[Dr. Mary Bone]

President Weir,

Thanks for taking the time and finding this information. I am glad you found the required publication of this material in the Round Rock Leader on June 5th, 2021. I would like all of us to get this type of information since it is very informative and in a great format for comparison of last years budget.

The published posted rates are ( M&O $0.903900 / $100 , I&S $0.240000 / $100) It is my understanding that we can not vote on tax rates that are greater than these so that is why I wanted to see the posted rates and understand the boundaries we are working with Thursday.

I am still awaiting the location of the required posting on the RRISD website per TEC below.

Sec. 44.0041. PUBLICATION OF SUMMARY OF PROPOSED BUDGET. (a) Concurrently with the publication of notice of the budget under Section 44.004, a school district shall post a summary of the proposed budget:

(1) on the school district’s Internet website; or

(2) if the district has no Internet website, in the district’s central administrative office.

(b) The budget summary must include:

(1) information relating to per student and aggregate spending on:

(A) instruction;

(B) instructional support;

(C) central administration;

(D) district operations;

(E) debt service; and

(F) any other category designated by the commissioner; and

(2) a comparison to the previous year’s actual spending.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

I would like to bring the Trustees attention to our March 1st 2021 called board meeting when Ray & Associates was telling us their plan for our hiring process at the 43:43 mark of the meeting Mike Collins says that they strongly advocate for bringing the finalist back and having forums with both internal and external groups. They also mention that these community groups would get impression forms and be able to give feedback on the candidates. Mr. Collins says that this allows the community to get to know the candidates a little bit. I would like to understand more on why this was not done since it was presented that it would be done. The community paid for this Superintendent search and these forums were advised by the search firm that was selected, what changed?

[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.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

President Weir,

Thank you for responding but the main issue is that you had the board counsel negotiate the contract which was not the motion. While I understand your normal Board President responsibilities can be delegated for others to do a motion by the board has to be followed per the motion. The motion was not for board counsel to negotiate the contract if that is what the board wanted then that should have been the motion. The motion clearly states President.

This also is a financial concern because now the board has attorney expenses that was not authorized by the board corporate for contract negotiations. I would agree that you could have requested some advice for contract negotiations through the board general counsel, but it was evident by the email we received with the proposed final contract and the meeting we had to discuss the proposed contract that the attorney was doing the negotiations for you. This was not the motion in any shape or form. Like I said you have created expenses that the board did not authorize along with a process that the board did not authorize through the motion. This must be discussed by the board and understand the legal implications.

You also stated: “This contract negotiation is standard practice in the State of Texas for superintendents.” Can you point me to a reference for this assertation? I know this is your first hiring of a superintendent as it is mine so I would appreciate a reference to read about this “standard practice” and ensure we followed it. If not a reference maybe you could detail it out here so we can see all the steps followed in this contract negotiation process.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

President Weir,

The following is in regards to our June 17th, 2021 agenda item E1 which reads: PUBLIC HEARING: PROPOSED 2021-2022 BUDGET AND TAX RATE

If you go to the Round Rock Independent School District – Budget Information website you will find for each year a “Notice of Public Meeting to Discuss Budget and Proposed Tax Rate” that is published every June per TEC 44.004 it is the president’s responsibility to do this. So please let me know where this posting is on the RRISD website and where it was published on or before the 7th of June (10 days in advance).

Why is this so important? Because as stated by TASB if a district does not comply with the notice requirements and the failure to comply was not in good faith, a district taxpayer is entitled to an injunction restraining the collection of taxes by the district. I am just trying to protect the district from this.

Texas Education Code (TEC) 44.004 states the following (you can find all the Texas Education Code online free with a simple search). Please note that this is just a very small part of the code but it shows that the president is responsible for this action. There are also many TASB documents that you can find to help understand the code.

Sec. 44.004
Notice of Budget and Tax Rate Meeting; Budget Adoption
(a)When the budget has been prepared under Section 44.002 (Preparation of Budget), the president shall call a meeting of the board of trustees for the purpose of adopting a budget for the succeeding fiscal year.
(b)The president shall provide for the publication of notice of the budget and proposed tax rate meeting in a daily, weekly, or biweekly newspaper published in the district. If no daily, weekly, or biweekly newspaper is published in the district, the president shall provide for the publication of notice in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the district’s central administrative office is located. Notice under this subsection shall be published not earlier than the 30th day or later than the 10th day before the date of the hearing.

[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.

