Katy School Board Position 4 candidate profiles

KATY, TX (Covering Katy News) - Three new members of the Katy ISD Board of Trustees will be elected on Saturday, May 6, 2023. There are no incumbents in this year's election.

The school board has seven members. Positions 3, 4, and 5 are on the ballot this year, meaning nearly half the board will turnover in a single election.

This article focuses on the Position 4 race. Morgan Calhoun has lived in the district for 12 years and is a stay-at-home-mom. Erica Brettell, has lived in the district for eight years and is a stay-at-home mom. Cicely Taylor has lived in the district for 18 years and is an education administrator.

Each candidate received the same questions. The unedited answers that they submitted are below. The order of their answers is determined by the date that they submitted their applications to run for Position 4.

Question 1: What will be your top two priorities if elected to the Katy ISD board of trustees?

Morgan Calhoun

First, I want to drive a policy that moves our district back to the basics of education to ensure high academic success for all students district-wide.

Secondly, I would want to remove obstacles in the way teachers deliver the highest quality curriculum to our students while ensuring that they are being adequately compensated for the incredible job they have undertaken.

Erica Brettell

I aim to ensure that every single one of the 93,000+ students in our district have the tools and resources to excel. From classroom instruction to extracurricular activities and non-traditional technical education, our students are provided amazing opportunities, and they, along with their parents, need support for whichever path they choose. Additionally, continuing Katy’s tradition of academic excellence requires taking care of our teachers and support staff. In addition to better compensation, we need to find ways to lighten and streamline their workload.

Cicely Taylor

If elected to the Katy ISD Board of Trustees, my first priority would be centered on the student experience, including academic performance- especially in early literacy and math across all grade levels and expanding college, career, and military readiness opportunities.

My second priority would be focused on teacher retention and recruitment, including professional development support for new-to-the-classroom teachers, incentivizing our most accomplished teachers to stay in the classroom, and finding pathways toward increased pay and innovative recruiting pipelines..

Question 2: Why do you want to be on the school board?

Morgan Calhoun

I felt a strong calling to step up and take action in an area that needed a leader to do so. I no longer wanted to sit on the sidelines, watching things unfold with no ability to impact needed change. One of my platform ideals is to “hold the line”, and I mean that to be a line that is unbreakable for what our community has held to be important and valuable with our children and their education at center of that without compromise.

Erica Brettell

As a young working mom, I made a promise to my kids that one day, I would be a more involved parent. When that opportunity came, I wasted no time and jumped into every available opportunity to help out on campus. The more involved my children got, the more involved I became as well. From that experience, I’ve learned that parents and the district should be working in partnership to make sure our kids’ needs, both academic and developmental, are met. Serving on the School Board is the next step in a years-long commitment towards building that dynamic.

Cicely Taylor

The city of Katy is my community, and my children grew up in and thrived in Katy ISD schools. My children had Katy ISD teachers, counselors, and coaches who truly supported and cared about them. I want this experience to be the same for ALL students. An excellent education profoundly impacted my life choices as a professional, civic-minded person and parent. I want to work for the children and families of Katy so they can say the same. There are many local and national distractions that take away from the true mission of public schools. We need strong leaders to ensure our Katy ISD schools are spaces where ALL students have the joyful and rigorous educational experience they need to achieve their full potential. I am that leader.

Question 3: What experiences or life events have prepared you to be a school board member?

Morgan Calhoun

I was a military wife for many years while raising a child in the middle of deployments and uncertain circumstances. That period in my life brought about grit and the ability to withstand ever-changing circumstances, knowing how to be comfortable in the uncomfortable.

As a mother who has been raising children for almost 11 years, I am entrenched in what they are constantly bombarded with. I served my church community for several years, leading our church body to reach out to sex trafficking victims and serve in an area that most would shy away from. It helped mold and train the ability to listen to those who have a different story than I did and see it from a different perspective. All of these things have been invaluable to me as a woman, mom, and community member because they shaped me to be a leader. I didn’t always understand at the time what my life circumstances were building in me, but the platform it has turned out to be is one that I am willing to stand on for the service of our children and community.

Erica Brettell

I have a combination of experience and perspective that would add value to the Board and district. I currently have four children in Katy ISD, which serves to keep me invested in and informed about what happens in our schools. I have been active at both of my kids’ campuses, Winborn Elementary and Haskett Junior High, as well as a variety of district committees and initiatives, including a bond committee, naming committee, Leadership Katy, and curriculum reviews. This involvement has produced a granular understanding of our school district and how it operates.

Additionally, I have a background in governance and business, having spent ten years working for a conservative member of the U.S. Senate in healthcare and education policy while getting my M.B.A.

For the last seven years, I have helped develop and launch the Lindsay’s Light Dating Violence Prevention Program in honor of my sister, speaking with over 6,000 students, parents, and educators about avoiding abusive relationships. Working in this capacity has given me insight into how to leverage community resources and some of the non-academic needs of our students.

Cicely Taylor

I am a Katy resident of 17+ years, a mom of 2 Katy ISD graduates, and a lifelong educator - first as a classroom teacher and now as an administrator. Katy is my community, and I want to be a part of moving the Katy ISD School District from good to great (to ensure the plus in A+).

My professional and personal experiences have prepared me to be a school board member. My unique experiences and point of view as a parent, teacher, and education systems level leader will bring a perspective that our Board needs.

I know how it feels as a parent to have a child struggling academically. As a former teacher, I know the challenges of balancing instruction, curriculum changes, statewide testing, and student behaviors. As a systems-level educational leader, I know how to ask difficult questions regarding resource decisions and policies that impact our students, staff, and families while balancing guardrails set by the state and ensuring the voice of the community, teachers, and students are involved in decision-making.

Question 4: Is there anything else you’d like the voters to know about you?

Morgan Calhoun

I want voters to know that I hear you and your voice. I have echoed the things that you have said many times. Right now, in an ever-changing world that seems like it becomes more unstable with each passing event, we need leaders to be able to step up. I want to be the person that you allow to do just that. I have seen the way our community has grown and changed over the last twenty years and I want to be able to hold fast to the values that are attracting people to flock to us.

I am looking forward to the opportunities and challenges that face the board of trustees because I have no doubt that we are capable of being a shining light in world of darkness.

Erica Brettell

I am a sixth-generation Katy resident and a third-generation product of Katy ISD, which provides a great understanding of and commitment to the history, tradition, and mindset that makes our schools great.

Cicely Taylor

Katy ISD should be the choice for ALL students in our community. Some great things are happening in our schools; however, there are opportunities to be even greater. It would be the most incredible honor for me if I were chosen to serve the community of Katy as a member of the Board of Trustees. Last year I witnessed my son finish his final year as a collegiate football player and receive his MBA. This year on election day, I will attend my daughter’s, who is also a collegiate athlete, college graduation. I truly believe part of their success in school and life directly resulted from their Katy ISD experience.

Read the profiles on the other school board candidates:

Position 3 candidates

Position 5 candidates