Grayle James was elected to a second term as representative for Position 2 on the Fort Bend ISD board of trustees in May. She was first elected to the board in 2012.

In her second term, James will continue to serve as president of the board. Throughout her first term, James played a role in the hiring of Charles Dupre as superintendent, and helped develop the mission, vision and goals for the district.

“I think this second term is going to allow me to continue on all the great things we have going on over the last three years in the district,” James said.

James—an 18-year resident of Sugar Land—graduated in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. She continued her education at California State University, Bakersfield where she received secondary teaching credentials in math and physical science. For several years James taught physics and chemistry.

Her past involvement in education also includes serving as president of the PTA at Lakeview Elementary, First Colony Middle and Kempner High schools.

“I have a heart for community service and for children,” James said. “I want every child to have the opportunity to learn, grow and become contributing members of our community.”

What would you like the board to accomplish this school year?

One of the first things we are going to be doing this fall is approving the educational specifications for our schools. We want to officially approve those so that the district has some alignment as we are building new schools, as we are adding on to schools and as we progress our bond program. As the year goes on, our real focus is going to be on strategic planning and policy review, which is critical to the organization and making sure everything is aligned from our district goals through our execution in the classroom.

How can the district further improve and build upon its past success?

We have really devoted ourselves to continuous improvement. You read in the news about truancy and discipline programs, so we have evaluated that and we are not doing those quite right. So we are going to change some things and improve in that area. We have a lot of changes coming up in the [Career and Technical Education] area and improvements and more opportunities for more students. Another thing to improve is the equity in our programs across the district. There is some disparity in what is going on, and there is an effort to provide more access to things where there was less before.

Why should the district increase the number of CTE programs it offers and how can the district improve its program?

We have schools with a lot of CTE opportunities, and we have schools with very few. In terms of this year, we are expanding the number of courses available to students at their home campuses and the variety of those courses. That is in alignment with the [House Bill] 5 requirements for career pathways, and it aligns with our mission statement. It’s all about exposure and giving kids an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of things. We hired a number of new CTE teachers this year to expand the program. We also have a lot of money in our bond for CTE, and the board will be discussing with the administration what that is going to look like and what the plan is.

How can the district better serve the needs of economically disadvantaged students?

We have talked a lot about the achievement gap and what that means. For instance what if we thought about it as an opportunity gap? These students might not have the same opportunities as other students. We want to motivate our staff and teachers to build relationships with these students and find those opportunity gaps and then help to fill those gaps. Let’s not have preconceived ideas or close doors, but let’s provide opportunities for students.

In what areas can the district improve when it comes to instruction and curriculum?

In my mind it’s equity. There needs to be equity in the courses we offer. We need to have opportunities available, and they need to be equitable at every campus. We could line out that at one high school there are 22 pathways and at another only seven. That’s not fair and not good. I think some of our efforts are coming to fruition. We are not there, but we are making strides toward making it a more equitable situation.