[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]

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.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

Trustees,
My goal has been and always will be to have clarity of district protocol and policies. I believe that our children flourish when there is clear consistent guidance in the educational system they live in daily. Last Thursday April 15th, 2021 the RRISD Board voted (agenda item L.1) 5-2 to: “Maintain the current RRISD district COVID protocols put in place by the administration for the district for the 2020-2021…rest of the 2020-2021 school year.” Trustee Weir further pointed out this protocol could be found online. The district protocol “Parent/Guardian Guide for COVID 19 Health and Safety Protocols” (V.1.10.19.2020) can easily be found on the Reimagining Education website.

In this board approved protocol, the following is the stated regarding Masks on Page 5 under 2.a:
“All students in Pre-K through Grade 12 and all teachers, staff and adult visitors, should wear a facemask (no valves/vented masks) on busses or other school transportation vehicles, inside school buildings, and anywhere on school grounds, including outside. Students may choose to remove or keep their masks on during outdoor activities such as P.E. class and recess. Students who remove their mask should still appropriately socially distance from others.”

During the virtual board meeting today (April 20th, 2021) Dr. Presley briefly mentioned that some of the administration was on school property during our virtual meeting in their offices with their masks off and that this practice is allowed. I wanted to clear up that I am in full agreement with Dr. Presley that masks are optional as stated by the board approved protocol for “All students in Pre-K through Grade 12 and all teachers, staff and adult visitors…”

I hope this post clears up any concerns about anyone choosing to not wear masks on district property and I hope messaging to district parents, staff, teachers, and visitors can be established for clarity and consistency in following the published protocol that has been approved by the board.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

Trustee Weston, Thank you for starting this important discussion since it affects our students and staff almost every minute of their day.

With only six weeks of school left I think all masks should be ban from RRISD. Yes, masks should be fully ban and no one should be allowed to wear one, after all it is only six weeks.

This is how it sounds to people in our district that are asking the Board to make masks optional. For them and me it is not six weeks it is about our children and their continued suffering with children begging not to attend school due to the restrictive mask policies. Most of these children have been the resilient students that braved going back early in the year when others chose not to.

I hope as Trustees we do not trade one person’s comfort for another person’s pain. Just as most things in life some people have wonderful experiences wearing masks but for others it truly causes both physical and emotional harm. The one fact that I know is that children and staff are suffering under our current policy because I have been given personal testimony describing this along with data. Parents know what is best for their child. I will not ask to ban masks nor condone the continued forced masking of people. I support making mask optional for everyone in RRISD which is in line with the Great State of Texas, City of Round Rock and many Texas Independent School Districts that have already made mask optional. It is time for RRISD to do the same.

I also have heard that a concern about funding has been brought into play regarding this topic and I personally will not trade a child’s literal pain and suffering for any amount of money. I also fully believe due to the data the administration has shared that that our district has lost more students and funding due to having some of the most restrictive policies on masking in the area. Parents will continue to choose to leave and make different educational choices for their children next year if we do not show some sign of compromise. I think the changes proposed above by Trustee Weston is a good start to showing genuine compromise and care.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

My favorite is Redbud. I really appreciated hearing about the grove of Redbud trees in Old Settlers that were planted in memory of people and think this is a great way to extend that connection from the park to the school. I have seen many Redbud trees blooming on other campuses and the school is closely located to the main road of Redbud. I feel like the name has a close connection to the community the school is located. The name Redbud would also link the large tree that was designed into the building to the name of the school.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

Since President Weir keeps posting that I said this or that I am just coping my short email here so everyone can see the wording.

————– Start email dated April 9th ———
Amy and Dr. Presley,

I would like to formally request the following agenda item for closed session on the agenda. I know the April 15th agenda can still be amended and would hope this is added.

1) Appointment of new Board President

I know the President thinks she can decline this but I don’t think it would be appropriate use of the President’s power and it would just go even further to strengthen my case that our policy does not allow Trustees to perform needed business.

Best Regards,
Mary Bone

—————————– End email dated April 9th ———————–

To have my words twisted on the message board by President Weir is disheartening and does nothing but lead the community and other Trustees astray on my pure intentions.

One example of twisting is President Weir’s statement which rephrased my words as “would not be an appropriate use of my Presidential powers.” What was actually said is that “I don’t think it would be appropriate use of the President’s power.” President Weir harshened my words and since President Weir is a lawyer this is very bothersome as I believe she is trained to understand how a slight twist of words can make a big difference in both intent and interpretation of one’s motives.

