Many H-Town Races Going To Runoffs

No thanks to a last minute jacked up ruling from the Republican Texas Secretary of State Ruth R Hughs, the election results in Harris County and our Houston municipal election were delayed until well after midnight.

Mayor Sylvester Turner was comfortably ahead for most of the night, but unfortunately will be in a runoff against Trumper Tony 'I Don't Need To Be Mayor' Buzbee.

Mayor Turner released a statement early this morning once the runoff was assured.

"To those who voted for me, thank you. To those who did not, I will work hard to earn your votes 

"The good news about this runoff is that Houstonians have a very simple and very clear choice for mayor: An experienced leader who has been delivering for Houston for more than 30 years? Or a Donald Trump imitator who has no experience, no ideas and will say anything, do anything or spend anything to get elected? 

"I trust Houstonians to make the right decision for our city.

Controller Chris Brown won reelection to a second term, beating Orlando Sanchez.

In the City Council races, incumbent councilmembers Dave Martin (District E), Greg Travis (District G), Robert Gallegos (District I) and Martha Castex Tatum (District K) .

Castex Tatum won election for a full four year term of her own after succeeding the late councilmember Larry Green in May 2018 and finishing the remaining time on his term..

In an interesting development, all five of the at large council seats are going to runoffs.

At Large 1 incumbent Mike Knox will face Raj Salhotra. 
At Large 2 incumbent David Robinson will face off against HERO hating pastor Willie Davis. 
At Large 3 incumbent Michael Kubosh, who voted against HERO, will be challenged by Janaeya Carmouche. 
At Large 4 Anthony Dolcefino will square off against Dr Letitia Plummer for the seat being vacated by CM Amanda Edwards, who is running for the US Senate. 
At Large 5, Sallie Alcorn will battle Eric Dick for the seat being vacated by Jack Christie .

These Houston City Council district races are going to runoffs.

District A, Amy Peck will take on George Zoes in the battle to replace term limited councilmember Brenda Stardig. 
District B will feature a runoff contest between Tarsha Jackson and Cynthia Bailey 
District C will feature the expected runoff between Abbie Kaman and Shelley Kennedy
District D in a shocker, will have Carolyn Evans-Shabazz taking on Brad 'Scarface' Jordan from the rap group the Geto Boys to determine who replaces Dwight Boykins, who decided to run for mayor..
District F, Tiffany Thomas will face Van Huynh to replace incumbent Steve Le, who decided not to run for reelection. 
District H  incumbent Karla Cisneros will face Isabel Longoria, 
District J Sandra Rodriguez will face Edward Pollard

In the HCCS races, in District I Monica Flores Richart fell just short of winning the seat outright, and will face longtime homophobe and transphobe Dave Wilson.

In HCCS District II- Rhonda Skillern Jones will face Kathy Lynch-Gunter 

In the HISD races, incumbents Sergio Lira (Position 3) and Board president Diana Davila (Position 8) were ousted by their challengers Dani Hernandez and Judith Cruz   

Position 2 will be decided in a runoff between Kathy Bluefield Daniels and John Curtis Gibbs.
Position 4 will be decided in a runoff between Patricia Allen and Matt Barnes.   Patrica is the daughter of TX state Rep Alma Allen and sister of SBOE member Lawrence Allen 

But will it be enough to preempt a threatened state takeover of HISD?

In HD 148, the battle to replace retiring state rep Jessica Farrar will be between Democrat Anna Eastman and Republican Luis La Rotta

Down in Fort Bend County, in a closely watched special election race in HD 28,  Eliz Markowitz and perennial candidate Gary Gates will face off to determine who will replace the retired John Zerwas.

It is one of the nine seats Texas Democrats must flip in order to seize control of the Texas house for the first time since 2002   Markowitz was the lone Democrat running against five republicans for this seat.  and led for much of the night .

We'll see if she can capture the seat in a Fort Bend County that is turning purple.

The TransGriot 2019 Houston Municipal Election Endorsements

Since one of the things I talk about on this blog is politics from a trans perspective, I do pay attention to what's going on at the city, county, state, national and international level when it comes to what's happening in the political world.

As a person who is also a writer and advocate, it's also my job to know and pass that info on to you.  I want people to be more informed voters when it's time for you to head to the polls.

