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MAGNOLIA ISD’S FAILED “TRE” APOLOGY TOUR!

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Magnolia ISD lost their TAX HIKE ELECTION August, 14, 2018 known as a Tax Ratification Election (TRE). They are humbly claiming that they did not message for the taxpayers their TAX HIKE correctly. Let’s us take a look at their messaging.

 

1) They held a clandestine public hearing on this Tax Hike at 7:30 am on a school morning. Not a single taxpayer was in attendance other than the board and school administration. I am in agreement with the district that is TERRIBLE MESSAGING.

2) The district had a professional video made promoting this TRE election claiming that there would be NO TAX HIKE and the TRE passed teachers would get raises, funds for curriculum needs and security. Note: The Security Needs was already being funded and voted on in Commissioners Court. They claimed they were just doing a “penny swap” from to one account to another though there were no pennies involved.  This was all smoke a mirrors and taxpayers started waking up to this fact.

Who saw this video? The district made sure their teachers and staff watched the pro TRE video prior to summer break encouraging them to vote YES.  In essence the district used the teachers as guinea pigs in hopes of winning this election. The video was then removed from public view until few weeks prior to the election. The district has zero information on the TRE election until a few weeks prior to early voting. As a matter of fact many received and mailed back their mail in ballots prior to the district posting any information regarding the election.

TERRIBLE MESSAGING (there was none)

3) The district decided to hold the election in the dead of summer while many taxpayers may have still been on vacation, giving no thought that the district was holding a TAX HIKE election. The exception was teachers and staff were starting in-service at this time just prior to school starting. (do not think that is not planned)

TERRIBLE MESSAGING!

4) School Board member, Kristi Baker takes to social media insinuating that taxpayers are just “poor unsuspecting people” and are basically incapable and lack the intellect to figure out the district is scamming. If not for a few activist working for three weeks including myself worked to get word our about the election. And the ones that were spending their time informing the taxpayers were LIARS according to Baker.

TERRIBLE MESSAGING

5) The district fails to tell the taxpayer’s that they are throwing wasting thousands on a UNITED NATIONS PROGRAM International Baccalaureate (IB)  that does not value American values or Exceptionalism.

IB World Schools endorse the UN Earth Charter which contradicts our Constitution as well. Earth Charter promotes redistribution of wealth, same sex marriage, pantheism, and military disarmament. The district also just build a 6 Million dollar Event Center to rent out. That is right they used our tax money and built an event center to compete with the private sector.

TERRIBLE MESSAGING

6) This is probably one of my favorites. School Board members after taxpayers were learning the truth posed for their own personal video in an attempt to rebuttal the truth that the TRE election was indeed a TAX HIKE. Board Member, Joe Duncan stated that the “any claim that after the TRE should pass we are going to IMMEDIATELY increase the I&S is simply not true”. So they are going to do it but not immediately? How thoughtful.

TERRIBLE MESSAGING

7) School Board member,  Kristi Baker within the “apology” video attempts to make the case claiming the ballot language is what confused taxpayers and that is the reason it did not pass.  What she is not saying is that there is a “TRUTH in TAXATION LAW”. The ballot can’t lie. So she is apologetic to the taxpayer that ballot has to be truthful. Seriously? So is she actually saying the district would have worded the ballot in order to trick the taxpayer to vote for the TAX HIKE?

TERRIBLE MESSAGING

Truth-in-taxation is a concept embodied in the Texas Constitution that requires local taxing units to make taxpayers aware of tax rate proposals and to afford taxpayers the opportunity to roll back or limit tax increases.

 

 

Do not think for one minute the district actually thinks this election failed due to their poor messaging. Their messaging was intentional but failed this election. Thanks to the taxpayers getting out and voting.

 

 

Texas State Senator Paul Betterment is working to inform the taxpayer of these clandestine TAX HIKE elections.

Thank you Sen. Bettencourt.


 

Magnolia ISD’s School Board need replaced. We have three board members whose terms are up this spring.

Charlie Riley band member, School Board President, Gary Blizzard.

