Bruce Bradford, Shawn Miller, and Amy Thiene
By: Tom Behrens
Reports and interviews from across the Katy area provide key information on candidates running for Katy ISD school trustee positions. This information is shared to help Katy voters stay informed.
Bruce Bradford:
Bradford has a background in business as a manager, owner, and mortgage lender. He’s married to a retired educator and said he believes in volunteerism.
Shawn Miller:
Miller is a father of three children and has lived in Katy for 18 years. He said he is running for the Katy ISD school board because he cares about Katy and education. Serving a board member is way that he can give back to the community and education.
Amy Thiene:
Thieme has taught mathematics, advanced mathematics and end-of-year testing across Katy ISD schools. From her teaching experience, she believes she can help create solutions and improve student outcomes.
Candidates also expressed their thoughts on four big issues facing the district – access to literature, school safety, teacher retention, and bus driver shortages.
Access to Literature:
Thieme supports the removal of “graphic sexualized content” from school libraries. Present an optimized learning environment – ublic funds should be used for academic curriculum and classroom resources for teachers that fully align with course objectives and TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills).
Bradford expressed a fact-based approach to books. He believes that literary standards should be set by a diverse cross-section of the community, including students and district library staff. He believes the community should have easy access to literary making decisions and have a pathway to share their thoughts and concerns about policy and/or individual titles.
Shawn Miller believes textbooks should be age appropriate, and that parents who wish for their children to have access to other books may visit public libraries or purchase the books instead. This provides a safe learning environment for all students.
School Safety:
Miller calls school safety the most important issue school districts are facing now. His solution is to hire more safety personnel, increase safety equipment resources, and implement more safety procedures.
Thieme supports a proactive approach to school safety by hiring more trained certified and armed police officers to deter criminal activity. Upgrade glass in the schools to bullet proof glass and conduct regular safety audits.
Bradford supports improved structural design in buildings, training for staff, children and the community, appropriate staff support and community watch programs with defined paths to report warning signs. It’s a total community effort.
Teacher Retention:
Thieme believes teacher retention can be addressed with smaller class sizes, half-day teaching positions for retired teachers, competitive compensation and benefits, advocating for increasing cost of living adjustments for retired teachers, protecting teacher planning periods and campus administrations that support classroom management so that behaviors that disrupt the learning environment are minimized.
Bradford said the solution lies in better treatment of teachers by the community. He shared that when he was a child, he felt like many of his teachers were friends or family. He wants to get back to this. Our teachers are on our side – not our adversaries. Get the community involved in creating ‘soft’ benefits for teachers.
The key to retaining teachers, Miller believes, is to increase teacher salaries and benefits and to integrate better technology and instructional resources for teachers. Teachers also need better support. They should be provided with quality professional development opportunities and other programs that support a positive work environment.
Bus Driver Shortages:
Miller believes job fairs and higher bus driver pay will help mitigate the issue. He also posits that drivers could work across multiple districts if the bell times don’t conflict.
Bradford said discussing the issue directly with bus drivers will help alleviate the issues. By doing so, the district can learn from the drivers themselves what incentives would improve the shortage. It might be pay, but there are other things the District can do to attract drivers.
Thieme said bus driver shortages can be assisted with competitive compensation and benefits, along with additional tools for bus drivers to address and manage discipline on buses. Campus administrators who assist in correcting unsafe behaviors is one example that would greatly encourage retention and recruitment.
Election day is Saturday, May 6, 2023. Early voting begins April 24 and runs through May 2. Early voting locations include Leonard Merrell Center, 6301 S. Stadium Lane, Katy; Cinco Ranch High School, 23440 Cinco Ranch Blvd., Katy; James E. Taylor High School, 20700 Kingsland Blvd., Katy; and Seven Lakes High School, 9251 S. Fry Road, Katy.