The early voting period starts October 21 and runs until November 2.  Election Day for our Houston municipal election and the special Texas House elections will be on November 5

Speaking of voting, if you wish to participate in our upcoming Houston municipal election or the Texas House special elections, you'll have until October 7 to register to vote in order to be eligible to do so.

Now that the basic information is out of the way, let's get to the endorsements.

***

Mayor- Sylvester Turner
Controller- Chris Brown 

City Council
District A- Iesheia Ayers Wilson
District B- Tarsha Jackson
District C- Shelley Kennedy
District D- Carla Brailey
District F-  Anthony Nelson
District G- Crystal Pletka 
District H- Isabel Longoria
District I-  Robert Gallegos 
District J- Sandra Rodriguez 
District K- Martha Castex Tatum 

At Large 1-  Georgia Provost
At Large 2-  David Robinson 
At Large 3- Janaeya Carmouche
At Large 4-  Dr. Letitia Plummer 
At Large 5- Ashton P. Woods

Houston Community College System Trustee 

District 1- Monica Flores Richart 
District 2- Rhonda Skillern Jones

HISD Trustee

District II- Kathy Blueford Daniels
District III-  Daniela Hernandez 
District IV- Larry McKinzie
District VIII- Judith Cruz

Texas House Special Elections

HD-28 -  Eliz Markowitz 
HD-148- Penny Morales Shaw 

METRONext- YES

Mayflower Madam Quote Removed From HISD School Walls

School doesn't start in HISD until next week, but one thing that Gregory-Lincoln Education Center students will see brightening up the hall is a quote from Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai instead of one from the Mayflower Madam.

Gregory-Lincoln serves K-8 students in the Montrose, Fourth Ward, Midtown, and Downtown areas of the city.

It came to our local Houston activist community's attention that a quote attributable to infamous Mayflower madam Sydney Biddle Barrows was on the wall at Gregory -Lincoln now occupied by the Malala one.

The quote that previously occupied that spot read, "The more you act like a lady, the more he'll act like a gentleman'.

That is problematic on a lot of levels just beyond who it came from. You as an individual are responsible for your own behavior, and that not a message we should be sending the middle school age girls that they bear responsibility for the behavior of young boys .

Melania is a illustrative example of the futility of the quote, considering the ongoing nekulturny behavior of the overgrown orange toddler she's married to.

Local media got wind of the story after it was pushed by Pantsuit Republic Houston and other women's groups online and offline.   It wasn't long before the offensive quote got the attention of HISD senior leadership, was painted over and replaced with the more appropriate one from Yousafzai.

Coincidentally, one of the books on the HISD third grade reading list for this 2018-19 school year is one written by Yousafzai entitled Malala's Magic Pencil.

Mission accomplished in terms of folks speaking up and getting positive action to take place after they did so.

Isiah Factor - Two Sides Of The HISD School Board Controversy

You may have seen the WTF level moment in which two people were arrested at a contentious HISD meeting.

HISF School Board President Rhonda Skillern Jones and Kandice Webber along with Ashton Woods discuss what happened from their perspectives

Skillern Jones has offered an apology to Webber and the other woman arrested in the debacle. Charges were dropped after consultation with Harris County DA Kim Ogg, but Weeber has some definite opinions concerning what should happen next.

Both appeared on FOX26's The Isiah Factor Uncensored to discuss what happened Monday and what needs to happen next.

Black Community Anger Explodes At HISD Board Meeting

Not surprised about hearing that the almost two decade long pissivity that Houston's Black community has with the HISD school board finally boiled over last night.

Since 2000, many of the school campuses that HISD has been closing or selling off to charter school outfits have been in Black and Latinx neighborhoods. 

There has also been over the last two decades in HISD  the stripping of or killing of successful magnet programs housed in  Black and Latinx schools, like my high school alma mater Jesse H. Jones which used to host until 2002 the district's Vanguard gifted and talented magnet high school.

Black and Latinx HISD have also chafted as they see HISD schools in predominantly white neighborhoods not only stay open, but get funded, new magnet programs and new school buildings built as Houston Black and brown neighborhoods increasingly get charter schools or see longtime neighborhood schools close..

That pissivity with an HISD school board that ironically is primarily nonwhite and female led boiled over as a proposal to let a charter school outfit, Energized for STEM came up for a vote.

