No Touchdown In Today's HISD Board of Trustees Vote
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Parents applauded this morning after the HISD Board of Trustees was finally able to vote on a $96 million upgrade for seven schools. Board President Larry Marshall, who sets the board's agenda, had for weeks not included the item on the agenda, despite the fact that former superintendent Abe Saavedra promised the schools would be renovated. The schools are Bellaire, Worthing and Sam Houston high schools; Grady Middle School, Lockhart Elementary, Bellfort. The money would also go toward building a new High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Marshall had further upset some parents, and at least one other trustee, by only putting three of the seven schools on this morning's agenda. Trustee Harvin Moore reacted yesterday with the following angry Tweet, according to a Chron blog: "The most bizarre power play I have witnessed in six years on the HISD board continues."
But despite Marshall's gripe about the vote being "worthless," it passed 8-1.
Mary Nesbitt, vice president of Parents for Public Schools and a founder of HISD Parent Visionaries, called the vote a step in the right direction.
"This morning, the Board of Trustees had a decision to make," Nesbitt told Hair Balls. "And the decision was whether to restore trust by honoring the promises of the committments that were made to these...schools, or to destroy it."
Nesbitt added, "Today I would say we're at first and ten....The ball's moved down the field, but still we have no touchdown, because...there are no buildings yet."
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