Rick Janacek

What was supposed to be a vote regarding design plans for a new Humble ISD elementary school turned into heated debate about when the school should actually be built, as the Humble ISD School Board met to discuss several issues at its December meeting. The school, which is set to open in 2013, will be located in the southern part of the district, near Beltway 8. It will be located near the Sunset Ridge subdivision. The school board’s agenda called for a vote on Superintendent Guy Sconzo’s recommendation to approve the design development document for the school prepared by PBK Architects. However, the item became a springboard for more debate regarding the timing of the construction of the school, which has been debated for several months by board members. HISD board member Robert Scarfo believes plans to open the school in 2013 should be delayed. “I look at our district projections, and I still don’t see them warranting moving forward with a 2013 opening,” Scarfo said. “And I think there is sufficient data that says you can really wait until 2015, because opening a building based on our projections of 50 percent capacity and utilization in 2013. At the very least I think we should wait a year…”

Scarfo says while he is not a big fan of portable buildings being used to teach elementary students, they are used throughout the district and can be used at surrounding schools if needed in the interim. He also suggested there are other ways to relieve possible overcrowding, and once again challenged board members to delay construction.

“It’s not too late to put this off for 12 months,” Scarfo said. “We like to say we our data driven and at least five of my six colleagues say that they are fiscally conservative. But if we move ahead with this, in my opinion, that would not be keeping with either of those tenets, data driven and fiscally conservative.” Scarfo’s comments drew the ire of board member Keith Lapeze, a proponent of the new school.

“We have three schools that can’t fit any more kids in them and your solution is to move those kids around,” Lapeze said. “What are we going to do, bus them to Kingwood?”

Lapeze accused Scarfo of only criticizing the plans and not giving solutions, but Scarfo said the solution is to wait at least a year, given two year enrollment projections at the schools to be relieved by the new building. Other board member who once supported delaying the opening of the school came out in support of the 2013 opening.

“We need to not get too twisted that schools belong to certain communities,” said board member Charles Cunningham. “I think as we move forward, I think we made the right decision, and I am going to stick by that decision. This is not just a Sunset Ridge school. It’s not built just for Sunset Ridge. The population in the south part of the district although might not be homes, it might be apartments, but they have kids. And our job is to educate children, wherever they might live.”

Sconzo also voiced his support, telling Scarfo that they will agree to disagree on this issue. Scarfo did commend the architects for their design of the school, calling it a good-looking building that looks very functional as well. The school board passed the design plans for the school, which remains on track to open in August of 2013.

This is an excerpt from the May 23, 2011, E-Newsletter from Texas State Representative Dan Huberty.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Molly Chiu

Humble Independent School District held elections for the Board of Trustees May 14, and voters elected Robert Sitton to Trustee Position 1, David P. Martin to Trustee Position 6 and Robert Scarfo to Trustee Position 7. Incumbent Scarfo carried over 80 percent of the vote, defeating Wade Woodard with 1,705 votes, and incumbent Martin, with 1,661 votes ran unopposed.

Scarfo begins his second term on the school board, and he said that Humble ISD will continue to focus on academics.

On the issue of the budget, Scarfo hopes that Rep. Dan Huberty’s appropriations bill will be passed in the House.

“We have done everything the Legislature has asked,” Scarfo said, adding that Humble ISD is one of only 200 school districts out of 1,070 where voters approved a tax hike in 2008. “We will continue to be good stewards of tax payer money,” Scarfo said.

Sitton carried 45 percent of the overall vote, defeating Daniel Ledoux, Fred Rosenberg, Johnny O’Connor, Susan B. Leopold, and Vernon Reed with 1,044 votes. Although Sitton won nearly half of the overall vote, Ledoux had a solid lead at all Kingwood polling locations.

Ledoux congratulated Sitton and said that he hopes he will do a good job in office. Sitton, an Humble native carried the early voting and the Humble and Atascocita polling locations. Sitton said that his experience as a former teacher, a member of the Humble ISD Education Foundation Board of Directors, and a member of the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce will assist him in helping to improve Humble ISD.

“I want to make Humble ISD the best school district in the state of Texas,” Sitton said.

Sitton said that he will do this by bringing more teachers back. The budget will be approved by June 30, and Sitton said that at the end of the summer, the board will reassess.

“I want to bring back as many teachers as possible,” Sitton said.

This is a clip from the 2010-2011 Kiwanis Key Club Awards dinner which was held at Kingwood Park High School.

Video clip courtesy of youtube.com/kathymorisette51

Roy Kent |  Houston Community Newspapers

With relatively few votes cast and runaway victories, there was not a whole lot of nail-biting to be done Saturday night.

The Humble Independent School District held its election at various venues Saturday.

In the race for Position 7, Robert Scarfo brought in more than 80 percent of the ballots to easily outdistance Wade Woodard.

Scarfo defeated Woodard 1,705 votes to 417.

Also elected to the board but running unopposed was Position 6 member Dave Martin with 1,661 votes.

Robert Sitton was elected to fill the board seat vacated by Dan Huberty, who stepped down after being elected to the state House of Representatives.

Sitton earned the Position 1 seat by coming out on top in a field of six candidates. He received a total of 1,044 votes, easily outdistancing second-place Daniel Ledoux with 542 votes. A total of 2,337 votes were cast in the race with Sitton taking nearly 45 percent of them.

Video courtesy of Humble ISD.

Each Humble ISD secondary school was asked to select a senior boy and girl or an eighth grade boy and girl for the award near the end of the 2009-2010 school year. The students were selected for exhibiting the six pillars of character taught in Humble ISD: trustworthiness, respect for others, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

“The Students of Character recognition program honors students who are respected by their peers and teachers for caring about others and positively contributing to their schools and communities,” Matt Smith, Humble ISD Coordinator of Affective Education, said. “These students serve as inspirations to us all.

“The students and their parents were honored with a luncheon, sponsored by Hasta La Pasta. They received certificates from Humble ISD and from Congressman Ted Poe. Additionally, a photo of the students is displayed in the Humble ISD Administration Building. Humble ISD Trustee Robert Scarfo, served as a keynote speaker for the luncheon.

Above photo: Some students in the course pictured with Teacher Louis Mascolo and School Board Trustee Robert Scarfo and State Rep. Dan Huberty.

From: Guy Sconzo
To: Robert Scarfo
Sent: Wed Feb 11 17:58:12 2009
Subject: Systems Go High School Rocket Program

Robert -

Our staff has made all of the contacts and did all the checking into this program that you shared with me.And, we are going forward with it!

Don’t know yet what high school(s) will offer the course and program, but we got on the list for teachertraining this summer!

Thanks for bringing this to me. We have some VERY excited people about offering this to our kids!

Thanks! Guy

Students and faculty at the district’s newest elementary school produced a video thank-you card with a special message for each board memberGovernor Rick Perry has proclaimed January 2011 as School Board Recognition Month in appreciation of the role elected boards of education play in their local schools and communities. With that in mind, Superintendent Dr. Guy Sconzo had this to say about our School Board:”I have worked with many school boards throughout my career.  The Humble ISD School Board, to a person, is one of the most dedicated, supportive and professional school boards I ever experienced. They very unselfishly and abundantly give of their time and energy for our kids and our Humble ISD family of educators. Their commitment and work rightly earned them recognition this year as one of the 5 Outstanding Honor School Boards out of nearly 1,100 in Texas.

Please consider letting our School Board members, President Keith Lapeze, Vice President Dr. Bonnie Longnion, Charles Cunningham, Brent Engelage, Dave Martin, Robert Scarfo, and Lynn Fields know that they are very appreciated and valued.”