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Katy Citizen Watchdog$ |
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We’re Taxpayers. It’s Our Money. |
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Three Cheers For GISD Watch! |
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What I hear, read and experience tells me that at every level government has “gone wild” and the only way that anything substantive will change is if ordinary hardworking Americans stand up and say “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” The problem is that more often than not government takes great offense when its citizens begin asking questions.
This is exactly what happened recently in Galveston ISD! I had the privilege of meeting the Galveston Dogs for the first time during the Texas Watchdog Summit this past April. The group had been following our web site (www.katycitizens.org) for some time. They, like the Katy Dogs, had developed legitimate concerns about how their school district was being run and how their hard-earned tax dollars were being spent.
One needs to keep in mind that GISD only spends 43.7 cents out of every dollar tax dollar in the classroom (the statewide average is 50 cents; which is still terrible!). GISD is an “Academically Acceptable” school district that apparently has more non-teaching staff than they have teachers! As Peggy Venable, of AFP, wrote in a comment to this story that appeared on the Houston Press web site: “Sounds like more parents and taxpayers need to be criticizing them.”
Instead of admitting that there might indeed be problems in the district and offering to discuss/work with this group of concerned local citizens, Galveston’s Board of Trustees and Superintendent decided to try and intimidate this group out of existence. Now before I continue, one has to understand that “intimidation” is just another tool in a school district’s vast arsenal of weapons to try and keep its self from becoming fully transparent and accountable to those of us that are paying the bills.
So Galveston ISD hired a lawyer and sent a threatening letter to GISD Watch demanding that they take down certain items from their web site that they considered libelous. The lawyer claimed that his client (the district) felt that they had been “figuratively raped” on the GISD Watch web site (www.gisdwatch.com). Give me a break! It’s my opinion that the GISD Trustees and Superintendent need to get a little thicker skin if they want to continue to serve as public officials!
With some help from the Katy Dogs, AFP in Austin and other watchdogs from around the state, our collective efforts helped in drawing local, state and national press attention to the Galveston Dogs’ plight. Once the story caught on nationally, GISD Watch was able to secure pro-bono help from a high-powered local Galveston attorney who immediately told the district that if they wanted to fight then he and GISD Watch were prepared to fight.
That was all that was needed for the district bully to back down from its threat.
So rejoice all ye grassroots activists everywhere for our First Amendment right of free speech has been defended once again! But make no mistake the “Intimidation Monster” will raise its ugly head again whenever ordinary citizens speak out.
© 2007 by Chris Cottrell. All rights reserved.
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Chris Cottrell, Katy Citizen Watchdog$ |
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Date: 11/14/2007 |