Energized for STEM has some controversial leadership in NAACP Houston President James Douglas and former HISD board member Paula Harris, in whose former HISD trustee district many Black schools were closed

That plus a Black community fed up with our school being the ones repeatedly put on the chopping block led to HISD school board president Rhonda Skillern Jones ordering HISD and HPD officers to clear the packed auditorium at the Hattie Mae White Education Center.   One woman was dragged out of the room while Houston Rising';s Kandice Webber was arrested for as observers claimed merely clapping her approval at what another person said.

Haven't heard as of this writing if she has been released, and after the board went into a closed door session, the decided not to vote on the controversial proposal to hand over 10 low performing predominately Black schools to the charter outfit.

Stay tumed because this saga isn't quite over yet.

Handle Your 2017 Election Business Tomorrow

If you missed your opportunity to early vote, don't get upset because Election Day is tomorrow..

You'll just have to handle your election business at your usual precincts instead of the early voting locations that were open until November 3.

Polls will be open from 7 AM-7 PM CST.

While this is a Houston centric election reminder post, I am keenly aware of the fact there are people running for office across the country in critical elections, including four trans candidates in Minneapolis, New York State and Virginia looking to make history tomorrow..

Our Lone Star State ones for governor, lieutenant governor, the Lege and other critical positions in our state government aren't happening until next year.   It'll be 2019 for the city of Houston elections .

But we do have control of the HISD school board up in this election cycle with six seats up for grabs,  two HCC boards seats , five Houston city propositions and several state constitutional amendments that require you to say YEA or NAY to.

As usual the Houston LGBT Political Caucus has their endorsed slate of candidates you can vote for the endorsed candidates on their card

Who are those endorsed candidates?   Glad you asked.

Houston Community College Board of Trustees
HCC Trustee District IV -  Carolyn Evans- Shabazz
HCC Trustee District IX-    Pretta VanDible Stallworth

Houston Independent School District Board of Education
HISD Trustee District 1-   Elizabeth Santos
HISD Trustee District III- Carlos Perrett
HISD  Trustee District V-  Kara DeRocha
HISD Trustee District VI-  Holly Flynn Vilaseca
HISD Trustee  District VIII- Anne Katherine Sung

And for the first time the Caucus has also come out with an official position on issues pertinent to our community.

City of Houston Propositions
FOR City of Houston Propositions A, B, C, D and E

If you're wondering how to vote on those Texas Constitutional Amendments,  here's analysis from Daniel Williams, one of the smart people I pay attention to when he talks about Texas politics and the Texas Legislature.

So consider this a practice run for 2018 and 2020 and go handle your electoral business.

Get Your Early Vote On Texas!

We have a year until the 2018 elections happen in Texas, so get you practice in for that critical election cycle by getting your early vote on for November 7. 

Early voting in Texas started on October 23 and is running until November 3.  So if all that chatter in the wake of the appalling 2016 election about resistance  wasn't you sellin' woof tickets, prove it by getting up off the couch and heading to your fave early voting location to handle your democracy business.

There are seven proposed Texas constitutional amendments on the ballot awaiting your YES or NO vote.  In Houston we not only have five propositions on the ballot, we also have people running for the HiSD school board in Districts I, III, and VIII, but an HCC trustee election in District IV.

And in HISD, the largest district in the state of Texas, there are six school board seats up for grabs .  Due to the death of District III trustee Manuel Rodriguez, Jr with two years left on his four year term, a special election is being held to fill the remaining time on his term.  Four candidates, Sergio Lira, Carlos Perrett,  Rodolfo Reyes and Jesse Rodriguez have filed to fill that seat

Incumbent trustees in Districts I (Anna Eastman) and V (Michael Lunceford) opted not to seek re election.   Three candidates, Gretchen Himsl, Monica Richart and Elizabeth Santos filed for the District 1 seat.   Four candidates, Kara DeRocha, Sean Cheben, Sue Deigaard and Susan Shafer    filed for the District V seat.

Incumbent members Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca (District VI) , Anne Sung (District  VII) and Wanda Adams (District IX) have challengers   Vilaseca has two challengers in Daniel Albert and Robert Lundin. Sung is being challenged by John  Luman, and Adams by Karla Brown and Gerry Monroe 

Houston is not the only spot in the Lone Star State with November 7 elections.  There are other people running across the Lone Star State for public office who would love to have your votes

Since this will sadly be a low turnout election given the stakes, every vote matters.   Your vote may also be the difference in you candidate either winning or making a runoff.

So go handle your election business,..

