This certainly appears to be nepotism related. It's surprisingly legal for ISD with only the very largest counties in Texas having the population #'s to preclude a superintendent to hire a spouse....or through whatever circumstances remain employed under a superintendent spouse.

Anyone know the specifics of this? Thoughts. I was on a local ISD board and this aspect of the practice is something that made me always oppose the practice:

"Witnesses interviewed during the investigation also said ***en's relationship with Kite made them reluctant to raise concerns about his behavior."


https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/education/2024/05/15/487488/humble-isd-superintendent-placed-on-administrative-leave/

https://houstonlanding.org/split-humble-isd-board-places-superintendent-elizabeth-***en-on-paid-leave/

I've heard so many great things about him.

Pay wall, just like all their tornado warnings.

94chem said:

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Pay wall, just like all their tornado warnings.

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if you are on a mobile browser, you can tap the reading mode icon to the right of the url quickly before the pop up. Then you'll be able to read the entire thing. It is much MUCH more informative than the other links.



Edit: this is what it looks like in Firefox.

94chem said:

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Pay wall, just like all their tornado warnings.

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Use this: https://paywallreader.com/ and then click the Archive.Today link.

Thank you!

Many many years ago I worked for TAMU. I had to take a half day class onboarding. Part of the class was about nepotism. I asked, how can Sean Slocum work for RC Slocum? I was told that that is the football team and the rules don't apply to them.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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Many many years ago I worked for TAMU. I had to take a half day class onboarding. Part of the class was about nepotism. I asked, how can Sean Slocum work for RC Slocum? I was told that that is the football team and the rules don't apply to them.

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While we are spit balling here, at least in athletics the case can be made someone growing up with athletic genes and close to major football programs has some ability or value to add.

Now if you wanna really get down to it, be glad Fran wasn't allowed to hire his son at A&M. He did at SWT.

It occurred to me HISD had something fishy happen when an admin paid a family member for "consulting" years ago. The below is ACTUAL nepotism.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Official-s-role-in-son-s-work-for-HISD-scrutinized-1941829.php

Quote:

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HISD's chief school administrator is under scrutiny for signing off on a consulting agreement to pay her son $67,000 in little more than a year.

Darren Fulton, 39, began working March 1, 2004, as a computer consultant for schools in the Acres Homes and Northwest districts, records show. His mother, Margaret Stroud, oversees the operation of 304 Houston Independent School District campuses.

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Quote:

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In 1991, Harris County court records show, he pleaded guilty and received deferred adjudication to a felony theft charge accusing him of stealing computer chips while working at Compaq Computer.

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Apparently this woman is now on the board of some DEI scholarship fund. Sounds about right.

https://www.5strongscholars.org/theteam/dr-margaret-stroud-ed-d

Jugstore Cowboy said:

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Quote:

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This certainly appears to be nepotism related. It's surprisingly legal for ISD with only the very largest counties in Texas having the population #'s to preclude a superintendent to hire a spouse....or through whatever circumstances remain employed under a superintendent spouse.

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Don't know any details here, but it's not uncommon for educators/coaches to be married to each other, or for father/son coaches to work together. In smaller communities, stricter nepotism rules could really limit the local applicant pool.

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That's always been the argument put forth when the topic of whether or not it's a good practice was discussed. I mean those exact same words.

I can certainly understand and support the idea when the nearest ISD is 30 to 50, or more, miles away. I'm not going to be the Superintendent at ____ ISD in west Texas if my teacher spouse is forced to drive an unreasonable commute. There should be exceptions. But I'm not buying it for an area like Humble with plenty of other districts around. Just call one of your Superintendent contacts and get a nice job for him or her 10 miles away.

In my experience this has caused more problems than it's benefitted ours and other districts in the area. Its been seen as more of an automatic fringe benefit than fulfilling a district's need. In fact I've seen us lose good people to make room. Also, on that, other district employees know what kind of influence the spouse has and it can certainly have a negative impact on staff.

When I was in the board we had no less than 3 elected officials resign because a spouse or nephew was considered for a position with the district. I had no problem with that at all as hiring practices with tax money should be above reproach. I just think it should also apply to administrators l.

I hope that wasn't shockingly incoherent.

Edit- I'd also add that I'm not talking about simply teachers or even principals at a given district. Administrators.

Case in point - why is the Superintendent on leave now?

StillNotAnAggie said:

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94chem said:

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Pay wall, just like all their tornado warnings.

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Use this: https://paywallreader.com/ and then click the Archive.Today link.

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Thank you for that!