 

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Katy Superintendent Lance Hindt Confronted by HighSchool Classmate: Delivers Ultimate Vindication

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The old adage that your sins will find you out comes to mind when I first saw this video. A former high school classmate bullied by now Katy Superintendent Lance Hindt gets his ultimate vindication at the Katy ISD March School Board meeting.

 

It was most disturbing to see that the Superintendent has not changed much from his High School Days regarding his bullying behavior. After the gentlemen confronts Mr. Hindt the superintendent reacts as if he were still in highschool and laughs at the man. Despicable.

 

Superintendent Hidht earns 375,000 a yr on top of other district benefits. CONTRACT

 

UPDATE:

https://www.click2houston.com/news/katy-isd-superintendent-accused-of-bullying

 

 

 

 

 

""

Katy Superintendent, Lance Hindt

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WARNING: TEXAS ISD’s PERFORMING “CONTROVERSIAL” PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING

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police state

The police state is ascending to new heights. President Bush & Obama’s agenda are to have all public school students undergo a mental health screening and unbeknownst to some parents that is taking place through our public school systems.  The days of children being the sole property of their parents is slowing fading away one step at a time?  Where does the public school system get their authority?  Where are our Texas legislators on this issue?

Richardson ISD sent out a parental announcement to 7th grade parents to consent to having their child tested. (See Below).

teen screen.

The program being used in called TeenScreen. The Texas legislature passed SB 831 which says districts must use programs from a specified list for best practices for screenings. The program in question TeenScreen is not on the list. 

Despite the fact that the “TeenScreen” program fell under heavy criticism and was shut down in 2012,  Texas school districts are still using the program to screen students for mental illness.”  http://healthimpactnews.com/2012/teenscreen-operations-have-shut-down/.

According to this article:
-Shaffer [TeenScreen creator] has long-term ties to drug companies and is a consultant for Hoffman La Roche, Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).[9] He has been a member of a consensus panel discussing child and adolescent “bipolar” by: Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GSK, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, and Solvay.[10]
-TeenScreen refuses to divulge the source of its funding. The website says they are funded by private family foundations, corporations and individuals. The national office of TeenScreen says it does not control its local chapters seeking pharmaceutical company funding.[15] In Tennessee, for example, Eli Lilly funded the program, which determined that over 50% of the 170 students surveyed ended up at a therapist’s office.[16] 
-One of the most successful, and alarming, off-label marketing scheme that needs to be investigated is the TeenScreen program. 
-By use of TeenScreen, the drug companies have gained access to the nation’s 50 million public school children. 
-Billed as a mental illness screening program aimed at suicide prevention, it is already being administered to students in schools all across the country and children are being labeled mentally ill on a regular basis, with the only treatment offered naturally being drugs.

-Tugging at the heartstrings, TeenScreen is presented to naive parents as a harmless little survey that may save their kids from suicide. 

-However, parents are not being told about the life-long consequences that can result from a child’s diagnosis of mental illness by way of this harmless survey.

 

image1.jpeg

 

Richardson ISD’s Counselor, Laurie Jackson’s message above you gives parents a link to the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas. I called the Center to verify that they were using the “TeenScreen” program and they verified they were. I also emailed Laurie Jackson the following email.

 

Why are you subjecting students to Teen Screen. Can you tell me who is funding this program? Does the district have licensed Psychologist on campus to administer this?

 

I received the following response from Brenice Murlette PhD, with Richardson ISD…..

The TeenScreen questionnaire was developed by Columbia University and research has concluded that it is effective in identifying youth with possible emotional problems.  It is the only screener recommended for youth by the state of Texas. 

It should be known that there is inaccurate information on the internet about TeenScreen.  In response, we want our community to know that there is not a company connected to TeenScreen or to the confidential results.  RISD has partnered with the North Texas Suicide and Crisis Center (a non-profit organization) whose objective is to educate the community on teenage depression and suicide. Other school districts have been utilizing this screening for many years (Allen, Coppell, Grapevine-Colleyville, Highland Park, and Melissa ISD to name a few). 

