Thursday, March 03, 2011

Good News: Jonita Reynolds Filed For FBISD School Board

At last some good news has come out of the day.

Jonita Reynolds has filed for Position 5 on the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees. This is good news for a couple of reasons: 1) I have no need to do research on who is the best candidate, and 2) she’s the best candidate to file for school board in a long, long time.

Jonita Reynolds is herself an educator. Her full name, actually, is Dr. Jonita Reynolds as she holds a doctorate in education. Imagine that, someone on the FBISD school board who hasn’t made it their primary interest in getting FBISD school construction contracts. Someone on the board of education who actually knows something about education. Someone on the Board of Trustees that we can trust.

Someone on the school board who cares about teaching. And teachers.

You might recall that Dr. Reynolds ran for the same seat in 2008 running against incumbent and now sole surviving member of the infamous “Gang of Four” that wreaked such havoc on the board, Laurie Caldwell. Caldwell has as of this date not filed for re-election, but she has until the 14th of this month to do so.

You might also recall, because I wrote about it, because I saw the report here, that in her 2008 race, Dr. Reynolds was subjected to a massive smear campaign in the days leading up to the May 10th election. The claim was that Dr. Reynolds had bought her education degree. Unfortunately for Dr. Reynolds, the damage was done even though the truth emerged that her degree was not only earned at the University of Houston and not a diploma mill, but that two faculty members at U of H that taught classes she attended were none other than the former FBISD Superintendent, Dr. Betty Baitland, and the guy she succeeded.

Republican lies, also known as “damned lies” often do the trick for them.

Oh, and I guess I should also mention that Dr. Jonita Reynolds is married to one of the smartest new state representatives in Texas, the Honorable Ron Reynolds. I don’t know, is it just me or does anyone else think that she might also wield a little influence through her Austin connections?

1 comment:

Community Education Council said...

Fort Bend ISD and Alief ISD have much in common, or so it appears.

We have a board that is controlled by a single individual with at least four others who simply vote her wishes.

Alief is proving to be the "Village" as in the movie that had local residents operating as though they lived in a different historical time period due to the leadership of a few.

I have watched Fort Bend from a distance, but with occassional opportunity to participate in activities related to te Thurgood Marshall Electrical Engineering Academy and the intial proposal to remove it from TMHS.

The east side of the district has repeatedly had to organize to battle for issues related to the school board.

The election of Dr. Reynolds should put someone in place that will be an advocate for the east side and the district in general.

After the electon, the community must continue to organize and maintain a strong voice for the improvement of education for all children.

Alief is undergoing changes, Fort Bend seems to need make some changes as well. If not the leaders, then how they communicate with the constituents should become a priority.