The call to remove Scarfo from board committees—including his position as chair of the district’s finance committee—came during a special-called Aug. 18 meeting that was held a week after Scarfo questioned whether trustees’ nomination of Lemond Dixon to serve as board president for a second consecutive term in June violated the board’s policies and procedures.
Nearly half a dozen HISD residents spoke in support of Scarfo during the citizens’ comments portion of the Sept. 13 meeting, including Holly Matherly, a member of the HISD Council of Parent-Teacher Associations board.
“The voters of Humble ISD voted Mr. Scarfo to this board,” Matherly said. “The voters of Humble ISD deserve to have different points of view reflected in discussions for making important decisions. The voters entrusted him to do this, and the voters deserve to have his expertise on committees.”
Shortly after the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting, Scarfo addressed several of the comments made by trustees during the board’s Aug. 18 meeting, including assertions that he had overworked staff members in the superintendent’s and chief financial officer’s offices with excessive questions pertaining to various matters the board has considered since 2019.
“If you send me something to read, I’m going to read it, and if I have questions, I’m going to ask them,” Scarfo said. “If I have comments, I’m going to give them. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. If you don’t want me to look at it, if you don’t won’t me to be voting on something, then don’t send it, because you’re wasting everybody’s time.”
Scarfo said he was ready to put the matter behind him; however, he noted he stood by his actions.
“I’m not going to spend any more of my time defending myself, because there’s nothing to defend,” Scarfo said. “If you don’t like me for asking questions—for not always agreeing with everything that’s going on—I’m sorry. That’s just the way it is. I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m not trying to not be collegial about things. I’m happy to work as a team. ... Just because I don’t agree with you on something doesn’t mean I don’t respect you.”
Later in the meeting, Lemond Dixon moved the item to consider removing Scarfo from board committees up in the agenda to address the matter prior to taking on other items.
“I wanted to reach out to the board today—I actually called Mr. Scarfo yesterday—to see if you guys are okay not acting on this tonight,” Lemond Dixon said. “Unless there are any objections from the board, we are going to move forward and remove [the item].”
After hearing no objections from the board, Lemond Dixon removed the item from the agenda, and no action was taken.
