On April 9, the Katy Texas American Federation of Teachers held a member-hosted school board candidate forum at the Radack Community Center, 18650 Clay Road in Houston. Katy Texas AFT is “a union that welcomes all Katy ISD non-administrative staff,” according to printed materials distributed at the forum.

“We believe that staff working conditions determine students’ learning conditions and that the board members who wish to improve student outcomes must actively seek guidance from non-administrative KISD staff,” the materials said.

The room was filled to standing-room only capacity, with about 75 people in attendance, and the forum was recorded and live-streamed on social media.

Candidates appearing at the forum included Position 3 candidate Sean Hesterly; Position 4 candidates Tiffany Auzenne Asonye, Jim Davidson, and David Greene; and Position 5 candidates Jesus Nieto, Nathan Shipley and Caleb Silverio. Position 3 candidates Cicely Taylor and Haider Razvi did not attend.

The forum was moderated by a teacher who identified herself only as “Jenny” and all questions asked during the forum came directly from teachers. Questions were assigned to the candidates using a random number generator and not all questions were asked of all candidates.

Each candidate introduced themselves and outlined the reasons that they were the best candidate for the position. CyFair ISD teacher Sean Hesterly said that he was running for his daughter and to bring the perspective of teachers to the board; banking executive and mom of three Tiffany Auzenne Asonye said that she wanted to make an impact and to give everyone a voice. Jim Davidson, a Katy native, has children in the district and said that he has a “servant’s heart” and is going to run a nonpartisan race. Reverand David Greene, a nonprofit leader and political consultant, said that he wanted to give support to teachers and that he wanted community voices to be heard, citing an example of a board decision made despite negative feedback from over 100 public speakers. Community organizer Jesue Nieto said that he wanted to help leaders find more proactive ways to help students and teachers. Nathan Shipley, also a Katy native and KISD parent who works as a data consultant to large retailers such as Walmart and others, said that he simply wants to support all students in the very diverse district, to support teachers and to keep national politics out of the schools. College student and retail worker Caleb Silverio, a Paetow High graduate, said that he was there for the students in the northwest quadrant of KISD.

The first questions, asked of candidates for positions 3 and 4, related to “unmanageable workloads” by KISD teachers and staffing cuts and addressed candidates’ plans for teacher retention. Greene said one of the biggest things was to protect teacher planning time, and to do a “granular line by line analysis of the budget” to eliminate unnecessary spending. “It is real,” Hesterly said, also asking why many duties were not assigned to administrative personnel, and why many new programs were launched without training. Davidson emphasized the importance of planning time and supported processes for greater

efficiency. Asonye said it was important to look at budget items that don’t hit the classroom first and cited her experience in governance and efficiency.

The second question, addressing both new programs for alternative teacher certification and high teacher turnover among veteran teachers, was first answered by Silverio, who said that pay needed to be raised for veteran teachers and that they needed adequate planning time. Shipley tied the question to teacher workload and said that he wanted to talk directly to teachers and learn what improvements could be made, advocating for a “feedback loop” or listening circle which would give feedback from teachers at every level. Nieto said turnover was related to the district culture at the top, including school administration, and said that it needed to change.

All candidates were asked about Katy ISD’s “culture of retaliation” and silencing which could take the form of increased scrutiny, loss of autonomy or reassignment of a teacher to another position or another campus, and how they would protect teachers who spoke out. Davidson said that the administration needed to get candid feedback from teachers through anonymous ways, with action plans developed and progress reported. Greene that teacher feedback needed to be accepted at face value and that teachers needed to “go over their heads” if administrators were not responding to their issues. He recommended that the district provide an app to encourage anonymous feedback similar to the one already in use by students. “It happened to me,” Hesterly said, noting that he was reassigned to a different position after speaking out while working at KISD. He said that, after moving to CyFair ISD, he joined the union in order to protect himself and said, “Katy needs a union” and that “anonymous needs to be truly anonymous.” Asonye said she was shocked to hear of the situation and said that as a trustee she would not only listen to grievances but would investigate, and that the lack of anonymity was a concern.

