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Many families in the Fort Bend Independent School District are craving transparency after a public clash among district leaders last week over the abrupt retirement of outgoing superintendent Christie Whitbeck.
The unusually bitter spat sent shockwaves throughout the Houston area’s fourth-largest district, prompting families to call for answers about Whitbeck’s exit and the school board’s plans to replace her.
Whitbeck and Trustee Kristen Malone alleged last week that multiple board members — including President Judy Dae — coordinated to force the superintendent into retirement. In turn, Dae and other board members have either refused to comment on the allegations, accused Malone of political posturing or attacked Whitbeck’s character. To date, neither Whitbeck nor the board members have provided evidence to confirm or refute the various claims.
Meanwhile, the board’s leadership hasn’t announced a process or timeline for replacing Whitbeck — even though a posting for the job is listed on the district’s website. Whitbeck’s last day on the job is Monday, with Deputy Superintendent Beth Martinez set to serve as the district’s interim leader.
The lack of concrete answers from trustees to date has bred confusion and frustration in the district of roughly 80,000 students, which typically doesn’t endure much public friction. Hundreds of comments about Whitbeck’s retirement have flooded multiple community Facebook groups in recent days, with defenders of both sides of the debate expressing skepticism about claims made to date.
“I would absolutely love for this board to provide a statement and a thorough timeline of what took place,” said Orjanel Lewis, a parent of two elementary-aged children in the district. “As community stakeholders, residents of this community, and especially as voters, we should know exactly what happened.”
In response to multiple interview requests from the Abdelraoufsinno, Dae issued a statement Friday, which said she understands the desire from families seeking transparency. But Dae declined to detail the circumstances behind Whitbeck’s retirement, writing that it’s not proper to discuss personnel matters publicly.
“While most of our trustees have sought this more respectful path, one trustee felt the need to undermine the respectful process by attacking her fellow trustees and providing a one-sided account of this personnel matter,” Dae wrote.
But that answer doesn’t satisfy Fort Bend parent Richard Bonica, who feels the board has gotten caught up in politics rather than acting in the interest of families. The longtime community volunteer believes the board should lay out the events that led to Whitbeck’s retirement — especially if there was wrongdoing involving the superintendent or trustees.
“If that's the case, then it shouldn't need to be held behind closed doors,” Bonica said. “The board needs to be transparent and let people ask questions. … Show me the facts.”
Board members did not disclose information about the reason for Whitbeck’s departure in a public meeting Monday evening, despite the vast majority of the 17 speakers to the board calling for more transparency. Whitbeck, however, provided a brief statement.
“I, still to this day, have not met with my board of trustees to fully understand exactly why all this is happening,” Whitbeck said. “(Dae) said, ‘You can opt for a voluntary retirement agreement or we're going to pursue termination.’ … There really is no cause for termination.”
Underhanded ouster or ‘political theater’?
Whitbeck’s retirement announcement last week came with little warning — though a few seeds of discontent had been planted in recent months.
Whitbeck, who was hired to lead Fort Bend in September 2021, received a contract extension and raise from the school board over the summer, suggesting trustees were satisfied with her performance.
Fort Bend residents also voted in November to support bumping up the district’s tax rate to raise money for school operations. Such elections are typically a referendum, in part, on public perceptions of the district’s leadership.
But the board’s public rejection this fall of Whitbeck’s plan to use restorative discipline techniques illustrated a political schism with the board, which has become more politically conservative over the past few elections. Progressives typically support restorative discipline, which involves students solving conflicts through dialogue, while conservatives generally support more traditional punishments, such as suspensions.
Dae also publicly rebuked Whitbeck’s administration for proposing that Fort Bend staff members could wear jeans if enough employees at a campus voted in the tax rate election. Local conservatives, including state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, accused Fort Bend officials of improperly influencing the election.
The increasingly tumultuous relationship boiled over at a board meeting held Dec. 4, three days after Whitbeck unexpectedly announced her resignation.
Ahead of a vote to accept Whitbeck’s resignation, Malone said Whitbeck’s resignation was the result of “personality conflicts” on the board and an ultimatum delivered by Dae. Whitbeck also said during the meeting that the board “blindsided” her one day after the tax rate election with pressure to step down.
Other board members, however, objected at the meeting to Malone’s account without responding to the allegations. One trustee, Sonya Jones, said Whitbeck would “never be able to work in education again” if trustees shared what they had discussed in closed sessions. Jones didn’t elaborate on her claim at the time and has declined to answer questions from the Landing.
The sniping continued days after the board meeting.
In an interview with the Landing on Monday, Malone alleged that trustees have been privately discussing the board pushing out Whitbeck for more than a year, with Dae telling her about it months ago. Malone also alleged that the ultimatum implied an unlawful walking quorum, which involves a majority of board members collaborating in private on public business in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Malone said she reported the alleged walking quorum to the board’s attorney in November.
