The newly elected progressive trustees at Cypress-Fairbanks ISD did what they said they would do when they were on the campaign trail last fall and, in a split vote Monday night, agreed to restore textbook chapters that were banned in 2024.
With less than two months on the job, new trustees Lesley Guilmart, Cleveland Lane and Kendra Camarena joined board president Julie Hinaman in voting to add back 13 chapters to health science, biology and environmental science books that a previous conservative-majority board said delved too deeply into controversial topics like vaccines, climate change and cultural diversity.
Supporters of the new trustees said when the book chapters were censored that they were concerned their kids weren’t going to learn about important topics like infectious diseases, and that lack of knowledge could harm them as they enter college.
Trustees Todd LeCompte, Justin Ray and Christine Kalmbach voted against restoring the chapters, which was not surprising since all three voted to ban the chapters in May 2024. Kalmbach questioned whether the new board members reviewed the content thoroughly or were just supporting it because it was suggested that they do so by community members.
“The curriculum writers in Cy-Fair who provided the replaced content, it met the Texas Essential Knowledge Skills. The students did not miss out on anything,” Kalmbach said, suggesting that the matter be tabled. “I’m very sad that our district is considering doing this rather than following through on our job as board members to review the content.”
Five speakers addressed the board in support of reinstating the chapters. CFISD parent Ginger Mitcham Patel, a nurse practitioner, was among them.
“These [banned] textbooks were approved by the state and the [School Health Advisory Committee],” she said. “I served on the SHAC committee, read these textbooks cover to cover and made the informed recommendation to use them in their entirety.”
“That process and the will of Cy-Fair ISD parents was dismissed by the board in 2024,” she added. “This content is required knowledge to work in healthcare. Removing it puts students at risk for failing certification exams.”
The changes will go into effect for the 2026-27 school year at no cost to the district, said Associate Superintendent Tonya Goree. If parents are concerned about the reinstated content, they can opt their child out of a particular lesson, board attorney Marney Collins Sims said in response to a question from Kalmbach.
Although Cy-Fair ISD has wrestled in recent years over conservative versus progressive policies, it was clear at the ballot box in November that voters wanted a change. The progressive slate won its races handily, ousting incumbents Scott Henry and Natalie Blasingame. Although Texas school board races are nonpartisan, the election drew national attention and was hailed as a win for Democrats and a blow to the conservative Christian nationalist movement.
New board president Hinaman said she met with administrators, including Superintendent Doug Killian, before adding the curriculum discussion to Monday’s agenda. She confirmed that all resource materials will meet community standards and present “a fair and balanced perspective.”
This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.