I began my journey in Tomball ISD as a student at Tomball Elementary School, but it didn't end when I graduated from Tomball High School in 1995. I've been a Tomball ISD substitute teacher, assistant principal, and parent to my son and two exchange students.

My wife was a student at Lakewood Elementary School and later graduated from Tomball High School in 1997. After college, she was a teacher at Northpointe Intermediate School for 7 years, later choosing to stay home when our son was born.

My son started at Rosehill Elementary at 3 years old when he began receiving Special Education services in the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD), then later he was a student at Creekview Elementary, Creekside Park JHS, and Tomball High School. He currently receives special education services at the Tomball ISD Innovation Center.

I owe a tremendous debt to Tomball ISD. I started in the district as a student at Tomball Elementary School and later graduated from Tomball High School. The efforts and influences of the teachers and staff over those years contributed immensely to the adult that I grew up to be, and the successes I've had. In addition to what I personally owe, the teachers and paraprofessionals of this school district have done even more for my own son, who has benefitted from the extra love and guidance that children with disabilities require. I’m not sure where my son would be today without those Tomball ISD teachers. Although I could never completely repay this debt, I would like to try by serving on the Board and giving back to this District.

I have served as a substitute teacher in Tomball ISD and Spring ISD, a classroom teacher in Spring ISD, an assistant principal in Tomball ISD, and a professor of education at Lone Star College. I've been a professional educator for over 20 years.

I enlisted in the U.S. Army during Thanksgiving break of my senior year of high school and shipped to Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, soon after graduation. I served 4 years of active duty which included a deployment to Bosnia in 1998 where I was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal as a corporal. I was enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard while in college, and commissioned into the Texas State Guard as a second lieutenant after graduating from Texas A&M, where I served for an additional 15 years and retired at the rank of colonel. Upon retirement, the Adjutant General of Texas awarded me the Lone Star Distinguished Service Medal, and the Governor of Texas granted me an honorary commission as an Admiral in the Texas Navy.

I proudly serve as a professor of education at Lone Star College - Montgomery (LSC-M) where I teach future teachers working towards their degrees in education, as well as a college success course for incoming freshmen. I am the LSC-M faculty lead for the Associate of Arts in Teaching courses, and I am also a member of the LSC-M Honors College faculty. I represent LSC-M on the Lone Star College System's Associate of Arts in Teaching curriculum committee, and serve as a faculty fellow in the LSC-M Faculty Resource Center where I work with a team of talented educators to prepare and execute professional development and mentorship programs for the faculty and staff of our campus.

If elected, I will be the only Trustee who has worked as a classroom teacher or campus administrator. I am also the only candidate with a master’s degree in education. This is a degree that emphasizes school administration and organization, effective leadership strategies, campus business management, and federal, state, and local school regulations in addition to providing the skills necessary to evaluate programs for overall school improvement, implement research to improve instruction and curricula, and understand how diverse populations and special programs affect a school and its community.

Our current Board of Trustees have an impressive diversity of skillsets that are vital to the successful governing of the school district, but not one of the Board members has ever walked a mile in the shoes of our teachers. I believe there should be at least one member of the Tomball ISD School Board who has had to plan a lesson, gather materials, manage behavior in a classroom, administer a state-mandated test, grade mountains of assignments on nights and weekends, and everything else our teachers do. I have done all of these things, and I feel qualified to speak to the effects that proposed Board decisions would have on students and teachers in the classroom.

I would advocate for the reduction of restrictions on public comments during Board meetings. Citizens do not lose our First Amendment rights by walking into a Board meeting. The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances is one of the oldest civil liberties in our legal tradition.

There are hundreds of responsibilities, but the top responsibility of all is to be accountable to the community. All other responsibilities spring forth from that one.

Since the Board of Trustees as a group is a higher authority than district administration, they are responsible for assuming the leadership role in this scenario. Although district administrators hold a high level of esteem and trust, good leaders understand that trust does not equal infallibility. The Trustees must not become a "rubber stamp" for the district administration. They should only accept recommendations and requests that align with data-driven decisions that focus on student success and do not violate the law, Board policies, or community standards.

I would recommend that the process for filling vacancies on the Board be changed to appoint the candidate from the previous election who had the highest number of votes, but did not win a seat. This way the appointment factors in the democratic will of thousands of community members rather than the votes of just six people. Should that former candidate be unable or unwilling to serve, then follow the current procedure for appointment, except grant automatic interviews to all of the previous election's unelected candidates that received at least 10,000 votes. 

Inside the classroom, we can ensure that clearly defined strategies are in place with measurable goals that focus on safety in classrooms, administrative support when students become disruptive, and how campus administration should be fierce guardians of teachers' instructional time.

Outside of the classroom, we should ensure that our teachers are empowered to have a healthy work/life balance as a part of the District’s culture, and that the administration doesn’t create policies or expectations that infringe on that. This way teachers can thrive in both arenas. One of the most valuable leadership lessons I learned in the U.S. Army was the critical impact that the morale of the troops has on the success of a mission. To make sure this happens, the Board can make it clear that these things are items that will be included in the superintendent's evaluation.

As a former classroom teacher and assistant principal, I understand how important a safe and orderly classroom learning environment is on both student success and student emotional wellbeing. Administrators need to be more concerned with protecting the learning environment than with having discipline numbers that look good on paper, or avoiding potential conflict with the parents of disruptive students. In my experience, addressing discipline issues early and consistently had the primary benefit of restoring order to the classroom while establishing trust with the parents early on, and secondary benefit of reducing the long-term numbers reported to central office administration. Also, "discipline" is not a negative word. I always approached it as character education lessons brought on by unexpected teachable moments. Yes, while the student doesn't appreciate the consequence in the short-term, if done correctly, they learn a lesson from the experience and are less inclined to repeat the same kinds of behaviors again.

