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May 12, 2006

Conservator: PAISD Board problems intensify with nearing election

Ashley Sanders

PORT ARTHUR — Texas Education Agency Conservator Stephanie Cravens is still not pleased with the Port Arthur ISD Board of Trustees.

Cravens’ April 2006 report to TEA finds the board still at a “highly concerned” level of monitoring.

“Political differences continue to overshadow important issues the district needs to address,” Cravens wrote in the comments portion of her report.

“The polarization between entities in the community and board leadership team as well as between individual board members has once again intensified with the upcoming May Board elections.”

Cravens sites an incident that occurred during the April 27 board meeting as evidence to the disjunction between the opposing factions.

“Both during the regular board meeting and closed session Board member interactions demonstrated the increasing tension between the different political factions,” Cravens wrote.

“Topics that bring out the most negative interactions continue to stem from the relationship between Board of Trustees and previous administration; bond actions especially relating to high school; business transactions attributed to previous administration.”

The TEA conservator added that she and fellow Conservator Roy Ford have told trustees repeatedly that unless they are willing to let go of past differences and move forward that district improvement would be stymied.

According to Cravens, hot debates between the board has led her to designate that no board meetings could be held until after the May 13 board election.

“The animosity that exists between the two political groups continues to divert attention away from the important tasks that need to be completed such as restructuring line of authority to enhance accountability; policy review; program reviews for federal funding utilization; and facilities utilization/locations,” Cravens report read.

Ford contributes to Cravens’ review of the district and the management team submits one monthly report to TEA.

Neither conservator provided a recommendation for how much longer TEA should monitor Port Arthur ISD.

Contact this reporter at asanders@panews.com or (409) 721-2427.



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