Shipley said that a formalized anonymous feedback loop needed to be provided without taking additional time from teachers, also advocating for lunches with teachers and board members in order to get feedback directly from teachers. Silverado said that he wanted to see a formal policy of “no retaliation” as well as a formal anonymous feedback system. Nieto also supported unionization and wanted a system of town halls put in place within his first 100 days, to include teachers, community members and students in order to hear what is happening in and out of the classroom.

Hesterly, the Position 3 candidate present, was asked about “freedom from religion” in light of placement of Ten Commandments posters in Katy ISD classrooms. Hesterly said the “freedom from religion” meant freedom from all religions, and that the posters did not belong in the classroom.

Position 5 candidates were asked how they would insure that all KISD staff and students would feel welcome in the district, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Silverio said that all people should be allowed to express themselves and that he supported the board’s gender fluidity policy, saying that there were no issues going on that he knew of. Nieto, who called himself “an openly gay man,” said that he was running to support the entire school district, regardless of race, sexual orientation or culture. He said that students needed someone to look up to that resembled them in some way, and that representation was missing on the school board. Shipley answered in two parts, noting that for teachers, he was looking only for people who were qualified to do the job in a very

diverse district. On the student front, he said that students came from very different home settings and that school was often their “safe place.”

Position 4 candidates were asked if they would review prior book removals. Asonye said that the board has spent “way too much time on books already” and that she trusted librarians to choose books and would reconsider removed books if recommended by a librarian. She also noted that parents have the ability now to review books being checked out by their child. Davidson said his approach to books was one of “being a realist” and that he found that targeting books was often “misdirected energy,” and echoed existing procedures to monitor book usage. Greene said “yes, with a caveat,” noting that parents can make decisions for their own children – but not for other children – and that it should also apply to books. The state already spends a lot of time reviewing and approving books, he said.

Individual candidates were then each asked a specific question.

Asked about maintaining affordable health care with quality coverage, Silverio said that the district needed to look at alternative insurance plans.

Davidson, asked about support and greater pay for paraprofessionals, said that he planned to go to the state legislature next year to advocate for fair funding for public schools and that he wanted to take the community with him.

Asked about a lack of personnel in special education, which is creating unreasonable workloads as well as safety concerns and subpar services for students, Hesterly said the stigma needed to be taken away from special education so that more people would want to work there.

Shipley, asked what steps he would take to pressure Texas lawmakers to fund lawmakers to fund education appropriately, said all issues of benefits and compensation tied back to the income stream for the district, which is controlled at the state level and calculated on daily student attendance. He said that he would lobby in Austin for the district as a start but also called for greater transparency from the district regarding what is going on with the budget and why, calling “right sizing” a “smokescreen.”

Asonye was asked about transparency and verification of claims made by district leaders to the board, in the context of conflicting information given to the board about cuts at the OAC, and what steps she would take. She said that in increasing transparency “we have to be honest” and that there are words used in the corporate world which don’t necessarily translate to everyone. “What we say has to make sense to everyone,” she said and added that decisions should not be made quickly.

Asked about steps he would take to protect Katy’s language programs, including high-quality bilingual programs, Greene said ESL students translate into increased funding for the district and that one of the ways to protect it is to “just not cut it.” The district also needs to increase its enrollment through options such as the virtual Legacy High School, which will add students but reduce costs.

Nieto was asked how he would improve pay for other classified support staff such as bus drivers. He said he would also advocate in Austin for increased funding so that pay raises could be given and that he would continue to advocate for higher wages. He said other districts have given raises to bus drivers and that Katy ISD should study those districts to see how they accomplished it.

Candidates then delivered closing remarks, and many stayed after the forum to meet individually with attendees.

To view the forum in its entirety, go to https://www.facebook.com/p/Katy-AFT-61562761990449/.