20 Jan 2004
Trustees Share Reasons Why They Serve
DALLAS—The nine Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees are among the hundreds of dedicated public servants in the field of education to be recognized during Board Recognition Month in January.
DISD trustees have witnessed many landmark events take place in recent years, including the ruling by Judge Barefoot Sanders that lifted the district from a 33-year-old federal desegregation order; and were strong supporters of a $1.37 billion bond program, the largest in the district, to build 20 new schools, expand existing facilities, make renovations to ensure safety, open a new central food service facility, and provide a new athletic facility—all to open within the next five to seven years.
Serving without compensation, the DISD board of trustees are elected from single-member districts to serve rotating, three-year terms of office. They spend many hours in individual committee meetings to prepare for the regular meeting held at 6 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month. Many times they are asked what motivates them to serve. Following are excerpts from their answers:
• Representing District 6-Southwest Dallas- Hollis Brashear was first elected to the board of trustees in 1992. He was re-elected in 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2002. Brashear served as board vice-president from 1994 to 1997 and board president from December 1997 to June 1999. His colleagues elected him again as board president in 2003.
A native Dallasite, Brashear graduated from Lincoln High School and worked his way through college where he received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers upon his graduation from Prairie View A & M University.
During his 21 years as a regular officer, he commanded a combat engineer company near the demilitarized zone in Korea, commanded a construction engineer company in France and was an engineer planning officer and advisor to the South Vietnamese engineer battalion during the Vietnam War. While serving two one-year tours in Vietnam, he was twice awarded the Bronze Star.
"As a young, poor boy growing up and attending DISD schools, I learned firsthand the inequity of educational resources for African-American children. As a middle-aged retired U. S. Army officer, I observed the large gap in academic achievement between minority children and white children. Being a professional engineer, I became alarmed in 1991 when I saw that African-American students were performing dismally on the state and national standardized mathematics tests. I then decided that I could no longer remain on the sidelines, but must become fully engaged in the educational process by using my talents, skills and experience to bring about changes in Dallas public schools," he said.
It was, in fact, the diversity of his life's experiences that led him to seek a seat on the board of education. " Ultimately, I wanted to become an advocate for poor and minority children. My election to the school board in 1992 has allowed me to use my experience, knowledge, and passion to give back to the community, and work toward ensuring that all children are given the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to become productive citizens."
• District 3 Trustee Lois Parrott was first elected to the board in 1996. She is a professor at Richland College, a published author and is the first vice-president on the DISD school board.
An active participant in community affairs, Parrott is a member of the Texas Association of School Boards and has received many awards for her professional and volunteer work, including the Teacher of the Year Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organization Development and the Volunteer Service Award from the Northeast Dallas Chamber of Commerce.
Parrott taught junior and high school in the DISD and now sees her function as a trustee as a way to ensure that children receive the best education. "I believe that each child deserves and must have access and opportunity to be educated. I believe that public schools serve as the major catalyst for improving the quality of life for all and maintaining a democratic form of government."
• Representing District 8-Love Field, Northwest Dallas and Central Dallas, Joe May was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2002. A U.S. Army veteran, May served with the 4th Infantry and the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. Throughout the years, he has chosen to work in fields that keep him close to the pulse of the community—first with U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and most recently with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
His involvement with youth dates back to 1971 when he worked as a youth counselor with the Dallas County Community Action Agency. And, his community involvement touches every aspect of city life including two terms as president of the League of United Latin American Citizens and board member of SER-Jobs for Progress. He also served two terms as chairman of the Community Development Advisory Committee.
May says that the motivating factor for him to serve on the board is "to ensure that the children of Dallas have the best opportunities to develop skills and knowledge to be functional in our society." He serves as second vice president on the board.
• Ron Price was first elected to the board of trustees in May 1997 and having served as first vice president, he is now serving his second term as secretary representing District 9-South Dallas and Downtown. An active youth and community leader, Price was instrumental in implementing the state law that prohibits the sale of alcohol near schools in the state of Texas. He also was the youngest person to be elected to the Texas Association of School Boards.
Among his many appointments, Price serves as president of the African American School Board Association for the metroplex and was recently elected and sworn in as the president of the National Young School Board Members Caucus. He serves as the president of the National Association of African American School Boards and is vice president of the National Caucus of Black School Board Members.
His appointments are many and diverse, yet his goal is clear. "I serve to ensure that all children in the city of Dallas, regardless of race or gender, receives a quality education."
