Three North East ISD trustees will serve on an ad hoc committee tasked with reviewing possible changes to the district’s School Health Advisory Council bylaws and membership.

In a called meeting Oct. 24, the school board spent two hours discussing how best to explore potential alterations to how the advisory council operates and how panel members are appointed.

Some board members previously expressed a desire to review SHAC policies, saying existing bylaws adopted in 2012 are overdue for an analysis.

A few district leaders have also said with two new board members elected in May, it is perhaps time to replace some appointees on the 50-member council, which among other things makes recommendations on NEISD’s sex education curriculum.

NEISD trustees voted Sept. 19 to cancel this school year’s sex education offerings as board members and administrators said more time was needed to revise the curriculum.

The Texas State Board of Education moved in November 2020 to update the state’s health curriculum, including requiring NEISD and other public school systems to have a new sex education curriculum in place for the 2022-23 academic year, but NEISD officials said they missed that deadline.

The new state school health standards, among other things, expand contraceptive education in middle school but rejected measures regarding acknowledgement of LGBTQ individuals and defining consensual sexual activity.

The NEISD board’s vote Oct. 24, some district leaders said, enables them to reconsider SHAC protocols, including who appoints members and how many and whether SHAC meetings can be accessible to the public.

District 2 Trustee Terri Williams suggested a three-member ad hoc committee to flesh out the SHAC concept, explore best practices in comparable school districts, and return to the full board at a currently undetermined time with recommendations on committee policy and composition.

The board also voted to put Williams, District 6 Trustee Steve Hilliard and District 3 Trustee Diane Villarreal on the ad hoc committee.

“We can have a full gamut of everything rather than trying to discuss and come up with arbitrary numbers on how many [members] should be on there and how it should be done, otherwise we’ll be here all night,” Williams said.

Hilliard and Villarreal, specifically, have been vocal about putting greater scrutiny on the advisory council. Trustees voted in March to retain the sex education curricula at the time and reject a grievance that Hilliard filed with NEISD in 2019—one year before his board election—when he claimed the district was not following state education law by not placing enough emphasis on abstinence in sex education lessons.

In recent weeks, Hilliard said many constituents have voiced a need to re-examine the SHAC. He also criticized NEISD administrators’ suggestion about the number of district staffers on the advisory council and about how principals in each high school cluster could directly appoint members.

Hilliard said, as elected representatives, the school board should have the opportunity to appoint a higher number of SHAC members.

“We all should get people who we represent in our communities,” Hilliard said, adding he would encourage past members and newcomers to volunteer for the panel.

Villarreal said the board with two new trustees—her and District 7’s Marsha Landry—should have a chance to mull appointing new SHAC members to better reflect her constituency.

“My district has been wronged,” she said.

District 4 Trustee David Beyer said he wants to ensure continuity over time, suggesting with staggered board elections, a newly elected trustee may want different SHAC representation.

District 1 Trustee Sandy Hughey said she is sensitive to some people’s assertion that SHAC members are being targeted for criticism or replacement because they do not adhere to specific beliefs or political stances.

“I ask we watch our wording in the future about things like that. Those comments came across as implying that current members did not represent good values, and I would strongly disagree with that. It would imply they were immoral or something else, and I would prefer that we not imply that people are not representing our community,” Hughey said.

Hughey also said the SHAC has been operating well and that past and present members have put in much time and input with the panel.

“I think it’s time we honor the work those people have done in the past several years under very trying circumstances, under things that none of us ever expected to happen,” Hughey said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hilliard said he did not mean to imply anything about current SHAC members, adding the NEISD board has authority to address or tweak the advisory council’s membership and operations.

“They all contribute, and they’re all very good, dedicated parents,” he said of SHAC members he is suggesting for replacement.

Some residents agreed with Hilliard and Villarreal that the SHAC needs more and fresher community representation and that the district should be more transparent and forthcoming with the advisory council’s discussions and recommendations.

Brandon Broome, a parent and a local orthopedic surgeon, is one of Hilliard’s recommended new SHAC members. He said he and other NEISD residents are eager to work provide input with district panels and initiatives such as the SHAC in a positive, constructive way.

“As a physician, I think there are a lot of physicians who’d love to be involved with SHAC. Rather than getting up here and pointing fingers and attacking you all, that is what the parents are here for: to have meetings like this and collectively let you hear how are our district is,” Broome said.

Parent Marsha Montoya initially suggested NEISD work harder to foster more parental involvement with SHAC activities and other district issues. But she went further and questioned trustees’ level of respect for NEISD parents, echoing sentiments some fellow local parents have voiced out of frustration in recent years.

“I sometimes wonder if you even like the parents that you represent,” Montoya told trustees.

Tina Castellanos, a NEISD parent and a local maternal and child health care professional, addressed the school board.

Castellanos said as a former SHAC member, the council functioned well, contrary to sentiments expressed by some community members.

Castellanos also took issue with Hilliard’s criticisms about having NEISD staffers serve with the SHAC, saying district employees sitting on the council provide valuable work and feedback.

Additionally, Castellanos expressed concern that some trustees and other residents may inadvertently disenfranchise parts of the NEISD population when it comes to wanting certain individuals appointed to the SHAC.

“I’m worried [the board is] opening SHAC and NEISD up to litigation on racial and socioeconomic bias. That’s what I saw in the sex ed discussion was people from Johnson [High School community] saying, ‘We have a zero birth rate [among teenagers], why do we have sex ed? Why can’t it just be L.E.E. [Legacy of Excellence in Education High School], which has this birth rate?’” Castellanos said.

Citing the recent sex ed curriculum talks, Castellanos said parents in more affluent parts of NEISD can afford access to birth control or even abortion than parents in socioeconomically challenged portions of the district.

“You should open your eyes to those facts and realize that. It is not ethics or morals, it is economics,” Castellanos said.

Additionally, Castellanos criticized some parents who say they are not aware of certain initiatives or discussions in the district.

“When I hear people say, ‘I didn’t know about SHAC,’ well, a lot of people don’t know about a lot of things because they don’t necessarily read everything that gets sent home. These things do get sent home. I volunteered for the SHAC because it was put out by NEISD that they were looking for SHAC members. It is put out to the public; that choice is yours for the taking,” she said.