• TRANSPARENCY QUESTIONS


    "DNR"=Did Not Respond; "[...]"=trimmed response exceeding 600 characters including spaces


    Question 14

    Through the public information request of a communication between former Superintendent Gearing and most of the members of the current DSISD School Board, CEEDS became aware that DSISD is attempting to transfer the Travis County portions of DSISD to Lake Travis ISD.

     

    These taxpayers and their children have been members of Dripping Springs ISD since its 1940 founding and chose to remain within DSISD in its 1981 split with Lake Travis ISD.

     

    DSISD has not publicly communicated to anyone, including the affected property owners, that these discussions are underway.

     

    Should the affected Travis County property owners have already been notified?

    If not, at what point should they be notified?

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

    Tricia Quintero

    There's no doubt that the district has done a poor job communicating on many issues, including this one. There are too many conversations happening behind closed doors—in executive session—and between an elite few. The board needs to do a better job announcing its intent and actions early and often.

    Joanna Day

    DNR

  • Question 15

    In light of recent news coverage regarding conflicts of interest of Dripping Springs’ local elected officials, please disclose and describe any possible financial, property, or employment conflicts of interest—for yourself, your spouse, either of your employers, or you or your spouse’s parents or children—that could bring into question your actions as a Trustee on the DSISD School Board.

     

    Please note that the employment conflicts of interest prohibition also extends to any and all clients of your employer, not just your employer itself—so in addition to above, please disclose and describe any and all clients of your employer who do any business with DSISD or who conduct business or operations or have holdings the school district may purchase goods or services or property from.

     

    In compliance with Chapter 171 of the Texas Local Government Code relating to conflicts of interest, will you file transparent conflict statements prior to any vote or discussion affecting these potential conflicts of interests and abstain from any vote or discussion on such matters, including during secret/closed session?

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

    Tricia Quintero

    I have no conflicts of interest, other than the fact that I am the proud mother of 5 beautiful kids, most of whom currently attend school at DSISD. I will always fight to make sure they have the highest and best chance at a great education!

    Joanna Day

    DNR

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

  • TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY QUESTIONS


    "DNR"=Did Not Respond; "[...]"=trimmed response exceeding 600 characters including spaces


    Question 16

    Less than one month after the May 2018 DSISD School Board Election, a DSISD School Board Trustee who was not up for election resigned.

     

    Rather than holding a new election, the DSISD School Board opted to appoint her replacement, and conducted the interviews and selection in a secret/closed meeting outside of the public’s view.

     

    The DSISD School Board's public discussion and unanimous vote to fill this Trustee vacancy lasted only one minute at the special public/open meeting for this matter.

     

    In the event of a future vacancy on the DSISD School Board, do you believe that vacancy should be filled by an election or an appointment?

    If an appointment, should that be a secret/closed or public/open process?

     

    Please note that under Texas Law, the DSISD School Board can hold elections every six months, in both May and November.

    Tricia Quintero

    Where possible, the public ought to have every opportunity to engage in the democratic process to determine their elected representatives.

    Joanna Day

    DNR

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

  • Question 17

    Many members of the DSISD community believe the School Board stacks District Committees with members hand-picked to advance the Board Member’s personal agendas and beliefs or advance special interest agendas rather than prioritizing those members representativeness of the overall District.

     

    For instance:

    • the new Walnut Springs Elementary Design Committee was comprised exclusively of DSISD employees, 
    • the new Elementary #5 Design Committee having a super-majority of DSISD employees, 
    • the Student Health Advisory Council’s (SHAC) two 2019 “community representative” appointees both being publicly-opposed to the Scott & White sex ed curriculum that was supported by a super-majority of the community, 
    • creating a secretive COVID-19 Task Force instead of utilizing the SHAC that’s charter encompassed such health-related matters and duties, 
    • the creation of an employee-led Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Advisory Board that’s overwhelmingly comprised exclusively of District employees, again instead of having the SHAC oversee and implement, and 
    • the Long Range Facilities Planning Committee being comprised of approximately one-half DSISD employees. 

    Do you believe that DSISD’s recent committee structuring and division is sufficiently representative and without bias?

    Or should DSISD do better?

    How so?

     

    Please also speak to what, if any, effect potentially unrepresentative SHAC membership may have on your response to the District's next sex ed curriculum selection.