Parent permission is required. The screening is free, offered during the school day in the computer lab and if the student is identified as depressed or showing signs of suicide ideation, he or she is then interviewed by a mental health professional to determine the level of risk.  The youth’s family is contacted and referrals for mental health resources are given. 

 

Brenice Murlette PhD

Responsive Services Counselor Support

Richardson ISD Guidance & Counseling Department

469-593-7414 (email is the best way to reach me)

I responded asking for clarification as to what data on the internet was inaccurate and would the students screening results be entered into the Longitudinal Data System. I have received no response. Parents should be greatly concerned that you local school would/could administer mental health screenings on your child. There is no information private today within a school system. All data is available to 3rd parties outside the district despite what the district may tell you.

The following was sent home from Allen ISD.

 image1.jpeg

Additional info below:

 

TeenScreen said to be unreliable.

 

TeenScreen: Life Saving Intervention or Orwellian Nighmare.

 

TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups

 

http://www.cchrstl.org/documents/TeenScreenWhitePaper.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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School District Needs and Wants

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needs and wants

Later this year, the Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments from attorneys representing over 600 Texas school districts who claim they cannot properly educate Texas school children because the State does not provide enough money.

As a retired teacher who taught in 4 Texas public school districts over 30 years, I know first-hand that “money” does not equal “learning.”

Yet, Texas School Boards and Superintendents seem to always be screaming that the answer to low performing schools is more tax dollars.

Some offer complex explanations of how items from testing requirements to unfunded mandates drain the districts’ budgets – so much so – that hiring classroom teachers only occurs if funds are left over.

But could there be a much simpler explanation?

Something as basic as “needs vs wants”?

Did Lt Governor Patrick  hit the nail on the head when he was quoted as saying:

“I am proud of the Texas Senate for uniting to produce a conservative, responsible, state budget that will sufficiently fund our state’s needs over the next biennium, while providing $3.8 billion in necessary tax relief to the businesses and property owners of Texas.”  The Texas Senate figured a way to fund the “needs” of Texans and cut taxes. Why can’t 600+ Texas school districts figure it out?

Look closer at Patrick’s statement. Notice the two words: conservative and needs.

The Texas Senate budgeted for the “needs” of Texans, NOT for the “wants” of every Legislator or school superintendent.

That is the true fiscal difference between liberals and conservatives.

Conservatives believe taxpayer  money should only be collected for “needs” that only government can provide, (roads, schools, military, etc.) while liberals believe they are ENTITLED to taxpayers supplying their “wants” (day care, health care, cell phones, etc.)

But so many education leaders are “liberals” these days,  that often student “needs” and district “wants” are  purposely mingled.

To prove the point, I tried a little experiment: comparing the spending habits of two public officials – a conservative who believes taxpayers should only fund the “needs” of government vs a liberal who believes taxpayers should be paying more to provide for “wants.”

I selected two public officials from my area who were both new to their offices –

                    Dan Patrick     

      Texas Lt Governor

                         

Took office  1/13/2015 

and

James Colbert     

School Superintendent 

Harris County

                              

Took Office 12/1/14 

I filed public information requests to find out how each official had spent public funds on “wants” vs “needs” from 1/1/15 thru 6/1/15.

Was there a significant difference? I will let you decide.

First – Office Needs

Both men were provided the same fully furnished office space their predecessors had used.

Conservative (Patrick)The CapitalBuilding required the office be repainted between occupants. Furniture wasselected from current inventory. Nothing was purchased for redecorating his office.

Liberal (Colbert) – Hired a decorator and went shopping with the taxpayers’ money. Chose the new, modern style furnishings complete with a custom refrigerator. Gave the previous furnishingsto his newly hired assistant, Jimmy Wynn, for use in his new office.