• Representing District 1-Northwest Dallas- Kenneth Zornes began his service on the board in June 1999 and was elected board president in June 2001. He currently serves on all board committees.
An Army veteran, Zornes is an administrator with the Dallas County Community College District and worked as a public school teacher for eight years. For 14 years, he worked in management with Ryerson Steel Company.
Zornes says that he serves on the DISD board for very selfish reasons. "It makes me feel good. I find public service very rewarding, especially when that service benefits children and when I know that most of those children have not had the same opportunities growing up."
His community involvement has included chairing the boards of the Town North YMCA, St. Philip's School and Community Center and Camp Jubilee, a camp for children with sickle cell disease.
• Representing District 2, North Dallas and near East Dallas, Jack Lowe was elected to the board of trustees in July 2002. Lowe is board chair and managing director of TDIndustries, Ltd., a national mechanical and electrical construction and service company headquartered in Dallas.
Prior to his election to the board of trustees, Lowe provided executive coaches and leadership training for principals, arranged board governance training and presented the Jack Lowe (Sr.) Teacher Awards. Through TDIndustries, Lowe has been involved in the Adopt A School program, now known as Partners in Education, and has sponsored Reading is FUNdamental and serves on the board of directors of the Texas Business and Education Coalition.
Lowe was the 1996 recipient of the Crystal Achievement Award from the National Association of Women in Construction for contributions to the advancement of women and minorities in the industry. And in 2000, was presented with the National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Principle-Centered Leadership. Most recently, he was honored with the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award from the SMU Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.
Lowe sees his work in the public sector as a responsibility. "I serve because I believe our society has an economic and moral responsibility to educate all children. We must be successful to assure the long term viability of our society, our economy, and our country."
• George Williams was first elected to the board of trustees in 1999. He represents District 4 Southeast Dallas and Seagoville and acts as the board's representative for the Texas Association of School Boards, North Texas Central Council of Governments and Texas Association of School Boards Legislative Network. Williams serves on the business and policy committees and has served as secretary of the board.
He is the executive director of the Seagoville Economic Development Corp., a position he has held for the past two years. Williams' community involvement includes participation as a Seagoville city councilman, member of the Seagoville High School committee board, member of the city of Seagoville Citizen's Police Academy and the advisory committee for the Environmental Education Center of the Dallas Independent School District. He is a supporter of the Seagoville Youth Sports Association and a member of the Federal Corrections Community Relations Board.
Williams, who graduated from South Oak Cliff High School in 1960, says that his motivation to serve is embedded in his strive for "financial accountability, higher academic achievement of our students, to ensure that taxpayer money is spent to educate children, reduce the dropout [rate among] students and provide more early childhood opportunities for our kids."
• For Trustee Lew Blackburn , who represents District 5, East Oak Cliff and West Dallas, on the board, education is a family affair. "Education has been a part of my life since birth. My mother, the first in her family to graduate from college, was a teacher. My father, the first in his family to graduate from college, strongly encouraged education as a way to improve the quality of life. My grandparents, neither of whom finished high school, demanded that their grandchildren finish school."
He has written papers on parent involvement, school support, collaborative decision making and communication for educators. "I serve my community on the school board because of my convictions toward education," he added. "I serve on the school board because of my commitment to education. I serve my city because the constituents want great schools for our children."
An educator, Blackburn was elected to the board of trustees in 2001.
• Representing District 7, Central Oak Cliff and West Dallas, Rafael Anchía was elected to the Board of Trustees in May 2001. Anchía, an attorney at the law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, is also an experienced educator and lecturer. Anchía has taught courses at numerous universities including The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Tech University Law School and Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in Monterrey, Mexico.
An advocate of early childhood development issues, he helped establish the SER Child Development Center, a bilingual child development and educational center that provides support to working poor families in Dallas. Anchía also has partnered with Adamson and Sunset high schools to establish the Southern Dallas Leadership Forum which selects motivated high schools students, college students and young professionals from the Oak Cliff area for a nine-month mentoring and leadership training program focusing on issues that include history, community organizing, conflict resolution, team building and politics.
Anchia says that he serves on the board of education because he believes that society has an economic and moral responsibility to educate all children. "We must be successful to assure the long term viability of our society, our economy and our country."
For more information about the Board of Trustees and the Dallas Independent School District, visit www.dallasisd.org.