DeSoto candidate forum provides three different takes on school race

by Jill Quarles of DeSoto TODAY

Three candidates, each with unique connections to DeSoto Independent School District and each with distinct motivations for seeking office, were the focus of the candidate forum hosted by Concerned DeSoto Citizens April 4 at DeSoto Town Center.

All city council and school board candidates were invited to participate in the forum, but the school board's place 6 seat is this spring's only contested race, so more than half the event was dedicated to moderator and audience questions directed to candidates, Susan Bryza, Amed Clinton and Warren Seay Jr.

Each candidate began with a two-minute opening statement, then was given one minute to address each question.

In his opening address, Seay, a 20-year-old Southern Methodist University student commented on the irony that he has lived in DeSoto longer than either of the two older candidates, both of whom sited numerous years of experience in education as means of qualification for the position.

“I have a commitment as a product of the district,” Seay said. “I'm where DeSoto students want to be in the future. I've lived here for 12 years and can offer a students' perspective.”

Although he is new to Texas and the DeSoto area, Clinton, a parent of two school-age children, said simply that while he may not have budgetary experience or longtime ties to the community, he knows “how to fix schools” and how to use human and material resources to catalyze necessary changes, most of which he believes should begin with the implementation of new programs.

He spoke throughout the forum about contracting a parent liaison, investing in more teacher training including some related to cultural awareness and sensitivity and altering current disciplinary procedures. He said a school should be a “professional learning community” in which teachers feel “open to acknowledge their weaknesses” and the school district invests designated funds in training teachers and administrators.

Bryza, a career educator with more than 35 years of teaching experience and former DeSoto ISD faculty member, agreed that the district should undergo an almost total change, but disagreed with Clinton's proposed solutions, suggesting more straightforward alternatives.

According to Bryza, the district's most serious problems are rooted in the misplaced priorities of central administrative officials. Multiple times, she criticized “the people on Belt Line Road” and said that district change “has to start at the top.”

Bryza resigned her teaching position last year because she was concerned about administrators' motivations, priorities and subsequent actions. “I used to think Dallas ISD was in more need of attention than any other school district in the state,” she said, “but now I think DeSoto is in even more trouble because the attitude of central administration doesn't serve students.'

Several questions focused on the district's TAKS test scores, as three campuses were ranked unacceptable by the state, and none were classified as recognized or exemplary. Bryza and Seay agreed that the recent trend of focusing lessons directly to TAKS test material does not benefit students.

“It's disturbing to see teachers be forced to teach drill and skill to one specific test,” Bryza said adding that money spent on frequent benchmark testing could be dedicated to other aspects of education and that administrators could be “put to work.”

Seay agreed. “To see a positive change,” he said,” the first thing we have to do is return the classrooms to the teachers and listen to their insights. Right now, they aren't involved in the decision-making process.” Seay added that school districts need to stop “reacting to the panic” they felt based on the district's substandard scores, stop making excuses and “look at evaluation beyond the TAKS test.”

Bryza and Seay also expressed similar opinions in favor of a zero tolerance discipline policy, with Seay saying that all “bad behavior should be punished fairly and consistently” and Bryza recounting personal experience in which she'd seen children's behavior improve substantially after being placed in the school's alternative education program.

Clinton “went against the grain.” “Behavior is subject to prospective,” he said, arguing that teachers should be trained to notice and react appropriately to “triggers” that might indicate students' having personal problems. “I don't believe that education should be connected to discipline,” he added, suggesting that administrators investigate research-based techniques for managing behavior.

Submitted audience questions were concentrated much on budget issues, a theme that evoked passionate response from Clinton, who, although in favor of using funds to implement quite a few programs, openly opposed the proposed purchase of an $86,000 alarm system, saying that many students don't have textbooks to take home, and that remedying that situation should take priority.

One financial question was directed specifically to Seay and referred to his endorsement by a Dallas columnist, as to whether someone who has neither managed a business nor paid property taxes could carry the financial responsibilities associated with the position.

Seay, who has interned with the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contracts and Compliance Program and has managed finances for his college fraternity, did not deny his relative inexperience, but said he felt ready to meet the challenge. “It's obvious that I'm young,” he said, “but I have some experience that counts. I can see what works. I learn quickly, and I understand financial principles.'

In addition, candidates discussed the relationships of property values to the educational system and the involvement of city organizations and taxpayers with no children in the district.

All candidates concluded positively with Bryza reminding the audience that education is her “first love,” Seay quoting a Biblical passage and urging the district to work as “one body” and Clinton reminding attendees of his commitment to advocate for parents' rights.