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Op/Ed

The Leonard E. Merrell Center?

By Chris Cottrell

Let’s consider just a few examples in our school district:

• McRoberts Elementary – Named after an English teacher at Katy High School who served many years in the district.  Mrs. McRoberts was my English teacher during my junior year at Katy High.  She was an outstanding teacher and I remember her with great fondness.
  

• Fielder Elementary – Named after a math teacher at Katy High School who served many years in the district.  Mrs. Fielder was my geometry teacher during my sophomore year at Katy High.  Like Mrs. McRoberts she was a great teacher and wonderful person.
  

• McDonald Junior High – Named after my principal at Katy High School who served the district for many years. Mr. McDonald was my principal for all of my four (4) years at Katy High School.  He was a distinguished professional educator.
  

I could go on and on but you get my point.  That’s also how you figure out how “old” you are when they start naming schools after teachers that you had years ago.  But I digress.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle Dr. Merrell was asked the question about how he felt about having the new arena named after him.  His answer was as follows: “I am humbled and very appreciative by this honor.  It came as a complete surprise, and never at any time did I ever expect that the Board would choose to name the facility after me.”

Because of all the secrecy in how things are decided in this district, I for one am having a very difficult time believing that Dr. Merrell never knew anything about the planned naming of this facility.  Nor do I buy into his humble attitude about the honor.  In a meeting I had with Dr. Merrell he told me that it makes him uncomfortable saying the name of the center, but when I proposed that if it makes him that uncomfortable then why doesn’t he consider having his name removed from the center, his response was that he certainly couldn’t do that.  I rest my case.

_______________________________________

At the August 24, 2005 Budget Meeting a local taxpayer asked the Board whether or not they had considered selling the naming rights to the arena in order to raise some much needed revenue for the district.  To date, this author is not aware of any response to that question.  What that taxpayer proposed is not a new idea.  The fact is that there have been several districts, both locally and around the state, that have sold the naming rights to their stadiums/arenas to various businesses.  By my estimation the district might be able to raise as much as a million dollars through a sale of this kind.  This is real money that could be used to help offset the current deficit and go directly into education.

But let’s assume for the moment that you still think that Dr. Merrell has truly earned the distinction of having a building named after him.  Let’s keep in mind that Dr. Merrell can be described as the “CEO” of this “education business” called KISD.  The Taxpayers of this community can be described as the “Investors/Stockholders” in this venture.  Any intelligent Investor/Stockholder should require that prior to awarding the CEO a raise or a perk he or she should have done something significant for the business to deserve the additional compensation. 

So, let’s take a look at just some of the existing record:

1)  According to 2005 TEA statistics KISD currently has an overall rating of "Acceptable".  Only 9 out of the 44 schools that make up KISD are rated as "Exemplary".  That’s only 20% of the district.  Only 16 out of the 44 schools are rated as "Recognized".  That’s only 36% of the district.  I call that a "C" average at best!

• What makes these figures worse is the fact that in 2002 61% of the KISD schools were rated as “Exemplary”, 35% were rated as “Recognized” and 4% were rated as “Acceptable”.  It looks to me that our schools are moving in the wrong direction.
  

• We, the Investors/Stockholders, are paying some of the highest school and property taxes in this state yet our return on investment can only be ranked as a “C”?  I’d say we’re not getting our money’s worth!  Our CEO keeps telling everyone that the KISD curriculum is second to none and is the envy of the state.  I certainly hope that this is not true since this would mean that I should be even more concerned about the educational health of our state.  I would agree that we are probably the envy of the state when it comes to new school construction.
  

2)  The KISD 2005-2006 budget is not the first deficit budget that our CEO has been a part of.  Yet what sets this year apart from prior years is the fact that this deficit budget is an all time record for the district!  Furthermore, I have not heard one word from our CEO as to how we are going to prevent this trend from continuing.  All our CEO can do is blame Austin for the district’s financial woes.  The district seems to be content in relying on the Fund Balance, a/k/a the “Rainy Day Fund”, to cover the budget shortfall.  Has anyone asked what happens when the Fund Balance is exhausted?  Why is it I have more questions than answers when it comes to financial issues in this district?  As an Investor/Stockholder in the private sector, I always feel better when my CEO is leading, not following, and is solving rather than blaming.  I also feel better when my CEO is at least making an effort to communicate with the Investors/Stockholders.  I always get nervous when a corporation seems to be spending an inordinate amount of time “behind closed doors”.

• The fact is that the district needs to figure out a way to live within its means.  That is to say, take a look at the “pot of money” that you know you are going to have that year and try and budget accordingly.  I think we’ve all seen what happens when corporations do away with the concept of fiscal responsibility.  Any Enron shareholders out there?
  

3)  Our CEO approved raises for some of his “Management Staff” (district administrators) before considering raises for his “Staff” (the district’s teaching staff).  This action certainly does not bode well for morale and any savvy Investor/Stockholder knows that if the staff is not happy then the profitability of the organization may be in jeopardy.

4)  Our CEO has stated that KISD has handled the Dr. Ron Jetton matter "appropriately" in not terminating his employment with the district.  I personally do not care what was contained in the Ft. Bend County District Attorney’s report or the Texas Ranger’s report as Dr. Jetton’s actions in the recent e-mail election scandal or the fact that a recent complaint against him was dismissed.  I completely disagree with how our CEO handled this matter.  Let’s remember that even though you may put a dress and a hat on a pig, in the end it’s still a pig.  I believe that election tampering is unethical at the very least.  It is my opinion that Dr. Jetton should have been fired by the district PERIOD.  There should have been no other solution for a man that has disgraced both his profession and position in the district.  I don’t care that he has a sound employment history with the district.  It’s completely irrelevant when you are dealing with negligent behavior.

• I believe that transferring Dr. Jetton to another position within the district and then giving him a raise this past summer sends the wrong message to the district's employees and taxpayers.  Is our CEO condoning this kind of behavior?  As I have said before, taking the "Ken Lay/Enron" defense in this matter is completely unacceptable.  I don’t care that our CEO claims that he is not Dr. Jetton’s immediate supervisor.  The fact is that Dr. Merrell is the Superintendent of this district and as such the "buck" should stop at his desk.  It is not the CEO’s job to point fingers and cover his behind when the going gets tough.
  

With all that said, how is it that our Board could bestow such an honor on our CEO?  Should mediocrity warrant kudos?

What do you think?

© 2005 by Chris Cottrell & Radio Free Katy. All rights reserved.

	Should the district rename the Merrell Center? Yes No I don't know

Initially when the new arena was named I didn’t really give it a second thought.  Then, a friend of mine (a former KISD teacher) that had moved out of the district called one day and told me that she was driving down I-10, returning to Houston for a family event, and noticed that the new arena had been named after our district Superintendent.  Her first question to me was “Is Dr. Merrell dead?”

The more I thought about her question the more I asked myself “should Dr. Merrell’s name be on the new arena?  Was this action appropriate by our Board?” My conclusion is that the naming of this center after our Superintendent is quite inappropriate.  And believe me, I have not spoken to one single taxpayer that has been in favor of naming this center after Dr. Merrell.  Normally stadiums, arenas, schools and buildings are named after deceased individuals who made a very significant contribution to their communities.  Quite often those contributions are financial but not always.  Many times those individuals earned this honor by distinguishing themselves through many years of dedicated community service.  Maybe they were an outstanding teacher, coach or volunteer in the community.

Renaming the Center

We've received several email suggesting alternative names than the ones proposed on the First Page. Most would make a sailor blush. However, one suggestion from a reader is Merrell's Morass. It might catch on...