“I was trying to stop everything from happening,” Malone said. “It’s not that I couldn’t get behind something. It’s that how you do something matters. There’s a process and there’s protocols.”
Dae, Jones and Trustee Rick Garcia have publicly said Malone’s actions were a part of a strategic political ploy. Malone faces re-election in May. One of her expected opponents, former Fort Bend board member Kristin Tassin, is endorsed by Dae, Jones and Garcia.
“This is the most disgusting display of political theater and self-aggrandizement I have ever witnessed,” Garcia wrote in a Facebook post Thursday. “The damage done to this district is completely unacceptable, and it is a dark cloud over this community. I am sickened by it.”
Malone said Monday that the criticism is an attempt to deflect from how wrongly Whitbeck’s exit was handled.
Left in the dark
Throughout the conflict, Fort Bend leaders have provided few details to back up their various claims, leading to disappointment among community members.
To date, Whitbeck and Malone have not provided evidence supporting the ultimatum threat, while Malone has not offered evidence of a walking quorum by four board members.
At the same time, Dae and Garcia have not responded in detail to the superintendent’s statements or offered any reason for wanting new leadership. In a Facebook post Friday, Jones said she had “personally lost confidence in the district’s leadership, especially as I witnessed declining performance in many of our schools.” Jones did not specify how performance had declined in Fort Bend.
“As we move forward to ensure that optimal teaching and learning occurs for our students, I ask, how does all of this manufactured drama help our students? It doesn’t,” Jones wrote.
Most speakers at Monday’s meeting supported Whitbeck and asked the board for more clarity on what went on behind the scenes. The speakers included Sugar Land Mayor Joe Zimmerman and six people who identified themselves as current or former Fort Bend ISD employees.
“Instead of informing the district with facts, we have just gotten innuendos,” Pecan Grove Elementary School teacher Rebecca Ingersoll said.
Fort Bend ISD grandparent Regina Gardner said she was looking for more information than the board gave.
“We understand that, because it’s an employment issue, we won’t know all of the details,” Gardner said. “But it would be good to be able to connect the dots so at least we have a working understanding of what is going on.”
While most community members commenting on Whitbeck’s retirement have called for transparency, a smaller contingent has defended the board.
Deron Harrington, the parent of three Fort Bend graduates, believes the public’s confusion is bred from misunderstanding of how a school board operates.
While he condemned Jones’ “bombastic” comments about Whitbeck, he believes they stemmed from frustration that Malone sabotaged what could have been a respectful parting between the superintendent and board. School boards and superintendents typically discuss their working relationship in private, an opportunity afforded to them under the Texas Open Meetings Act.
“So the public wants transparency, but they're not entitled to it. … Under Texas law, in an effort to protect the employee, in this case, Dr. Whitbeck, that is not litigated out in the open,” Harrington said. “You elected a board that has the exclusive and unchallenged inherent authority to hire and fire the superintendent. Your remedy is to vote for your board of trustees.”
Who comes next?
The Fort Bend community’s apprehension about Whitbeck’s retirement also is tied to the board’s moves to hire a new leader.
Fort Bend trustees have not detailed plans for hiring the district’s next superintendent, yet the superintendent job posting appeared on Fort Bend’s website in recent days.
The post is set to expire Jan. 2, an unusually short time window for a top leadership position. When hiring a superintendent, school districts typically employ a firm to conduct a national search for candidates and gather community feedback, a process that can take multiple months. Fort Bend trustees used a firm when hiring Whitbeck and got feedback from more than 2,000 community members, Dae said upon Whitbeck’s appointment.
Dae, Garcia and Jones did not address a potential superintendent search in their public messages over the past few days, and Malone did not directly answer questions about the timeline of the search Monday.
The apparently short window has bred fear among some community members that the process will be too hasty and lack community feedback.
“It tells me that (the board) already knows who they want. I would have major problems with that, if that's the case,” said Lewis, the parent of two Fort Bend students. “They are on that board to represent the interest and the feelings of the entire community. So we should be able to have some sort of feedback.”
Lewis also fears the Whitbeck spectacle shows Fort Bend trustees have created a “very negative and hostile” work environment, which will hinder attracting quality applicants to the district.
“I don't have my magic eight ball. I can’t predict the future,” Lewis said. “But I don't know that we will get the best (superintendent) because of their actions.”
Fort Bend trustees will meet publicly on Monday for the first time since their dispute. There are no items related to Whitbeck’s retirement or the superintendent search on the agenda.
Staff writer Asher Lehrer-Small contributed to this report.
Update, Dec. 11, 2:30 p.m.: This story has been updated to include comments from Fort Bend ISD Trustee Kristen Malone.
Update, Dec. 11, 11 p.m.: This story has been updated to include comments made during Fort Bend ISD’s school board meeting Monday.
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