 

Conservative Liberal

Lt Governor

School Superintendent
Desk                                        2,998.21

Serving Cart                           2,548.08

Custom Refrigerator             1,971.74

Conference Table                 4,267.82

End Tables(3)                       4,509.31

Executive Chair                       966.46

Conference Chairs (6)        3,002.16

Guest Chairs (2)                   1,837.29

Sofa                                         1,857.02

Board Room Seating(10)   3,823.50

Board Room Buffet             1,697.06

Board Room Cart                2,423.01

Shutters                                 6,375.00

Picture(1)/Plants(3)           1,500.00

Chrome Coat Rack                 315.00

Freight                                   1,175.95

Installation                          2,732.00

Design Fee                              850.00

New Wall Paper                  2,475.00

New Lighting                       3,193.00

 

Total   $   0.00

 

Total    $  50,517.61

 

 

Second – Salary

Conservative (Patrick) – 2nd most powerful person
in the State.

Liberal (Colbert) – Oversees approximately
1,000 employees

Conservative

Liberal

Lt Governor

School Superintendent

$ 600 per month

$ 16,250 per month

 

Fourth – Gov’t Issued Credit Card

Conservative (Patrick) – The Senate does not

issue credit cards.

Liberal (Colbert) – School district credit card.

Charged for travel; taking board members, district employees, consultants and vendors out for meals; technology supplies.

 

Conservative Liberal
Lt Governor School Superintendent
None

 

School District MasterCard

 

Chilosos’s Taco House                  20.75

Best Buy                                         324.95

Shady Grove                                   38.48

Schlotzsky’s                                     12.19

Reale’s Pizza                                   66.77

Courtyard by Marriott                769.88

Champions Restaurant                 24.65

Shade Houston                               56.25

Laurenzo’s Grille Dello                 44.62

Laurenzo’s Grille Dello                 53.19

Capital Visitor Parking                   8.00

Lola Houston                                 20.52

Maggiano’s Houston                    69.26

Chick-Fil-A Houston                    10.15

Rudy’s Country Store                     8.15

Reale’s Pizza                                   10.97

Green Mesquite BBQ                    16.33

Marriott Austin                             26.82

Marriott Austin                             25.82

Marriott Austin                           553.61

Babin’s Katy                                   42.68

Chick-Fil-A Houston                    13.85

Shady Grove                                   17.56

Schlotzsky’s                                    12.19

Capital Grill                                    11.14

Shade Houston                             44.97

Shade Houston                             37.48

Embassy Suites Austin               20.00

 

Total              0.00       Total                    2,361.23

Is there really a difference in the way liberals and conservatives spend public dollars?

This simple experiment seems to show there is.

Do taxpayers work hard to pay their school district taxes because the superintendent “wants”  a custom refrigerator for his office?

Do taxpayers work hard to pay their school district taxes because the superintendent “wants” to use his school district credit card to dine out with his assistants?

 

Is a school superintendent ENTITLED to plush office furnishings and a tax funded expense account?

That is for you to decide.

But the real  multi-billion dollar question is:

If the 600+ school districts which are suing the taxpayers for more money would budget as the Texas Senate did – fund “needs” and leave out the “wants” – would they have enough money to educate our kids?

They won’t know unless they try.

Note:

If you would like to let Lt Governor Patrick know how much you appreciate his respect for our hard earned tax dollars, you may contact his comment line at 512-463-5342 or  email:  LTGConstituent.Affairs@ltgov.state.tx.us

If you would like to let Superintendent Colbert know what you think of his spending habits with public funds, you may contact him at 713-696-0715 or email:  jcolbert@hcde-texas.org

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Texas School Bathroom So Disgusting…. Mom Pulls Child out of School

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outhouse

Texas ISD’s  do not have a money problem they have an allocation problem. Ector County ISD seems to have a problem allocating the funds to have their school restrooms cleaned properly. Below is a photo of a restroom at Sam Houston Elementary within the district, taken by a student with his mobile phone. The mother of the elementary student, Melynda Carlisle said “I think it is disgusting” and has pulled her child out of the school.

This is the check register for Ector County ISD for  DEC/JAN. With that amount of money flowing through the district surely there were funds to do a little housekeeping.

 

ECISD released a statement about the bathroom.

“That is one of the bathrooms at Sam Houston Elementary,” Ector County Independent School District Spokesperson Mike Adkins said in an e-mail response to questions from CBS7. “It is not a Special Education bathroom, those are separate and self-contained. The metal around the toilet seems to be something added at some point in previous years.”

 

 

 

 

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