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Just Say No to More Years of Robert Damron

In January the CISD Board will consider renewing their (our) contract with Robert Damron as Superintendent of CISD. It is time for the Board to stand up on their own and decide what is best for the taxpayers, voters, and the children.

Heretofore, Mr. Damron has led and the board followed. That is not the way it should be. The board should lead and Mr. Damron should follow.

Let's look at some places Mr. Damron has led the board, and if you think it is time for a change in who fills the superintendent's position, then tell the school board members. (Donna Boles, president; Stu Madison, Dean Woodruff, Elaine Wilmore, Milton Walker, Brad Allen and Brad Mead.)

The coaching mess is the making of Mr. Damron, with the rubber stamp of the board. Pat Culpepper is the most qualified person in the area. Plus he has said he would do it for half the salary of the outgoing coach. The board should ask Mr. Damron if he is okay with Mr. Culpepper. If not, it is time for Mr. Damron to go.

Mr. Damron led the board to ignore the will of the voters which they expressed in the May 7 bond election. If you think the board was ill-advised, tell them it is time for Mr. Damron to go.

Another area that is alarming is how much of our money Mr. Damron spends on himself. He is already paid a salary and benefits of more than $150,000 a year, including a $650 per month car allowance and a mileage allowance, plus a lavish expense allowance.

Harold Gentry has secured spending records through the Open Records Act. He is in the process of analyzing them and preparing a series of articles. Here we will give you just two or three examples of how Mr. Damron spends our money.

First, Mr. Damron takes a lot of trips at taxpayer expense. On these trips, he lives like a king. Many of these trips are unnecessary. Future reports will give more details, but here is a sample. There is a charge of $219 per night for two nights at the Marriott San Antonio River Center, and a charge on the CISD credit card issued to Mr. Damron for dinner for Mr. Damron and the School Board at Ruth's Chris Steak House in San Antonio for $908.61 (including $147.91 tip!) To put this in perspective, the State Employees guidelines limits meal expenses to $30 per day and lodging expenses in Texas to $80 per night.

If you think Mr. Damron could get by with the same expenses he allows the teachers and students, tell the board to stop the "high roller" spending by Mr. Damron.

Mr. Damron, despite excessive spending on himself, decided our teachers needed only a 1% or less pay raise. The board followed dutifully. If you think our teachers deserve better, tell the board it is time for Mr. Damron to go.

The Texas Association of School Boards in November, 2005 held their annual convention in Dallas. The major focus was on school finance and accountability. KERA's Maria Crockett reported that the Richardson ISD is one of the best in Texas when it comes to relating educational results to school spending. RISD Assistant Superintendent Tony Harkleroad said a key to their strong educational performance was keeping smaller neighborhood schools. Mr. Damron, with the Board in tow, is going the opposite direction. The three new schools CISD has planned are twice as big as the neighborhood schools they are replacing and are on the outskirts of town. CISD officials deceptively call them neighborhood schools, but they are not. If you think it is time to increase CISD's educational performance, it is time for Mr. Damron to go.

The same KERA newscast reported that Tim Tauer, Managing Partner of Benchmark Educational Resource Group, said that when districts like Richardson do more on less, the big difference is leadership. "Most organizations that fail usually do so not because they set their goals too high and miss, but because they set them too low and achieve." When CHS recently failed the TAKS test, Mr. Damron played politics to get the standard lowered for CHS and make the rating look better. If that is his idea of leadership, it is time for Mr. Damron to go.

CISD claims to want citizen input, but public comment is allowed only at the beginning of Board meetings, before any agenda items are called up and discussed. The speaker is cut off at 3 minutes sharp. This effectively limits public input, and that appears to be what Mr. Damron wants. I have asked the board on three occasions to allow public comment on each item as it is being considered, the way the city council does. They have declined. Mr. Damron regularly shows his arrogance by publicly demeaning citizens who express opinions not to his liking.

The Texas Comptroller maintains a School District Watch List with reference and comparison data on school districts throughout Texas. The top rated districts such as Richardson spend more than 65% of their budget on Instruction. The Comptroller lists Cleburne as spending 52% on instruction in the 2004/2005 year. Governor Perry has ordered all districts to attain the 65% level by 2009. We need a new superintendent to lead CISD out of this undesirable spot. We are spending the money that should be spent on our children's instruction on other things, including lavish meals, hotels, and travel by Mr. Damron. It is time for Mr. Damron to go.

I am among a small group of "activists" who probably represent half of the 3,000 people who cared enough to vote in the last bond election but do not want the public spotlight, and probably about half of all taxpayers.

Mr. Damron chooses not to listen to us, and in a memo publicly circulated to school personnel dismisses those who disagree with his policies as "a few critical old soreheads."

Let the school board members know if you think it is time for Mr. Damron to go.

Alden Nellis