    Please note that in 2019, two of the seven Board Members voted against the sex ed curriculum approved by a super-majority of the SHAC and preferred by a super-majority of community feedback.

    Joanna Day

    DNR

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

    Tricia Quintero

    As a trustee, I would like to work with my colleagues to revisit whole process of how committees are constituted and their work product. I believe the SHAC, and many of the other committees as well, could benefit from structural changes that encourage greater public participation and better reflect the community's values.

  • Question 18

    Like Texas, Florida banned Critical Race Theory from its public schools in 2021.

     

    Moreover, earlier this April, Florida's Department of Education finished its textbook review and rejected 32%—nearly one (1) in three (3) K-5 textbooks—for prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies. In total, 71% of K-5 textbooks, 20% of 6-8 textbooks, and 35% of grade 9-12 textbooks were rejected for failing to align with Florida Law and standards.
    Please be aware that some of these rejections were due to allegedly inappropriate injection of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum into subjects like math.

     

    And please also note that DSISD's teacher unionthe "Dripping Springs Education Association"is an NEA affiliate, whose national membership in June 2021:
    "voted to approve a plan to promote critical race theory in all 50 states. Union delegates representing three (3) million public school employees approved funding for three separate items related to 'increasing the implementation' of 'critical race theory' in K-12 curricula; promoting critical race theory in 14,000 local school districts; and attacking opponents of critical race theory, including parent organizations and conservative research centers."


    Further, please be aware that DSMS's recently hired principal also comes from a Lake Travis ISD elementary school where in 2021 she generated significant controversy and division for using taxpayer funds to purchase 70 copies of "This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work (Empower the Future, 1)" for her staff's "professional libraries" (confirmed by her in an email in our possession) and that book also dives into the complication of gender theory...

     

    So regardless of your opinions on CRT, SEL, anti-racism, gender identity theory, etc., and the highly controversial politics surrounding all of thiswhat, if anything, should be done to increase transparency and accountability regarding DSISD schools, classrooms, curriculum, teaching materials, teachers non-curriculum discussions with students in order to reassure concerned parents and community members that teaching and learning, rather than indoctrination, is occurring in DSISD schools in a manner that is not only lawful but aligns with or at least does not infringe on the beliefs and values taught in their home, especially given that teachers and schools that are paid for by our community's hard-earned tax dollars?

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

    Tricia Quintero

    Like every parent, I was horrified to learn of the type of materials discovered in some schoolhouses around the state. That's one reason I supported legislation passed in the 2021 banning CRT in the classroom and why I believe that still stronger reforms are needed in the future. If elected to the board, I believe that measures to improve transparency and accountability are an important first step. Parents must have every confidence in what their kids are learning at school and that they do not have access to age-inappropriate materials. Parents also have a right to know what's in their child'[...]

    Joanna Day

    DNR

  • ACCOUNTABILITY QUESTIONS


    "DNR"=Did Not Respond; "[...]"=trimmed response exceeding 600 characters including spaces


    Question 19

    DSISD’s school board elections are currently plurality-at-large elections, in which multiple candidates run for a limited number of seats and those candidates who receive the plurality of votes among all are victorious.

     

    However, plurality-at-large elections have been banned from use in federal elections as well as most state-level elections, including in Texas, and moreover, this election type has continued in local elections, despite it being subject to extensive litigation for its discriminatory impact on those elections.

     

    Do you support continuing DSISD’s plurality-at-large election system, or would you support moving to single-member seats/districts—meaning each School Board Member sits in a specific seat/district, so a challenger could choose to run for that specific seat rather than against everyone?

     

    If supporting a change to single member districts, would you suggest leaving all seats/districts at-large representing the entirety of DSISD, or would you support transitioning some or all districts to regional/geographic representation—for instance, meaning four members would each represent a quadrant of DSISD, divided by share of overall population?

     

    For more on the failings of plurality-at-large elections:
    Source 1

    Source 2

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

    Tricia Quintero

    I support the current model, but I am also open to considering other points of view as well.

    Joanna Day

    DNR

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

  • Question 20

    The DSISD School Board is a strong president and strong superintendent board with those two responsible for setting meeting agendas. DSISD's Board President also sits on Texas Association of School Board (TASB)'s Board of Directors, with TASB having Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) as a sister organization with substantial shared staff and financial interests.

