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Tag: Julie Hinaman

  • Cy-Fair School Board Adopts New Operating Procedures in Effort to Restore Trust

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    Moments before the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD board approved a policy prohibiting elected officials from secretly recording conversations with each other and community members, trustee Lucas Scanlon addressed accusations levied against him by board vice president Natalie Blasingame.

    Members of the public also weighed in on the controversy plaguing the board that oversees the third-largest public school system in Texas, saying they hoped that the district would soon be in the news for its positive accomplishments rather than the behavior of its elected officials.

    The Houston Press broke the story last month that Blasingame admitted she recorded Scanlon’s wife and a former Republican Party precinct chair while discussing her re-election bid at a coffee shop in mid-April.

    After that gathering, Blasingame’s friend Damon Lenahan threatened to release the recording if Scanlon’s wife Bethany didn’t remove a Facebook post pledging her support for board president Scott Henry, Blasingame’s opponent in the November election. Lenahan has also been accused of posting combative messages on Facebook when someone makes a comment that he believes is disparaging toward Blasingame.

    Blasingame and Lenahan have denied conspiring with each other to threaten those who have been recorded; Lenahan said he acted independently. Blasingame said she only records people who have falsely accused her or lied about her, implying that Scanlon and his wife Bethany did those things.
    The CFISD board’s Governance Committee responded to the sentiment that trust was broken among board members by proposing an update to standard operating procedures that bans trustees from recording community members, administration officials, or each other without the consent of all parties.

    Another significant policy change mandates that trustees submit agenda items through the superintendent’s office and by committee rather than individually.

    The board voted 6-1 on Monday to update the procedures, with trustee Christine Kalmbach casting the lone dissenting vote. Kalmbach said she took issue with the provision that a three-person committee must unanimously agree to request data from the administration.

    Blasingame said at a workshop meeting last week that she supported updating the board procedures but was concerned that the agenda item was posted for a possible executive session, and she didn’t think it met the criteria. She strongly suggested the board had violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

    Following a contentious debate between Blasingame and Board Attorney Marney Collins Sims, it was determined that the item was properly posted. Although the board can go into closed session to discuss its duties, trustees chose not to. 

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    Cy-Fair ISD board attorney Marney Collins Sims explained to trustees at a September 4 workshop that they’re allowed to talk about duties and operating procedures in closed session if they wish to receive legal advice.

    Screenshot

    Scanlon addressed the controversy and noted that he left the workshop early last week to attend a Cypress Ranch High School homecoming event with his family. Scanlon said Monday he’s not seeking re-election in November but wanted to address matters that have come up lately in the media.

    “False accusations fail under scrutiny over time,” he said. “I welcome inspection. Regarding my lying about my colleagues, this is false. Regarding accusations that somehow I’ve been involved in backroom deals, that is false.”

    “Just because someone is accused does not make it true,” he added. “I encourage stakeholders who are viewing and listening to look at my behavior over time. You’re welcome to interview anybody along this dais. You’ll hear a common thread that what is important as a trustee is the district. That’s it.”

    Following a speech at last week’s workshop in which Blasingame said, “My wish is only that people don’t lie and don’t threaten harm to me and my family,” trustee Julie Hinaman accused Blasingame of gaslighting.

    At Monday’s meeting, Hinaman apologized for being unprofessional at the previous meeting.

    “I was frustrated for the Cy-Fair ISD community,” she said. “A friend who grew up in Cy-Fair and has kids who are current students shared that she is saddened and embarrassed by how our beloved district has been brought into such turmoil. For those who did not attend or watch last week’s work session and only saw the headlines or read the news articles, please know that the true highlight of the work session should have been the celebration of the academic success of our students.”

    During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident Julie Rix thanked Blasingame for her diligence in asking to see contracts and questioning expenditures. Another CFISD parent, Jennifer Chenette, brought up Blasingame’s comments from last week that she wants the truth and to protect her family. Without naming Damon Lenahan, Chenette alluded to the online bullying that Blasingame’s close friend has been accused of.