Another Month, Another Contentious HISD Board Meeting

Stay tuned because there will be fireworks at this Thursday's HISD 4 PM CDT board meeting.
--TransGriot   March 13, 2014.

Can I call it or what? 

I had the opportunity to spend what was an interesting afternoon and early evening watching and Tweeting remarks during the March HISD Board meeting in which 120 people signed up to speak at a meeting that had the closure of Jones High School and Dodson Elementary on the menu.  

As I mentioned in earlier posts, the Houston African-American community is seething with anger over the fact that 19 of the schools that have been closed so far are disproportionately in African-American neighborhoods, and are creating what we call 'school deserts' in our neighborhoods.   

That anger boiled over in the meeting last night attended by a standing room only crowd in the board room at HISD's Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on the northwest side of town. 

Because of the large number of speakers, we were limited to one minute (which pissed me off) because you can't even get a coherent thought out in one minute.  The dismissive,disinterested attitude of the white male HISD board members and Superintendent Grier as people came to the podium to express themselves was interpreted as disrespect, combined with the pissivity over the proposed closes of two more of our schools.  

That combined with many people feeling before even walking into that board meeting the HISD board and the district weren't and haven't been listening to our community about our displeasure over the disproportionate number of public schools being closed  in our neighborhoods led to emotions boiling over.

When one of the speakers made the comment of coming after Terry Grier with an accounting audit, all the HISD po-po's heard was 'threat' and scrambled into action to form a phalanx in front of the board while the person was hustled off to another corner of the room away from the speakers podium.  That triggered a five minute recess and 'Fire Terry Grier' chants as people wroked to defuse tensions in the room..

After the pissivity in the room was ratcheted down a few levels with the help of Trustees Wanda Adams, Rhonda Skillern-Jones and Texas state rep Borris Miles,  the vote on Jones fate happened.   The proposal was amended to keep Jones open and repurpose it without athletics, which didn't sit well with me and many of the people in the room.   We basically want the same thing the white HISD constituents enjoy at Bellaire, Lamar, Westside, and other comprehensive HISD neighborhood high schools.  

That passed on a 6-3 vote.  Jones lived, but its attendance zone was split between Worthing and Sterling High Schools and what the 'repurposed' school is going to look like is still to be determined. 

But it definitely wasn't the comprehensive high school we wanted 

Dodson Elementary unfortunately we couldn't save.  Because as I mentioned in yesterday's post Dodson's location made it a juicy target for closure despite hosting an exemplary rated Montessori program. 

It sits in the shadow of downtown in the EaDo neighborhood less than two blocks from the soon to be opened Purple Line light rail line and right next to a hike and bike trail.   It was battling the forces of gentrification and whatever backroom deals had been cut and our kids are going to be the losers in this.   .  

The vote to close it was a 5-4 one, and that stoked fresh waves of anger after the stunned crowd realized what happened.
  
So the struggle continues.  Another Black school in Houston has been slated for closure this May, Jones has been put on the slow track in many of our minds to eventual death and the simmering African-American community anger at superintendent Dr. Terry Grier and the HISD board has just had gasoline poured on it.


As to whether the trust level between the Houston African-American community and the HISD board can be rebuilt?   What that is going to take is Terry Grier's firing or departure as a starting point and a moratorium on school closures in our neighborhoods.    

Moni's Headed To The HISD School Board Meeting

I'm preparing to head over to Houston northwest side and the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center for today's 4 PM CDT HISD school board meeting that will determine the fate of my high school alma mater and Dodson Elementary School. 

And if you're wondering if I'm feeling a sense of deja vu about this, yes, I am. 

The HISD board of trustees is going to vote on that issue today, and I'm one of the speakers signed up in opposition to it.  

Superintendent Grier is proposing (again) to close the doors of Jesse H Jones at the end of this school year and send the students currently enrolled there to Sterling and Worthing high schools.  

I and a coalition of people are fighting to keep that from happening, and pointing out that HISD caused many of the problems the school is experiencing.

A press conference was held yesterday in front of Jones in which we pointed out once again the HISD has no legitimate reason to close Jones or Dodson Elementary and are tired of the school closure ax falling in predominately African-American neighborhoods.   . 

We'll see what happens at the school board meeting.   My HISD trustee Paula Harris said February 11 at the community meeting held at Jones there weren't five votes on the board (the majority) to close those schools.  But until the HISD board actually casts that binding vote in public at today's meeting, anything can happen.  


