This evening, the Lack of Trustees will change.  Long time Board Member, Andy Mytelka, will leave the Board although his membership in the Circle of H’Eight most likely will remain in some form or fashion.  If nothing else, we all live with his decisions on a daily basis.  I don’t believe he ever fully accomplished one of his goals of getting text books in the hands of our children.  I don’t ever see text books, they never come home, and I hear they are never used.  But he will leave with his legacy of school zone gerrymandering to accomplish certain TEA ratings with little educational improvements.  God Speed, Mr. Mytelka.  Enjoy your free time.

A new Lack of Trustee will be inserted in Mytelka’s spot.  Pediatrician Matt Hay will jump on the wagon.  His allegiance remains to be seen. And Beau Rawlins will be reinstated for another term which begs the question, what happens while he runs for Mayor and what happens to his Board seat if he wins his Mayor race?  

Additionally tonight, the Lack of Trustees will find yet another way to keep your tax dollars out of the classroom by joining the other raging band of angry Superintendents suing the State over their budgets.  Once an animal tastes blood, they say they are hooked for life, so any changes to expected district budgets will be met with the same vicious attacks as an animal protecting his prey.  Public School budgets have never been managed effectively to produce a decent and good product.  GISD spends around $11,000 PER MONTH on attorneys, gets a new curriculum system or new internet software annually, busses students from one end of the Island to another and spends money on more administrators and school management than we really need. All of us are required to live within our means or else live below our means to pay off excessive spending.  Why shouldn’t schools do the same?  Why shouldn’t schools make the cuts to the fat in the district before they spend our money suing us?  Should Superintendents really make more than the Governor of Texas or the Administrator of NASA?  Really? Do we really need as many schools and as many principals and staff as we have?  Do we really need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorneys chomping at the bit to sue the State?

Just look at the Agenda for tonight: https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicAgenda.aspx?ak=84902&mk=50036551

Check out the Purchases over $25,000.  Doesn’t look like there’s a budget issue there. In fact, on page 3 there is a $110,000 amount to Feldman & Rodgers, LLP.  That was the law firm GISD used to sue me which NO LONGER EXISTS!!!  What’s that all about???  Do any of the Board Members know what is going on at GISD????

There is something terribly wrong when teachers themselves and PTOs have to use their own money and raise money for items for the students in the classroom while district officials spend money on things most of us never hear about from our students. And now they’ll waste more money because they don’t want to look at their budgets just like we have to look at ours. 

A new Board. Let’s see if anything changes.