This week’s Richardson ISD candidate forum was standard fare until closing remarks. That’s when Lake Highlands resident Lynn Davenport expressed her concern about RISD’s five “failing campuses” and said her “primary goal” as a trustee would be to focus on academics.
Her opponent, incumbent Dr. Kristin Kuhne, fiercely defended her first term on the board and the record of the district. Lake Highlands resident Justin Bono, running unopposed in Place 6, also was fiery in his response.
“We don’t have any failing campuses in RISD,” Bono says.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA), which oversees public schools in the state and issues ratings based on school performance, doesn’t use the word “failing” when a campus is in trouble. Schools are, though, put on the PEG (Public Education Grant) list when their STAAR test passing rates are less than or equal to 50 percent in any two of the preceding years, or they are rated “improvement required” in 2013, 2014 or 2015. If a child’s school is on the PEG list, a parent is entitled to request a transfer to a higher-performing school. Some — including the Dallas Morning News — have used the word “failing” to describe these schools.
Five RISD schools, including three in Lake Highlands, are on the 2016-17 PEG list: Forest Lane Academy, Thurgood Marshall Elementary, Skyview Elementary, RISD Academy and Carolyn Bukhair Elementary.
The heated exchange regarding failing schools exemplifies the Place 7 race and highlights a question many have asked: Why would Davenport, a community volunteer active in local schools, run against a well-known, well-liked incumbent?
If she stunned district insiders with her candidacy, she has surprised them, too, with her fundraising. Davenport has raised more than Kuhne to date, collecting more contributions than any other candidate in all three races. According to required financial disclosures posted on the RISD website here, of the two contested races, 41% of all campaign contributions collected have gone to Davenport ($11,471) compared to Kuhne’s 32% ($9,035).
Davenport was vocal in her opposition to the district’s plan to move Lake Highlands freshmen out of the freshmen center in 2014, and she stood firmly against RISD when the district recently wanted to build an elementary school on White Rock Trail at Walnut Hill. The district abandoned both plans.
Privately, some are asking if Davenport is merely “oppositional.”
Repeatedly at the forum, Davenport, who graduated from LHHS with her husband and has three children in LH schools, said she “loves this district,” and she has, on occasion, praised the work of the board including Kuhne, also a graduate, with her husband, of RISD schools and a current RISD mom. Davenport has said she has confidence in RISD’s superintendent and CFO, but she also said she’ll be a voice to “question the status quo” at RISD.
This week’s forum was hosted by the League of Women Voters and the Council of PTAs Wednesday night – the third in a series of six to be held this election season. The Lake Highlands Chamber of Commerce hosts their forum April 20th at 7 a.m. at Diversicare, 9009 White Rock Trail.
Early voting begins Monday, April 24 and Election Day is Saturday, May 6. The full video of the forum is below.