Will update y'all as to what is happening and how it turned out. 

Saving JJ-The Sequel

Last year I wrote about the controversial efforts of HISD Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier to close my high school alma mater that was thwarted by a coalition of people that included moi.

We bought ourselves some time after last year's unanimous 8-0 HISD board meeting vote to table it, but like Jason, the proposal being pushed by Grier to close Jones isn't dead yet.

This time the proposal was to close Jones and send the students to Worthing and Sterling.   That proposal got the same thumbs down at the February 11 community meeting held on JJ's campus as the Jones-Sterling merger got  last year and I said as much during that meeting that was attended by a multicultural crowd of  over 100 people.

Read my lips and this post HISD school board.   The students, teachers and the South Park community want Jesse H. Jones High School to stay open.  Most importantly we want HISD to fix the mess that was created when the Vanguard magnet program was shadily stripped off the campus back in 2002 and time to come up with alternatives to boost enrollment.  

Marketing the school to the growing South Park Latino population would be another one.  Creating programs and activities that would appeal to the neighborhood kids whose talents gravitate to things other than the STEM program along with bringing Vanguard back home by creating another VG high school program on that campus.  .

If it weren't for the removal of the Vanguard program and its subsequent housing on a separate campus now relocated to the Montrose area,  Jones would have an enrollment of 1030 students and I wouldn't even be writing this post.   It would help if we had stability in JJ's principal's office along with HISD ceasing and desisting with the yearly threats to close JJ. That would be a great start toward boosting its enrollment because some of the transfers out of the Jones attendance zone are driven by that.   

I had the pleasure at that February 11 meeting of talking to the current Falcons who were excited and happy to know that they weren't alone in this fight and alums were in the JJ house to help them in this battle to keep Jesse H. Jones High School open.


HISD is still peddling the same snake oil they were trying to sell the community last year to justify the closure.  Low enrollment, high transfer rate out of the Jones attendance zone, high budget cost per student and changing neighborhood demographics that were all debunked in this March 5 Houston Forward Times article.

Performance has not been a factor with the closures.   Some of the 19 schools that were closed, like Rhoads Elementary were exemplary ranked schools.   Dodson Elementary, which has the highly successful HISD Montessori program on its campus that my sister attended, is also slated for closure Thursday and sits along I-45 in the EaDo shadow of downtown Houston mere blocks from the Purple Line light rail line being built. 
   
The African-American community is still pissed that the bulk of the school closings during Grier's controversial tenure as superintendent since 2009 have disproportionately been aimed at schools in African-American neighborhoods, with the school properties subsequently sold to charter outfits, private schools or in Ryan's case after its closure last year turned into a magnet school.     

Some of the players have changed since last March.   Juliet Stipeche is now the HISD board president, and removed three of the schools slated for closure off the list.    Too bad she didn't kill it period.  

At this upcoming Thursday board meeting you'll have Wanda Adams, my former city councilmember sitting in the seat formerly occupied by Grier ally Lawrence Marshall.  Adams just penned a Houston Chronicle op-ed concerning the shifting goalpost for school closures and the need for a consistent set of metrics for doing so

The shifting goalposts and dismissive lack of action on what the community says is needed to reverse the negative enrollment problem HISD caused is what is pissing many of us off in this fight to keep JJ open.

We know the district caused the problem, arrogantly will not listen to the community suggestions to fix the problem, and are continuing to use debunked talking points to try to justify the school's closure.  

If you wish to speak at Thursday's board meeting, you have until 4:30 PM today to sign up and it's Item F-1 on the board meeting agenda.   

  
Stay tuned because there will be fireworks at this Thursday's HISD 4 PM CDT board meeting.    
. 

HISD Considering Policy Banning Offensive School Mascot Names

Mirabeau B. Lamar High School opened in 1937 and is  named for the second president of the Republic of Texas.

It has a long distinguished list of alumni that includes actress Jaclyn Smith, A.J. Foyt, Lisa Hartman-Black, Grammy Award winner Kelly Rowland,  Rep John Culberson (R-TX), former Houston mayor Fred Hofheinz,  Tony Award winner Tommy Tune, former NBC News anchor Linda Ellerbee, Mike Godwin (the creator of Godwin's Law), current Texas Lt Governor David Dewhurst (R), former Texas Governor Mark White (D),  and NFL players Brandon LaFell, Brian Orakpo and Josh Gordon.

