Cy-Fair School Board Candidates Say They Want to End Chaos

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD board president Scott Henry kicked off a candidates forum Wednesday night, saying, “It’s not about politics. It’s not about headlines either. It’s all about doing what’s right for 117,000 students and the people we serve every single day.”

It’s an interesting characterization of the panel that oversees the third-largest district in Texas and has made many headlines recently for what some would say are the wrong reasons: accusations of unethical behavior by a board member and a battle with the community and each other over varying viewpoints on the separation of church and state. 

While incumbents and political newcomers were on their best behavior at the October 15 forum, bickering among Cy-Fair trustees is not uncommon. The community has called for an end to the chaos and negative publicity, but at least a dozen Facebook groups are dedicated to the district’s upcoming election, candidate behavior or school board matters. 

Early voting begins Monday in the school board race, which will be decided on November 4. 

A trio of “pro-public education” candidates — Lesley Guilmart, Cleveland Lane Jr. and Kendra Camarena — filed early this year in hopes of unseating three incumbent board members who ran as a Christian conservative slate in 2021. 

But incumbent Lucas Scanlon opted not to seek re-election, and trustee Natalie Blasingame shook things up by challenging incumbent Henry, instead of running for the seat she already holds. 

The finalized ballot includes nine candidates: Terrance Edmond (withdrawn), Guilmart and Radele Walker for Position 5; Henry, Lane and Blasingame for Position 6; and Elecia Jones, Camarena and George Edwards Jr. for Position 7.

The conservative Christian slate of Blasingame, Walker and Edwards — referred to by supporters as “NRG” for Natalie, Radele and George — has been endorsed by the Harris County Republican Party and Glorious Way Church. 

Henry has been endorsed by current board members Scanlon, Justin Ray and Todd LeCompte. The pro-public education slate nabbed the Houston Chronicle endorsement hours after Wednesday’s forum and is largely supported by teachers and parents who want to ensure that book bans, library closings, and removed textbook chapters aren’t the norm at Cy-Fair ISD. 

Camarena told a reporter prior to the forum that teachers want to feel trusted and parents want transparency.

“They’re ready for a change and a board that is not engaged in chaos and shenanigans,” she said.

No one at the forum mentioned the fact that Blasingame’s secret recordings of community members prompted a new board policy that prohibits such activity. The candidates appeared to be focused on improving safety measures, ensuring high student performance rates and reviewing the district’s $1.2 billion budget. 

Blasingame acknowledged she didn’t vote for the 2025-26 budget, something her naysayers brought up to imply she doesn’t support teacher pay increases. The approved budget included an increase in the starting teacher salary to $65,000 and a 4 percent raise on the midpoint or base for other employees, along with increased starting pay for hourly staff to $15 an hour.

“I want to say to the paraprofessionals, I fought for you,” she said. “I did not vote for the budget because, for me, for you to be the working poor is not acceptable. You’re so critical in our buildings. You cannot do it without paraprofessionals.”

Blasingame spent much of her time at the forum talking about student performance. 

“What can matter more than making sure that elementary school kids are able to read?” she said. “Right now, we have about 12,000 kiddos that aren’t at the 50th percentile on reading for first through fifth grade. We have to focus our money where it matters and differentiate support for the campus that needs it most.” 

She pointed out that the district has lost 2,000 students this year, which she attributed to “changes at the border.” Some families may have “gone back or be afraid to come to school,” she said. 

Henry said the district needs to partner with parents and ensure that expectations are communicated and they know how to use technology tools. 

“Most importantly, if we have strong academics, safe schools and parent involvement, we’re going to have very successful lifelong learners, and that’s the key right there,” he said. 

A few candidates referenced curriculum changes that occurred under the current board, including the removal of entire chapters from textbooks that referenced vaccines and climate change. 

Guilmart said, “This district deserves a clean slate.” 