    “You are not allowed to hand the fox the keys to the henhouse and let him run amok and then claim that you are fearful,” Chenette said. “It doesn’t work that way. I speak the truth. As a result, I’ve been doxxed on social media more than once.”

    Nikki Cowart of the American Federation of Teachers said she and other community leaders are growing weary of being the only adults in the room at school board meetings.

    “The time is now to be adults, to put our students’ needs first, and to stop making the news for the most childish and frankly embarrassing reasons,” she said. “It is time to return to working together, being innovative with untapped resources that are available to us, and not sneaking around with audio recordings and seeking outside legal counsel.”

    “We are thankful, actually, for certain members of this board showing us what we do not want, what we never wanted,” she added.

    Community members have taken advantage of the rift among board members to bolster their preferred candidates in the November election. Blasingame opted not to run for the Place 5 seat she currently holds, instead filing to challenge another incumbent, Scott Henry, for his Place 6 seat. A third candidate is running for Place 6, Prairie View A&M professor Cleveland Lane.

    Place 5 candidates include Lesley Guilmart and Radele Walker. Cy-Fair ISD graduate Terrance Edmond filed for Place 5 but has said he’s withdrawing from the campaign. Place 7 candidates include Kendra Camarena, George Edwards, and Elecia Jones.

    Blasingame, Walker, and Edwards have been endorsed by the Harris County Republican Party. Henry has the backing of fellow trustees Lucas Scanlon, Todd LeCompte, and Justin Ray. A pro-public education slate of Lane, Guilmart, and Camarena is supported by a group of parents and educators who say they want change to the status quo.

    Jennifer Lorenz, president of the Cypress-Tomball Democrats, said Monday she has only recently started attending CFISD board meetings.

    “When this current board majority started reducing buses, banning books, cutting librarians, and taking out important information like real climate change and real American history facts, we felt we needed to have a presence here,” she said. “We are here because of our values. We would like there to be less drama. Boring, for school boards, can be a great thing. This is supposed to be a nonpartisan board. We would love it to be one again.” 

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    April Towery

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  • Cy-Fair School Board Member Alleges Open Meetings Violation While Under Scrutiny for Secret Recordings

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    Things got tense at the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD board meeting Thursday night.

    In the midst of a contentious election season in which board vice president Natalie Blasingame is looking to unseat board president Scott Henry, Blasingame has been accused of secretly recording conversations with at least two community members: the wife of trustee Lucas Scanlon and a former GOP precinct chair.

    When faced with a proposed policy change — which would prohibit trustees from making secret audio recordings — at a workshop session Thursday, Blasingame accused the board of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act by discussing its standard operating procedures during a closed session in June.

    She then went on to talk about the importance of honesty and transparency, which prompted trustee Julie Hinaman to accuse her of gaslighting.

    In an August interview with the Houston Press, Blasingame admitted she recorded discussions without the consent of all parties — which is not illegal in Texas — because she believed Scanlon’s wife made false accusations about her and lied about it.

    “I think we’ve asked for transparency and the community asked for transparency,” Blasingame said at Thursday’s meeting. “For me, my wish is only that people don’t lie and don’t threaten harm to me and my family.”

    While many have expressed concern about the secret recordings, and Hinaman alluded to there being more than one trustee who has done it, the real problem is what happened after Blasingame met with Scanlon’s wife Bethany and former Republican Party Precinct Chair Jeff Ivey, government watchdogs have said.

    After Blasingame met with the community members in mid-April to discuss her re-election campaign, her friend Damon Lenahan threatened via text message to release the recordings if Bethany Scanlon didn’t remove a Facebook post pledging her support of Blasingame’s opponent in the November election, board president Scott Henry.

    Lenahan has also been accused of posting combative messages on Facebook when someone makes a comment that he believes is disparaging toward Blasingame. Blasingame and Lenahan have denied conspiring with each other to threaten those who have been recorded; Lenahan said he acted independently to protect his friend, whom he referred to as “the darling of the district.”

    On Thursday night, Hinaman said she was flabbergasted by Blasingame’s statement that she wants transparency and to protect her family from threats.

    “That’s shocking,” she said. “That’s gaslighting. Somebody asked for the definition of gaslighting recently. That is gaslighting.”