But its the Redskins nickname that is drawing attention these days.   Since the 1970's Native Americans have been campaigning to get schools, colleges and professional sports teams to drop mascot names they consider derogatory and demeaning to them as a people.   They have had some success, with Stanford, Dartmouth, Miami of Ohio and St. John's universities doing so along with other colleges and high schools across the country.

The Redskins one has gotten not only local attention with state Sen Rodney Ellis (D) urging HISD to change Lamar's mascot,  there is an intensifying campaign to get the NFL Washington franchise to do the same.

Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier is considering introducing a proposed policy to the HISD board that would ban mascot names at all its schools that play on racial, ethnic or cultural stereotypes. 

If that policy passes, and it underwent discussion yesterday at the school board review meeting, it promises to be a contentious topic at the upcoming Thursday HISD board meeting.

In addition to Lamar having to give up the Redskin mascot nickname if it passes and replace it with something else, so would the Westbury High School Rebels, the Hamilton Middle School Indians and the Welch Middle School Warriors starting in the 2014-15 school year.

"The time has come for the Houston Independent School District - the most vibrantly diverse school district in the nation - to acknowledge that some decisions made generations ago need to be reconsidered," Grier wrote. "Traditions are important. But respect for cultural difference and sensitivities matters more."

Gee, what a shock.  Something I actually agree with Superintendent Greer about.

Of course some longtime vanillacentric privileged alums of the school are not happy about that, citing the tired 'tradition'  excuse to justify keeping a mascot nickname that offends Native Americans in the area. 

Those alums will probably will be at the Hattie Mae White Education Center in force Thursday as I pop the popcorn and watching the fireworks on the public access broadcast of the meeting.


TransGriot Update:  The proposal passed unanimously..

Moni's At The March HISD Board Meeting

I talk about intersectionality a lot on this blog.   I also talk about the fact that I interact and intersect with a lot of communities besides just the trans one.  I also have policy and other issue interests besides trans human rights ones.

I talked about in the Saving JJ post about HISD's attempt to consolidate my old high school with one of our rivals in Ross Sterling.   It was a plan they attempted to shadily blitz through at the last minute and we raised enough of a stink to get the high school consolidation part of it tabled for now. 

I practice what I preach about intersectionality, and to prove it, here's video of the March 7 HISD school board meeting.   You'll see some trans blogger y'all know and love speaking during this board meeting.

JJ Gets A Reprieve

I wrote about your favorite blogger joining in the efforts to save my high school alma mater Jesse H. Jones from a consolidation neither we or the peeps at Ross S. Sterling wanted

It's one of those times where I get to practice what I preach on these pages in terms of working intersectionally and also make the point to those folks who know I'm a trans activist that I'm also paying attention to what happens in the African-American community.

I attended Monday's board agenda meeting in which Superintendent Terry Grier mischaracterized and pissed off us Jones alumni that afternoon.   He called the passionate way we tore into the board and documented the troubling pattern of closing schools in predominately Black neighborhoods and immediately turning them into charter schools during the February 26 meeting at JJ as 'racism'.

I called his azz out along several of my Falcon alums along with Sterling alum Larry McKinzie in an interview with a Houston Chronicle reporter shortly after I walked out of the board agenda meeting because I was still majorly pissed off and decided to remove myself from the room.

Larry and I were the only ones quoted in the article that ran in Thursday's edition of the Chronicle

Note to Superintendent Grier.  Racism=prejudice plus systemic power, not an epithet you sling when the uppity Black people correctly call you out on your double talk and bull feces.

I signed up to speak at the board meeting along with 23 other people signed up to speak on the proposed Jones-Sterling merger.   There were 26 signed up to speak on the merger of Cullen and Ryan middle schools which was also opposed by people in the Third Ward neighborhood where it sits.

There was an entire section of the HISD boardroom auditorium reserved for those of us signed up to speak that evening, and we were also cut from our normal three minutes to two because of the number of speakers.

I told my mom that there would be fireworks at this meeting and she might wish to watch it on public access and I was on target in that assessment.  I also noted along with many of us sitting there the conspicuous absence of Superintendent Terry Grier and the board member representing our area in Paula Harris 

After getting through the initial board business,  we got to the two issues Items E-1 and E-2 on the board agenda that were causing the drama.   

After getting through the twenty plus speakers who passionately pointed out why Ryan and Cullen needed to stay as separate schools, the board voted 5-3 to merge them to the disgust of the Ryan folks in the audience.

