Adam Rivon knows all too well the difficulties there can for a parent who has a child in special ed in Houston ISD

 "I have a student in HISD. He's in eighth grade in special education. My son was adopted at birth.  He's been in HISD for eight years. He's moved to different schools for different reasons. One of the reasons he moved from his first neighborhood school was because while he's in the special ed program he's still a Gifted and Talented student with a 160 IQ.

"The school essentially said 'We can't support what you need for your child,' and took a hands-off approach, saying figure out something better for him."

Rivon, who received a Bronze Star during his tour in Iraq as a U.S. Army Artillery officer, an accountant and the founder of 3rd Degree Home Inspection, is certainly used to sorting problems out with efficiency. But even he was flummoxed by the systems governing special ed and school transfers in HISD.

"And so [it] was so challenging. Frustrations of trying to find the right school, how to connect with the right people, how to use my network to somehow get him in a place. I just really saw that parents shouldn't have to fight that way for their kids in a system that's supposed to serve them. We need to do better. "

Fortunately for parents looking for change, Rivon, who lives in Montrose and previously lived in the Third Ward, is one of the new members of the district's appointed Board of Managers. New Superintendent Mike Miles has highlighted special ed as one of his priorities for his first year after several administrations and HISD school boards have been unable to make much improvement in that area. 

Rivon, along with Michelle Cruz Arnold and Paula Mendoza answered questions about their plans for the next year in what was another whirlwind media interview opportunity Wednesday.

Focusing on getting out into the community and listening was the consistent message delivered by all three, one day before they gather for their first public meeting Thursday night in the Hattie Mae White Board room. 

As other board members have said, they stressed  that with all of them being at-large members,  they represent the entire school district. Asked how they can come to know all the parts of the sprawling district, they pointed to the community outreach they intend to do.

Under this system, they said any resident can bring their concerns to them (or they will be able to once HISD overcomes what it has referred to as technical issues in setting up HISD phone numbers and emails for the new board members.)

They've already been trained on the Open Meetings Act — something that tripped up an earlier board when some members met at a restaurant and were in sufficient number to constitute a quorum where they worked out a deal (ultimately unsuccessful) to jettison the then-acting Superintendent Grenita Lathan. Since Miles' arrival, HISD has been going above and beyond to ensure all members of the board aren't gathered together except for official business.

Mendoza and Cruz Arnold, who has a child attending school in HISD, sidestepped questions about more charters being added to HISD, saying that wouldn't even be considered this year.

Cruz Arnold who has a Ph.D. and leads government relations and advocacy work for the College Board  which develops SAT tests and Advance Placement exams and who lives in Meyerland, said while the questions about charters are "normal," but "with respect to charters there is currently no plan for charters on the table. At the moment I think there's no real immediate concern and I think we need to focus on other things."

That echoed, in part, what new Superintendent  Mike Miles has said: no new charters in 2023-24. But he has also said he would entertain charter possibilities the next year — something neither one of the two women wanted to discus.

Mendoza, a small business owner living in the Heights who has been appointed to all sorts of prestigious boards (University of Houston Board of Regents, Texas Ethics Commission, Texas State Board of Public Accountancy) and who is the founder of Possible Missions, Inc. and associated with the AAMA charter school,  responded: "What I can answer to is now and it's not in our immediate vision. That's something that the superintendent and his team are going to have to come back and look at to see what's going on, what's goo, what's not working and to make sure whatever schools they are are aligned with thre goals we've set forth as a district. So right now we have not talked about it."

Rivon, however, did say that if there were any charters brought into HISD he'd expect them to meet the same standards required of any of HISD's public schools.

Although there has been a lot of community outrage expressed about this board — all appointed by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath — replacing an elected board, Cruz Arnold pointed out what she said was one benefit, particularly considering the fact that some former elected trustees either exerted illegal pressure on vendors or in a few cases, collected payoffs to steer contracts to certain businesses.

"As a board one of the things that makes us unique is that we are not elected. We didn't have to run for elective office, we didn't have to raise funds, we didn't have to campaign so that puts us in a slightly different predicament. We can make decisions differently.," she said, adding that she was not saying appointed is better than elected, just that it's different.

"We are very committed to meeting the exit criteria as quickly as we can so we can return the district to an elected board. As quickly as we can but doing it the right way, of course. We are committed to governing this district in the way that this community deserves," Cruz Arnold said.

"As part of that effort we will look at board policy to make sure that board policy lives up to the vision and the values of the community and that it is done in the best interests of the community and students and where it doesn't, we'll make changes," Cruz Arnold said.