KATY, Texas (Covering Katy News) — Rebecca Fox used her final scheduled Katy ISD board meeting Monday to look back on more than two decades as a trustee, telling the community she and her husband are leaving Katy and moving to the Dallas area to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
Fox, who announced in July that she will retire from the board Oct. 12, delivered a roughly 22-minute farewell address during the Sept. 21 meeting. Fellow trustees and district officials spent nearly 20 minutes recognizing her service before Fox spoke, bringing the formal farewell to nearly 40 minutes before the board moved to public comment.
Before turning the microphone over to Fox, Board President Lance Redmon joked that the rules would be different the next time she appeared before the board.
“Next time, you will only have three minutes, though,” Redmon said.
Fox laughed and said Redmon had already warned her: “Three minutes and the microphone will shut off, Mrs. Fox.”
Fox then began her farewell by describing herself not as a trustee, but as “one grateful mom who found a home in Katy and never wanted to leave.”
Fox says she is leaving Katy
Fox used much of her address to tell the story of how her family arrived in Katy and how she became involved with Katy ISD.
She said her husband's work in the oil and gas industry had taken the family through six countries in 12 years before they settled in the Houston area. They chose Katy because of the school district's reputation. Katy ISD's biography of Fox says the district had about 32,000 students when she moved to Katy.
“Thank you for letting me have this time, not as your trustee, but simply as one grateful mom who found a home in Katy and never wanted to leave,” Fox said.
More than two decades later, Fox said family is also behind her decision to leave.
“And now it's time for me to go and be the new girl again,” Fox said. “My husband and I are moving close to our children and grandchildren.”
“Hardest part of leaving here is leaving Katy,” she said.
Fox identified Dallas as where she is going while describing the prospect of starting over in another community, including finding new doctors, stores and friends.
She said her three grandsons are 3½ years old, 14 months old and 2 months old.
“So now it's time to give my next chapter to Caleb, Jonathan, and Declan,” Fox said, referring to her grandsons, “and to discover what wonderful things God has waiting for this grateful new girl.”
From Elementary No. 19 to Elementary No. 49
Fox also used her remarks to describe the growth she has witnessed since moving to Katy.
She recalled her children being rezoned from Hayes Elementary to a new school then known as Elementary No. 19. Fox became involved with parents organizing a PTA for the campus and eventually served as its PTA president. The school became Creech Elementary.
“There was a new school down Mason Road from us, elementary school number 19,” Fox said. “Next August, we will open elementary school number 49, right?”
Katy ISD records confirm Creech opened in the 2000-01 school year as the district's 19th elementary school.
The two school numbers served as bookends in Fox's account of Katy ISD's growth: She became deeply involved in the district as a parent when it was opening its 19th elementary school and is leaving the board as Katy ISD prepares to open Elementary No. 49.
Fox was first elected to the Katy ISD board in 2004. She served until 2019 and returned to the board in 2021. During her tenure, she has held every board officer position, including serving three times as board president.
Trustees recount Fox's influence
Trustee Cicely Taylor highlighted Fox's attendance at Katy ISD graduations during her years on the board.
“Ms. Fox has not missed a graduation,” Taylor said. “She has attended every single graduation of every single high school for her entire term.”
Trustee Dawn Champagne recalled first encountering Fox in 2002, when Fox was the outgoing Creech Elementary PTA president. Champagne said Fox later supported her when she ran for the school board in 2018 and that she modeled herself as a trustee after Fox.
Champagne said Fox had worked with at least 32 Katy ISD board members, 26 of whom were elected after Fox's first election in 2004.
Six speakers offer additional tributes
The tributes continued after the board opened the meeting to public comment.
Six speakers used their public-comment time to speak about Fox: former Katy ISD trustee Bill Lacy; former district architect and planner Peter McElwain; Wendy Duncan; Cindy Shaw; John Eberlin; and Kathleen Brennan.
The speakers had longstanding connections to Fox, Katy ISD or district organizations.
McElwain, for whom McElwain Elementary School is named, said he worked for Katy ISD from 1997 to 2017 and had known Fox for about 25 years, dating to the development of Creech Elementary.
During McElwain's tenure, he said, Katy ISD constructed 40 new schools as well as additions, renovations and support facilities.
“You were part of the design of every project,” McElwain told Fox. “So view that as your legacy, that as you leave the district, know that you're an integral part of every campus in the district.”
Wendy Duncan recalled a Rebecca Fox campaign T-shirt that had been worn during “many block walks and poll greeting events.” Duncan also credited Fox with recruiting community members to support district bond elections and helping them communicate information about the district's needs.
Cindy Shaw also spoke. Shaw is the widow of former Katy ISD trustee Robert Shaw, for whom the district's Robert R. Shaw Center for STEAM is named.
Fox expects to remain connected to schools
Although Fox described the move as leaving Katy and beginning a new chapter, she also indicated she expects to remain involved in education.
McElwain told Fox he understood she would be “sharing your time between Dallas and Austin,” adding that he believed a large part of her heart would remain in Katy.
Fox responded by joking about the invitations she was receiving to return.
“While they're here inviting me back, I'm gonna need some bedrooms to stay in,” Fox said. “We'll have a signup sheet.”
Fox said she expects she will eventually find herself volunteering at another elementary school.
“I know before long, I'll be at an elementary school somewhere reading in the library or opening milk cartons and hearing squeals of children and feel right at home,” Fox said.
Before finishing, Fox encouraged Katy residents to become involved in the school district.
“This is your district. This is your legacy,” Fox said. “It's why we moved here. Let's keep it great.”
She ended her farewell by returning to her family and what she described as the next chapter of her life.
“So now it's time to give my next chapter to Caleb, Jonathan, and Declan,” Fox said, “and to discover what wonderful things God has waiting for this grateful new girl.”