Then it was time to discuss Item E-2, the consolidation of Jones and Sterling.  As I and the other 22 speakers passionately made our case for either a NO vote or a tabling of the issue the tension continued to rise.  Then came the motion to table it and the unanimous 8-0 vote to do just that   Considering we were just finding out about this proposal only last week, it was an amazing result.

All we accomplished was buying ourselves some time.   It's up to us to come up with recommendations for programs that will attract neighborhood kids back to both campuses and  entice others from different parts of the city to go there.

And for those of you wondering why I got involved besides the fact it was my high school alma mater, as the proud child of a retired teacher education issues are important to me.  

It was African-American Texas legislators during Reconstruction that passed the laws to set up the public education system in our state. That obligates me and other African-American Texans to fight for better Houston and Texas public schools as a legacy for future generations just as they were thinking about our generation when they set it up back in the 19th century.  

So Jones Family and Raider Nation, we have work to do.  

Saving JJ

Figures that a bunch of stuff would blow up as I'm scrambling to replace my computer.

One of the things that has come up during the week my computer died is the shocking news that the HISD board wants to consolidate my alma mater Jesse H. Jones High ironically with the school I was zoned to in Ross S. Sterling.

Next to Jack Yates (which I still sarcastically refer to as Burger King High because BK's 1970's work uniforms were in Yates' gold and red school colors) Ross Sterling is our biggest rival.  

The district football game we played against each other was nicknamed the 'South Park Super Bowl' and I'm happy to note that during my time walking JJ's halls we Falcons never lost to to the Raiders.   I still bow to Galen Gillum every time I see him at our reunions for saving me from a year of trash talking from my neighborhood by kicking the school record 38 yard game winning field goal in the 1979 game that JJ won 22-20.

You've seen some of my JJ themed posts on the blog, read me bragging about my old school's athletic exploits, and discussing my reunion with the Class With Class, JJ's class of 1980 of which I am a proud member.

But my school which has been open since 1959, counts former HPD police chief Elizabeth Watson, actress JoBeth Williams, NFL all pros Darrell Green and Alfred Williams, NBA baller Daniel Gibson and countless doctors, attorneys, business people, and a human rights activist and blogger amongst its alumni is on the verge of of having its doors shut forever.

In the upcoming agenda meeting at 4:00 PM CST Monday and the HISD school board meeting on Thursday at 5 PM a proposal is being floated to consolidate the two high schools in the wake of the just passed bond issues that allocates $72 million to tear down and rebuild Sterling's campus that opened in 1965. 

The plan is to move the 888 students currently on the Sterling campus to Jones' campus in the fall while theirs is being rebuilt.  Once construction is complete, they and the 451 students currently on JJ's campus will be combined into a new school.


Of course, that plan is not sitting well with either alumni group and especially the parents in South Park who would have to send their kids several miles away from South Park to Sterling or whatever they rename the combined school.

Two of the suggestions for the renamed school are Martin Luther King Jr HS and Barack H Obama HS.  Others have suggested it be named for an African-American Houstonian or Texan.

In case you're wondering TransGriot readers, Barbara Jordan's name already graces a Houston high school.

There were two meetings held Tuesday night at Jones and Sterling in which peeps voiced their less than enthusiastic response to the plan.    There's also a Facebook group of Jones and Sterling alums working together to put a third option on the table of keeping both schools open and enhancing the programs available at both schools.

Much of the hostility on the JJ end is the fact that popular programs like the Hotel and Restaurant management one, the International Baccalaureate one, and the Vanguard one that drew me to the school have been stripped away from the Jones campus.  The way the Vanguard programs was moved in 2002 despite opposition to it from the neighborhood and alums, the messing with Lawrence Allen, one of the schools popular principals (and a JJ Class of 80 alum) during the early 2K's that was the flimsy pretext used by predominately white Vanguard parents groups to force the program off campus also didn't engender warm and fuzzy feelings toward HISD.  

It has led to an air of justified side-eyed suspicion toward HISD's motives in all this especially since Jones alumni, students and parents have the attitude that once again, JJ is being screwed in all this..  It also doesn't help that since the retirement of our longtime principal Arthur L Pace, there has been instability in the principal's chair that has led to six people occupying it in a five year span and last year at a neighborhood meeting at Worthing HS when the question of asked of Superintendent Terry Grier of this possibility, the assembled crowd at that meeting was told there were no plans to merge the two schools. .

