Kevin O’Hanlon and his fellow attorneys make some convincing arguments on behalf of Houston ISD.
In a Tuesday phone interview as well as a 49-page amended complaint filed last week in federal court – where Austin law firm O’Hanlon, Demerath & Castillo is representing HISD in its lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath and the conservator he appointed to oversee the district – O’Hanlon described HISD as healthy, functional and mostly successful. He pointed to the high B the district recently received in the TEA’s state accountability ratings, its solid financial standing and the fact many of its 280 campuses are performing well academically.
He also claimed the preliminary findings of a TEA investigation into HISD’s board of trustees are flawed, and that Morath has no legal grounds to replace them with a state-appointed board of managers as recommended by the TEA investigator. O’Hanlon said such a move would be disenfranchising and racially discriminatory to the Houston voters who elected the trustees, who are alleged to have violated open meetings laws, overstepped their authority and mishandled business dealings.
Now, I’m no legal expert, so I can’t say whether O’Hanlon’s points will hold up in court. But I know he works for HISD, and he confirmed the district is paying him with taxpayer money.
The latter fact is the latest example of dysfunction by the HISD board, which should be spending less time and money on lawsuits and more on educating the children of Houston. Because no matter how many of its campuses are doing well, the failures of one likely will be the undoing of the much-maligned board.
On Aug. 15, a day before the court filing, HISD’s Wheatley High School received a failing grade of 59 in the TEA’s accountability ratings. It was the seventh year in a row that Wheatley did not meet state academic standards, which likely will trigger a 2015 state law that amounts to an ultimatum for Morath.
If a campus fails to meet state academic standards for five consecutive years – Wheatley received a waiver last year because of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 – the commissioner of education must either close the campus or replace its district’s trustees with a board of managers.
O’Hanlon said it’s not clear whether the law applies in Wheatley’s case, partly because last year’s waiver could have broken the string of consecutive poor reviews. The TEA did not respond to questions seeking clarification before press time Wednesday.
But at this point, do technicalities like that even matter? There is mounting evidence and growing public sentiment that the HISD board is not adequately serving its constituents and needs to be removed – even among the board members themselves.
Trustee Jolanda Jones, during last week’s celebration of a passing grade received by Kashmere High School, acknowledged “nonsense on the board” has contributed to struggling campuses and said trustees need to “get out of the way” of interim superintendent Grenita Lathan. Trustee Sue Deigaard echoed the sentiment in a recent editorial she wrote in the Houston Chronicle, saying, “We must focus less of our attention on our own well-being as adults and more on our students’ well-being.”
It’s also clear that at least some of the trustees are resigned to the fact their days on the board are numbered. Neither Jones nor Rhonda Skillern-Jones, who represents some of the schools in our area, filed to run again in November’s election.
Elizabeth Santos, the other trustee who represents area schools, and who is alleged to have violated open meetings laws when she voted to replace Lathan last October, announced this week she is exploring a bid for a soon-to-be-vacated seat in the Texas House of Representatives. And Santos isn’t even halfway through her four-year term on the school board.
The writing is on a big chalkboard at HISD headquarters, and it’s in big, block letters. HISD’s trustees have had their chance at governance and need to be replaced by board members who can improve the district’s image, transparency, functionality and, most of all, performance.
And it doesn’t matter much whether Morath replaces them because of Wheatley’s failing grade, because they didn’t award contracts properly or because they circumvented the rules in an attempt to swap out superintendents.
What matters is preventing the HISD board from spending any more taxpayer money on lawsuits against state agencies. Morath and the TEA are not problems for the largest school district in Texas, which has created many of its own issues and has plenty of other pressing matters at hand.
Among them is the start of a new school year on Monday. HISD’s priority should be providing the best possible education to each of its students on each of its campuses.
The city it serves is counting on that, no matter who serves on the board.
Anonymous says
To the four people that are reading this article:
The state is the body violating the law. The state is wasting your taxpayer dollars by acting illegally and forcing the district to defend itself from a blatant cash grab. It is not a coincidence that this perfect storm of a takeover is occurring just after billions of dollars have been approved for education through HB3.
This seems to have been planned for years. That’s why Moore, Meyers, Lunsford, and Eastman all gracefully exited. Just in time! And those current trustees damning their own governance have no better option; they lose politically either way, so they’d rather join the state fabricated chorus for a takeover. Come on, Zuvanich — do better.
The state will not take over HISD. They are wrong on this. COME AND TAKE IT.
Jolanda Jones says
I do NOT believe taxpayer money should be used on O’Hanlon. I do NOT believe that the causes of action filed by O’Hanlon are meritorious. I decided, long before we were notified about the SAI preliminary report, that I was NOT running for re-election. Some of my colleagues intentional actions to not address issues that relate to academic outcomes and achievement was a waste of my time and taxpayer money (using staff for meetings). As I’ve stated on numerous occasions, the Board, needs to get out of the superintendent’s way! Unfortunately we are judged as one so if five people act a way then all nine will be given that label. That’s sad but it is what it is. The four of us couldn’t stop the five of them because five always beats four. I’m in my fifties. I can’t reclaim time so I’m stopping the insanity of sitting on a board with the majority of its members who conduct HISD business away from public meetings and then show up to board meetings to run whatever plays they schemed to do in secrecy. #Enough ~ I didn’t just start outing their bad behavior. I’ve been #TellingIt since last year in my Facebook series #AsTheBoardTurns #TruthMatters ~ The Superintendent and her team achieved a B+ rating in spite of my colleagues! The schools that are struggling have been negatively impacted by my colleague’s bad behavior! It shouldn’t be like that! I’m tired of it and I respectfully believe the public should be too.