“I remember an efficiency audit that took place under the current board and superintendent just within the last couple of years from an outside auditor who said there was nothing to cut; this district is doing an incredible job,” she said. “And yet we have paraprofessionals who do not make a living wage and we’re losing staff to neighboring districts. We need to raise our voices and advocate for the funds that we need.”

Camarena said her family moved to Cy-Fair ISD because of the schools but has been negatively impacted by decisions made by the current board. 

“I’m having to fill in some of the knowledge that my daughter is going to be missing because of those chapters that have been removed from the science textbooks, because I want to make sure that she has access to that information and background information when she goes to college in the near future,” she said. 

Lane said community members have lost trust in the district because the board has become politicized. They’re opting to homeschool or send their kids to charter schools or private schools, he said. 

“When you start having discussions about trying to change the separation of church and state, when you start having conversations about making this particular change politically, that’s not what’s best for the kids,” Lane said. “People will come back if the board leads them that way. I am going to make sure that we take the politics out of education and put the trust back in trustee.”

Jones said her No. 1 priority is teacher pay and she wants to ensure collaboration with teachers and parents.

“There are spaces and places where I’ve attempted to collaborate with a teacher to help my son and realized that there are differences in how they do math,” she said. “I have a math degree, and still, math is new to me. Having those [collaborative] tools, being able to have the communication and transparency between the parent and the student and the teacher is very important.”

When addressing the budget, Jones brought up that the board slashed bus routes this year in an effort to save money, prompting injuries of several children who were walking or biking to school. The bus routes were later reinstated.  The candidate also reminded her colleagues that the school board is nonpartisan.

“Our children are not political pawns,” she said. “I know sometimes there’s a question of separation between church and state. I am a Christian but even Jesus doesn’t cause us or force us to believe in him or follow him. There’s no reason we should implement those things on our children and our students.”

Edwards, who has called for a “forensic audit” of the district, said he wants to do a deep dive to ensure that the district’s tax dollars are being used efficiently. “Before we request a whole lot of additional money, let’s make certain that our house is in order,” he said.

Edwards added that he believes in appropriate homework that students can share with their parents. 

“The school can do so much but the parent plays a role in reinforcing what the teachers are teaching in the classroom,” he said. “We’ve got to have that partnership and it’s got to be one that’s focused on continuously.” 

Walker, a former school administrator, spoke of the district’s financial crisis and “a crisis of discipline.”

“Teacher retention is directly impacted by the lack of support for teachers,” she said. “The framework has been set. House Bill 6 gave teachers the authority to reclaim their classrooms. As administrators and board members, we need to pass policies that don’t give a lot of subjectivity. Teachers need to be able to handle students who are disrupting the classrooms. They need to have the authority and they need to have the backing of everybody.”    

Blasingame, Henry and Lane were asked how they would govern effectively with board members who have different beliefs than they do.

“Guess what? True North,” Blasingame said. “There is not much that we cannot agree on when it comes down to the role of school as far as reading, writing, math, critical thinking, safety, teachers: having their back and their support, and making sure principals have the tools to do discipline. There is much common ground. It just comes down to getting super clear about our goals and working together to do that.”

Henry said it’s the fiduciary responsibility of board members to “do the right thing every single day for our kids and our district.”

“When we work toward the common goal of doing what’s right for our kids, we’re all singing from the same hymn book,” he said. “Are we going to get there differently? Absolutely. That’s OK. We can have our differences of opinion, but at the end of the day, we have to focus on the most important thing, which is academics and safety around those academics.”

“We have to also act like adults and that’s the most important thing at the dais,” he added.

Lane highlighted the district’s diversity and said he wants to ensure that different perspectives are engaged.

“That is going to require having differences of opinion,” he said. “But you’ve got to have each and every person that’s on the board willing to listen. We have to listen to each other, communicate with each other, and then finally, at the end, what is the best decision for the kids? Not ourselves, but overall, for the kids.”

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