And they wonder why neighborhood parents have been sending their kids elsewhere? 

What the alumni and neighborhood parents are wanting from HISD is to invest the money in Jones they promised to get us to vote YES on that 2012 bond issue.   One of the other suggestions that has been floated, since they know we are still pissed off about the Vanguard program shadily being moved from JJ's campus back in 2002 to what is now called the Carnegie Vanguard campus is creating a second Vanguard campus, housing it at JJ and naming the school for Mr Pace, who was the first African-American principal of the school and the longest tenured one.

And you peeps can also hit up the HISD school board on this one as well.

Well, as many of us have asked, if you're going to do that, then why not keep Jones alive for the neighborhood kids since Vanguard was originally a 'school within a school' and until it was yanked off the campus functioned quite well in that role? 

I'll definitely be at the board meeting, and will keep y'all posted as to how this turned out.

HISD Board Meeting And Protest Tonight

Posted about this yesterday, but wanted to remind you peeps in the Houston area there is an HISD board meeting scheduled for tonight.

The Houston rainbow community and our allies will be there in full effect this afternoon and evening to remind District III Trustee Manuel Rodriguez ain't nothing changed and we haven't forgotten about that stank homophobic flier you aimed at Ramiro Fonseca and used to win reelection to the HISD school board by 24 votes.

The protest will take place in front of the HISD's Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center starting at 4:30 PM CST and there will probably be another capacity crowd in the board room auditorium patiently waiting for the public comment portion of the meeting to have their say about what went down and demand his resignation in light of it.  

If you're planning on heading over to 4400 W. 18th St. and wanted to express yourself, the deadline for that passed at 4:30 PM yesterday   

However, the folks that will be outside protesting would probably love to have you join them outside the building exercising your constitutional right to free speech.

And if you can't make it out to northwest Houston in time for the protest or the school board meeting that starts at 6:30 PM, you can pop some popcorn or grab whatever your favorite snack is and catch the school board meeting live on public access cable.

HISD December Board Meeting Tomorrow

The Houston rainbow community is still pissed off about the homophobic flier that embattled Trustee Manuel Rodriguez unleashed in his tight reelection campaign for his District III seat against Ramiro Fonseca.

While Rodriguez won reelection by a scant 24 votes, he ignited in the process an ongoing firestorm of criticism, the creation of a website aimed at him and repeated calls for his resignation from the HISD school board.

It has also prompted the board to examine the recently passed non discrimination policies, make them applicable to the Board of Trustees as well and give the board the authority to internally address violations in the wake of what happened during the recent election campaign and is one of the issues on the meeting agenda for tomorrow.

The latest HISD board meeting in the wake of the ongoing controversy will take place in what is certain to be a packed board auditorium at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center.  For you folks in the Houston area wishing to express yourselves to the school board about this issue, you have until 4:30 PM CST today to register to speak during the public comment portion of the board meeting.


Despite the chilly near freezing temperature weather that has descended upon the Houston area, there is another protest scheduled outside the building at 4400 W. 18th Street to renew the calls for Rodriguez's resignation.  

And if you can't make it, the HISD board meetings are televised on public access cable channels.   .   

Will be interesting to watch what goes down at the school board meeting tomorrow.

HISD Trustee Still On The Hotseat Over Homophobic Flyer

If HISD District III trustee Manuel Rodriguez thought the Thanksgiving holiday, a wacked phobic apology and the passage of time would lessen the anger of the Houston rainbow community and our allies over the homophobic campaign flier he unleashed during the final days of his contentious reelection campaign for his school board seat, um no.

A website called HISDbully.org and a Facebook page entitled Remove The HISD Bully have sprung up with the goal of getting Rodriguez to resign from the HISD board.  His opponent Ramiro Fonseca decided not to seek a recount in the race that Rodriguez won by 25 votes. 

There is another community protest being planned for December 8, the next scheduled meeting date for the HISD board at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center.

That protest will start outside the building at 4:30 PM and in addition to the growing numbers of people asking for and signing petitions calling for Rodriguez's immediate resignation, there are increasing calls for making the just passed in August anti-bullying policies applicable to the HISD Board of Trustees.

When that meeting kicks off at 6 PM CST there will most certainly be a long list of speakers jam packed into the board auditorium that evening just like their was during the November 10 meeting   

Hmm..may have to be there that night for this one.