    Blasingame quipped, “Honesty is definitely the best policy, and I appreciate honesty.”

    The issue of secret recordings has created distrust among board members, some of whom had difficulty containing their frustration with each other at the most recent meeting. The board’s Governance Committee, on which Blasingame sits, proposed updating its standard operating procedures to prohibit trustees from audio recording community members, administrators, and each other without the consent of all parties involved.

    Scanlon was present for the first half of Thursday’s meeting but was not at the dais when the discussion about the policy changes came up.

    Blasingame said she agreed with the policy update but put up a fight about the agenda posting, which stated that the matter could be discussed in closed session. She said she didn’t think it met the criteria for executive session, which includes things like property purchases and employee evaluations. She said she wanted to make a formal request for outside counsel to advise whether a Texas Open Meetings Act violation had occurred.

    As Blasingame pleaded her case, board attorney Marney Collins Sims interrupted her repeatedly to explain that an item could be posted for executive session if trustees thought they might need legal advice on the matter. Blasingame wasn’t having it.

    “I’m going to finish my statement and then you can answer,” she said to the attorney.

    Sims explained that she is the board’s general counsel and gives legal advice in closed session. It is “not a true statement and is probably defamatory” that the board has violated the law, Sims said.

    “I’ve offered to talk to you, as your lawyer, in closed session,” Sims said. “I tried to answer before the soliloquy … I understand now that you’re asking which specific section under the open meetings act allows a board to go into closed session and review operating procedures. It’s very clearly 551.074. You can go into closed session to discuss the duties of a public official, which is inherently what board operating procedures are.”

    “This board has never gone into closed session contrary to the open meetings act, and to say that is a lie,” she added.

    Ultimately, Blasingame said she supports the board policy revisions, which also create parameters for how trustees request information from the superintendent’s office. The board is scheduled to vote on the procedures at its Monday, September 8, meeting.

    “I have zero issues with the content of our board operating procedures,” Blasingame said. “Those are not our duties. Our duties are assigned by Texas Education Code, and this is just our choice of how we will operate together. I actually very much agree to every point that was made. I am supportive, very supportive, of the policy that’s being proposed.”

    Standard operating procedures are not laws, but rather internal rules created by the school board to govern operations and decision-making processes, Sims told the Press prior to Thursday’s meeting.

    “In our operating procedures, school board members are responsible for holding themselves accountable, and the procedures provide for how trustees should address concerns with other trustees and can include involving the Board President or the entire board,” Sims said in an email.

    If adopted Monday, the updated board procedures are expected to become effective immediately. Hinaman asked that trustees sign the approved document after Monday’s vote and that it be posted on the website.

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    Cy-Fair ISD trustee Natalie Blasingame, center, is running against board president Scott Henry in the November 4 election. Also pictured is trustee Christine Kalmbach.

    Photo by April Towery

    Henry, the board president, said the item was placed on the agenda because a few trustees were concerned about secret recordings.

    “It’s unfortunate that this step is necessary, but it’s important we set clear expectations, so our board members remain professional and respectful to each other and the public,” he said last month.

    Trustee Justin Ray, who chairs the Governance Committee, said community members and district employees must be able to speak openly and honestly with their elected board members.

    “These provisions are intended to restore and enhance that confidence that’s critical to district governance,” Ray said.

    The board election scheduled for November 4 is sure to be a contentious one. Blasingame opted not to run for the Place 5 seat she currently holds, instead filing to challenge Henry for his Place 6 seat. A third candidate is running for Place 6, Prairie View A&M professor Cleveland Lane.

    Lane is running with a slate of “teammates” who say they are “pro-public education” and want to oust the extremist conservative trustees who removed chapters from textbooks, supported book bans, and eliminated bus routes. Lane’s slate includes Lesley Guilmart for Place 5 and Kendra Camarena for Place 7.

    Blasingame, along with Place 5 candidate Radele Walker and Place 7 candidate George Edewards, has been endorsed by the Harris County Republican Party. Henry has the backing of fellow trustees Lucas Scanlon, Todd LeCompte, and Justin Ray.

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    April Towery

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