KATY, Texas — Katy independent school district's board is considering new guidelines for naming schools and other district facilities to keep the district out of potential legal trouble and improve the process.
The discussion began in Dec. and gained urgency after former Cinco Ranch High School Principal James Cross announced his school board candidacy. The situation is unprecedented: Cross will be the first school board candidate campaigning while the district promotes construction of a school bearing his and his wife's name. This puts the district in the awkward position of publicizing his name during the campaign using taxpayer-funded employees and equipment.
The district has traditionally promoted milestones during a school's construction process, such as naming the school's mascot, selecting school colors, meetings with parents, and other associated events. Each milestone and its promotional material would remind voters that Cross has a school named after him, which some on the school board are concerned could be viewed as promoting the Cross campaign.
"I want to ensure the district is not seen as favoring one candidate over the other," said Katy ISD trustee Mary Ellen Cuzela at Monday's school board meeting.
Proposed Changes
The proposed rule changes for newly announced namesake candidates are narrow in scope. The changes would only prohibit candidates from having a school named after them if they run for school board in the election immediately after they are announced as namesakes. There would be no issues with namesakes running a year or more after having their name placed on a school or other facility.
The change protects the school district from appearing to be promoting a candidate because it ensures a newly announced namesake will not be on the ballot during the time when the school district is using its taxpayer-funded communication team to promote milestones associated with the construction of that facility.
Cross name will remain on Elementary School 48
The proposed rule changes will not prohibit the Crosses from having their name on Elementary School 48 as the rule changes will not be retroactive. James and Mitzi Cross Elementary School is currently being built and will open in August at 900 Sunterra Shores Drive in the Sunterra subdivision.
Removing an Opportunity for Political Gamesmanship
The new policy would also prevent political gamesmanship that's been on display recently. When school board President Victor Perez, as board president, voted to approve naming a school after Cross and his wife Mitzi, he was approving a naming committee's recommendation - a routine process that doesn't indicate political support. However, after Cross announced his candidacy against Perez, his supporters started using this vote against Perez on social media, suggesting it meant Perez endorsed Cross. This wasn't true, and Cross never revealed during the naming process that he planned to run for the board.
See the posts below:
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A post by an opponent of Victor Perez using the naming issue for political advantage.
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A post by activistand children's book author Chancie Brooke Davis which began circulation three days after James Cross filed to run against Victor Perez. Davis. She has also advocated for vaccinations and masking in all schools.
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This post, from an unknown supporter of James Cross, and others like it claim that Victor Perez supports the election of his opponent James Cross.
Process Improvements
Cuzela and fellow school board member Rebecca Fox were the two board members who served on the Elementary School 48 naming committee, along with the school's principal and two parents. The new policy, if approved, would ensure naming committee members have adequate time to review nomination packets submitted by the public.
"People put a lot of time and effort into the applications with letters of recommendations and a lot of news articles," Cuzela said.
Committee members currently meet for about 2 hours to select a namesake but have less than an hour to review nomination materials before voting begins.
"The time to read (the applications) was 45 minutes for approximately 10 applications that were about 50 pages each, so that's about 500 pages," Cuzela said.
The proposed policy would allow at least seven days to review all submitted names and supporting documentation. It would also mandate that facility naming committees include at least six parents from the affected attendance zone, up from the previous requirement of two parents. The changes would affect all district-owned facilities, including schools, libraries, athletic facilities, and performing arts centers.
Communication Improvements
The district has received at least two complaints in recent years about nominations that didn't make it to the committee for consideration. Regardless of the reason why that happened, the new policy seeks to strengthen communication requirements to ensure applicants are kept informed about their nomination status, and if their nominations don't make it to the committee, they know why.
Next Steps
The proposed policy may be updated based on suggestions from Monday's meeting, with a final vote expected later this month during the board's regular session.