     

    Recognizing that TASB is one of Texas' largest, most powerful, and overwhelmingly taxpayer-funded special interests groups that often advocates against the best interest of taxpayers as well as a member of the controversial a member of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) that advocates against parental rights AND DSISD is deeply intertwined with thousands to millions of District dollars going to TASB or its approved vendors each and every year—please discuss

    1) whether it is appropriate for DSISD's Board President to also serve on TASB's Board of Directors given strong a president board structure and
    2) what, if any, changes you would make regarding DSISD's TASB membership and utilization of TASB's services.

    Please note that prior to NSBA accusing concerned parents of being "domestic terrorists" in seeking assistance from the FBI and Biden Dept of Justice, DSISD's current Board President accused the 2021 DSISD Election's "change" voter majority of "mob-like fervor" and engaging in "insurgency."

    Tricia Quintero

    Like many, I was deeply troubled when the NSBA referred to concerned parents as "domestic terrorists." I am also troubled that TASB has not denounced the NSBA for its wildly offensive language and, given their refusal to do so, I would like to explore what alternatives, if any, there are to the organization.

    Joanna Day

    DNR

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

  • Question 21

    In response to many errors and misadministration by DSISD and Hays County Elections—much of which were ultimately admitted to under oath at trial with DSISD's lawyers not disputing those failings and merely arguing that such failings would not have changed the outcome—in the May 2018 Bond Election, CEEDS filed a Election Contest against DSISD.

     

    In response, DSISD counter-sued CEEDS, which expedited the legal proceedings, increased legal costs to taxpayers (for both CEEDS and DSISD—DSISD spending our tax dollars), and would have required CEEDS to post a $5 million forfeitable bond in order to properly litigate the case along standard timelines.

     

    DSISD lawyers even knowingly scheduled the trial for a date that DSISD School Board President Carrie Kroll—one of CEEDS's key witnesses—would be on an Alaskan vacation and accordingly unable to be present at trial, unless CEEDS posted that $5 million forfeitable bond. DSISD lawyers did not inform CEEDS’s attorney of Kroll’s planned absence until her lawyers volunteered that her impending departure flight, on the very same evening as her deposition, required that the deposition be conducted quickly—this being just a few days before the scheduled trial.

     

    While DSISD ultimately prevailed in the consolidated and expedited legal proceedings, we believe DSISD did so only through legal maneuver and loophole—not on the merits. In fact, in a communication produced via Public Information Request, from former Superintendent Gearing to the DSISD School Board dated December 2018 regarding the transfer of the Travis County portions of DSISD to Lake Travis ISD, Gearing specifically stated that an “election issue” continues to exist for the Travis County portions of DSISD—one of the primary issues raised in CEEDS's Election Contest.

     

    Further, during the course of these legal proceedings, DSISD spent $456,963.53 on high-priced San Antonio attorneys from the largest law firm in Texas, while the costs to DSISD for holding the original election were only $5,864.87.

     

    In the event that the outcome of a future Bond Election comes into question, would you support counter-suits against taxpayers and costly legal proceedings, or would you advocate for holding a new election in order to achieve a clear and definite outcome?

     

    Additionally, please speak to what, if anything, DSISD should have done differently following the questionable passage of the May 2018 Bond by a margin of 1% and upon learning that taxpayers called for a recount and filed an Election Contest.

    Joanna Day

    DNR

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

    Tricia Quintero

    I will not support counter-suits against taxpayers. Period. It's clear that the responsible course of action was for DSISD to hold a new election to give the public confidence in a definitive result. There are many lessons to be learned from the 2018 bond fiasco, and I hope to apply those lessons learned soon.

  • CLOSING QUESTION


    "DNR"=Did Not Respond; "[...]"=trimmed response exceeding 600 characters including spaces


    Question 22

    In light of the preceding questions (including Part 1, Rapid Fire), is there anything else that you would like DSISD voters to know about you or your campaign?

     

    Thank you for participating in our survey.

    Olivia Barnard

    DNR

    Thaddeus Fortenberry

    DNR

    Tricia Quintero

    My campaign in a nutshell: No CRT. No forced masking. No vax mandates. No big government.

    Joanna Day

    DNR