President Weir also did not point out that I have a concern that our policy and her continuous changing of the interpretation of Board policy is NOT allowing Trustees to perform needed business.
I would think the other Trustees would like to understand my concerns and since a quorum of Trustees should not be in communication on a specific topic it should go without saying that there are things a quorum of the board does not know at any given time. For Trustees to assume they know everything that is going on outside of our open meetings would be concerning to me.
If Trustees are not willing nor care to hear concerns of this magnitude then it leaves me wondering why that would be.

I would have happily posted this request to the Message Board myself if that was our policy. People that know me will tell you that I do not make rash or emotional decisions so if I bring something like this to light it is for reasons backed up by data and policy that I feel whole heartily should be addressed.

I do question why my agenda request was brought to the Message Board? Is this the “new” policy decided lonely by President Weir or did I miss the meeting where the policy was changed that agenda request would be hashed out on the Message Board?

I know Trustees continue to question my hard-core approach to following law and policy and it is because I believe through my 20 years of experience working with policy that the people most hurt by the Board not strictly following them are the students.

Also, I am a little confused still if President Weir is wanting me to publicly post all my reasons for asking for this agenda item here on the Message Board so other Trustees can make an informed decision? I am happy to do so but I would find it poor etiquette and would like to afford President Weir more professionalism then was obviously afforded to me.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

I have a couple of updates to the list (adding Austin Chinese-American Network & CVMS STEM):

6) Service Organization Leaders – (PIEF, Backpack Coalition, Lions, Rotary, El Amistad, Undoing Racism, Austin Chinese-American Network)

8) Education Partners – (ACC, RR Ready Providers, YMCA, CTE Partner Businesses, CVMS STEM)

[Dr. Mary Bone]

Thank you to all the Trustees that have responded. I have compiled the groups below and attempted to incorporate everyone’s input along with some more I have identified. The search firm mentioned that these groups will contain 7-20 individuals but we could break some of these categories below up if needed.

1) Teachers
2) Support Staff
3) Students – ( broad diversity of students represented including but not limited to those at all academic levels, those highly engaged in extracurriculars and those who are not, those who are headed to higher education and those who are not, racial diversity as well as geographic diversity with students from all 5 comprehensive high schools, ECHS and Success HS.)
4) Parents – (Round Rock Dyslexia Group, Round Rock Black Parents, Booster Clubs, PTA, SEPAC)
5) Community Leaders – (Austin & RR Chamber, RR & Austin City Council, Business Leaders, Religious Leaders, Education Connection, Austin Interfaith Alliance)
6) Service Organization Leaders – (PIEF, Backpack Coalition, Lions, Rotary, El Amistad, Undoing Racism)
7) Administrators 
8) Education Partners – (ACC, RR Ready Providers, YMCA, CTE Partner Businesses)

Please comment if there are additional specific organizations you think should be included. The next step will be to reach out to these organizations to select individuals for these focus groups so we will need specific organizations identified.

[Dr. Mary Bone]

Trustee Vessa,

Thank you for acknowledging that this agenda item was brought up during future agenda items in the Thursday March 4th, 2021 meeting like our BE Local policy requires. While I appreciate last Thursday was a difficult night for you there are six other Trustees. The President is expected to follow our policy and it is dangerous in my opinion to start looking back and deciding to not follow our own policy due to how people may or may not have felt at a certain time. The President should have control of the meeting and ensure the board is in a capacity to perform their duties so if this was not the case it was not in my control.

While I know and am sensitive that adult feelings were hurt last week, the parents and students that have multiple emotions regarding prom are my focus. By stripping my right as a Trustee to get this on the agenda through our policy it is taking away the right of the public to hear the board discuss this topic. The community, especially our amazing Seniors, I feel has the right to hear our discussion. These Seniors and their families have put years of sweat equity into this district and deserve the boards time to discuss this event and the email that was sent out by the district regarding this event.

The board has an obligation to run by our policies and as a Trustee I have the right to demand that our policies are upheld. The excuses that keep flowing forth on this thread are exhausting. So please enough is enough put this on the next possible agenda. Not one Trustee will be forced to say anything about this item when it comes up on the agenda but it will afford those Trustees that would like to discuss this the appropriate forum.

Trustee Vessa, I appreciate your suggestion and if you look at the agenda for the next meeting (March 11) the agenda does not have an item to discuss future agenda items, just as the meeting on March 8th. I have followed policy and in my opinion it is the responsibility of board leadership to ensure it is followed through.

[Author]

Posts