Contrary to popular belief, there have never been meet and greets in the 21 day waiting period of a lone finalist in Round Rock ISD. This search process was just like the last two. If I had it to do over again, I would like to have set it up differently and would’ve updated the community throughout the process.

We went from 48 candidates —> 12 candidates cultivated by the search firm based on community feedback. We had access to all application materials and could have pulled any of the 48 candidates into the first round of interviews but I do feel that the search firm did an exceptional job culling the original 48 down to 12 based on the criteria from the aforementioned community feedback. From there we went from 12 candidates to 7 first round interviews through forced-choice ranking and ultimately invited 4 candidates to interview in the final round. One of those candidates received a significant raise from their current board and pulled out from the interview process, a second candidate accepted a national education job offer that had been long-pending. Dr. Azaiez was high on my list from the beginning and consistently ranked highly as we proceeded through the forced choice ranking matrices and board discussion.

As I said before, if I had this experience to do over again, I would have updated the community at each step of the process.

Reasons why I chose Dr. Azaiez (in no particular order of importance):
-He is an instructional leader and coach. Based on the survey, teachers and support staff valued a superintendent who had classroom experience.
-He acknowledges that human capital is one of the most important parts of an organization.
-He was forthcoming about the SPED issues and the Gibson report in Donna. He brought this up in his interview. He wanted a critical analysis of SPED in his district. For years I have felt that we shy away from critically loving our district and I am eager to work with someone who is ready and willing to delve into problems of practice within our district with openness and humility.
-He understands opportunity and choice for all students and created more paths to success earlier in elementary and middle school. Students that struggle don’t start doing so in high school so it is important to capture them early. This critical understanding can create pathways to success to all of our RRISD students. He also has a focus on testing all students for GT/TAG.
-He prioritizes teaching and learning above all else.
-He was able to bring Donna from a $5 million deficit to a $17 million surplus in one year through focusing on attrition. He did this while raising the starting teacher salary to $51,500.
-I trust and am impressed with his improvement of Title I campuses. I feel that our similar campuses need the support and intervention he can bring.
-He dove headfirst into a complex situation in Donna ISD. He knew that the district (and really the board itself) was under TEA Conservatorship. Many people would run from this tough situation. I feel that we have a complex and divided board that borders needing intervention and oversight at times ourselves. I am looking forward to having a superintendent that is up for the challenge of working with us and more than anything hope that we can get our act together for the good of Round Rock ISD students.

Overall, I was very pleased with the quality of candidates presented to us and would like to reiterate that Dr. Azaiez was at the top of those candidates when ranked from the very first round through the end.

Some have asked what elevated him over the other final round candidate. For me, it was the student focus. The other candidate had a heavy focus on their various Chamber partnerships. I value our relationship with our Chamber and serve as the RRISD representative on their board. I have been involved with the Round Rock Chamber as a CTE teacher for years and am grateful for that partnership. However, again, Dr. Azaiez’ time in the classroom provides a broader focus and approach as superintendent I know will benefit RRISD.

Lastly, I want to focus on the role of the board. If we can stop our infighting, condescension and grandstanding (and I did say OUR) we will be able to set goals and constraints for our new superintendent. We are a diverse board with often diverging interests, however, we do have several points of convergence. I know these points of convergence include improving and supporting SPED services, identifying Dyslexia early and providing exceptional service and being sure that the success of RRISD extends to all students no matter their race, religion, gender, zip code, campus, etc. We set goals for the superintendent and tie their evaluation to these goals. This is the mechanism for accountability and this is where we need to be focused beyond today.

Lastly (for real this time), I want to express deep gratitude to Dr. Presley for stepping in as Acting Superintendent and steering the ship through the unknown of a global pandemic. He worked two jobs for several months and I simply do not have the words to express how grateful I am for his leadership during this time.

[Author]

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