The people who are hoping to be appointed to the open HISD Trustee seat made their appearance at Furr High School and made their pitch.
Trustees are slated to discuss their options Thursday and must make a decision by next Tuesday. They could name an appointee to serve through 2011.
The eight prospective candidates generally echoed similar priorities, agreeing with the board’s focus on quality teachers and principals.
“I think with one exception everyone read the (HISD) website and told them exactly what they wanted to hear,” said Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon, who joined more than 60 people in the audience.
“That’s not really critical of the candidates. It’s more critical of the process,” Fallon added. “If you tell them what they don’t want to hear, what would the odds be that you’re getting the appointment?”
Well, I’ve been to enough candidate forums to know that this phenomenon is not uncommon, but Fallon’s point is well taken. The difference, of course, is that there they’re speaking to the voters, not the powers that be, and that they have an incentive to differentiate themselves. I don’t know how well an artificial event like that would be at bringing that out. And I don’t know how the Board is going to decide what the consensus of the community is, though I do know that having an election is a pretty good way of determining it. More on the candidates, if that’s the right word, from Campos, Hair Balls, and School Days.