Screen time in the classroom is like any new technology that has been or will be introduced into our lives. There is usually an initial period of experimentation that looks like the swinging of a pendulum, sometimes starting with underuse followed by overuse, or the opposite. Usually after a few swings, we land on the proper balance, and I think we are still in that process when it comes to screen time in class. Instead of a hard stance on either to not ever use screens or using screens all the time for everything, I believe it'll come down to teachers using data based on student success and parent input to decide which degree of use is best for each lesson and each assessment.

I would advocate for the return of the online searchable check register. Community members once had the ability to visit a TISD website that allowed us to enter names into a search bar and then we would be shown the data from all of the checks written to that person. The names could include Trustees, central office administrators, vendors, and the friends and family members of those groups.

Everything to the maximum extent legally allowed. With advances in automation, this should be a much simpler task than just a few years ago. In addition to the searchable check registry database, the District could have a much larger searchable database of all files and documents that have been released to the public by request, as well as anything likely to be requested in large numbers. Of course, PIR's would still be necessary for documents that require redactions by law, but being proactive with all other information would reduce time spent on these requests and the costs incurred by them.

One advantage to my background as a former assistant principal in Tomball ISD is that in the execution of my duties, I spoke to at least five parents a day every day school was in session. Issues ranged from discipline concerns, academic issues, attendance matters, problems students were having with bullying, special education planning, and numerous other issues on parents' minds. I'd estimate that over the years, I've made personal contact with parents close to four thousand times. This gives me a deeper understanding of the feelings of our community members than any other candidate. I've internalized all those conversations and feel that I am the best person in this race to be able to represent not just my own feelings and ideas, but those of all our stakeholders.

Over the last twenty years, I have also worked with thousands of students... not just GT students, and not just the students who are in the same activities as my own child. I have had the privilege to work with students who were at risk, students from low-income families who were on free or reduced lunch programs, special education students, second-language learners, students who were frequently visited by CPS agents, and students who had severe behavior problems. These students and their families need a representative on the Board of Trustees who has experience working with all kinds of kids and families, not just a few.

Although this question is very personal to me because my own child began his journey as a Tomball ISD student at only 3-years-old when he was enrolled in the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD) at Rosehill Elementary School, it is important for me to be clear that I will advocate for all student populations, not just the ones my own child belongs to.

To the question of funding, some ways to increase revenue without raising taxes and ensure all students’ needs are properly funded include:

• Classroom-first budgeting: Prioritize direct classroom spending over vanity spending.
• Administrative audits: Audit administrative and central office efficiency annually.
• Staffing adjustments: Use attrition-based adjustments to staffing over time.
• Vendor efficiency: Frequently assess vendor and software consolidation options.
• Resource conservation: Practice facilities and energy conservation programs.
• Transportation logistics: Use bus route and fleet optimization strategies to reduce route redundancy and fuel consumption.
• Attendance recovery: Implement attendance recovery campaigns to capture additional state revenue.
• Asset monetization: Expand rental opportunities for high-end athletic, performing arts, and CTE facilities to external groups during non-school hours.
• Grant acquisition: Task current staff members with increased competitive grant writing efforts.

The most straightforward way to ensure required funding across all programs is fostering an overall district culture of fiscal responsibility and accountability, including strict safeguards against fraud, waste, abuse, and any additional theft of taxpayer funds.

Beyond funding, improving outcomes for our special education students comes down to structural alignment, instructional capacity, and intentional school culture:

• Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Utilize Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in general education classrooms, so that general education teachers design instruction with built-in accessibility rather than treating accommodations as retrofits.
• High-leverage co-teaching models: Implement parallel, station, and alternative teaching models that fully leverage the specialized expertise of both general and special educators.
• Collaborative ARD meetings: Shift from compliance-driven checklists to genuine partnerships centered on parent input, student strengths, and concrete post-secondary goals.
• Robust secondary transition pipelines: Expand vertical alignment with Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways, local work-based learning, and life-skills programs to build practical post-graduation independence early.
• Peer-mediated support networks: Foster structured peer buddy and mentor models in unified electives and clubs to drive social-emotional growth and campus-wide inclusion.

I would advise that we should all be a little suspicious of anyone who is militantly for any school board candidate, including me. These people are usually friends and family members of the candidate, and are not objective supporters or random citizens who saw the light. They personally benefit one way or another from their friend/relative getting elected, and that's their actual motivation. Some of these people's entire personality is having a brother-in-law on the school board, or being able to call someone when they are mad about how the car-rider line is being run.

I encourage everyone to go to the campaign sites of each candidate and see what they each have to say and make up your own minds. Don't be swayed by whoever has the most keyboard warriors shouting everyone else down with wildly untruthful things about people who are only trying to volunteer in the community they love. Also, I encourage everyone, regardless of whom you support, not to feed the trolls, as it only fuels them and allows them to grow. Admittedly, I've gotten sucked into responding to trolls a few times over the years myself, so I know it's hard to disengage when you are being genuine and you want to believe others are too.

My relationship with Tomball ISD goes back over 40 years and has covered numerous roles. Unfortunately, back in 2013 I did have a whistleblower complaint about some people who haven't been in the District for over a decade. Even though I was vindicated in the end, there are some who have grasped on to this bump in the road for dear life as a way to discredit my ideas for how to keep Tomball ISD great going into the future. I suspect that some people are afraid to have a previous whistleblower in office, because that's someone who would likely report unlawful activities to law enforcement again in the future, and that's most likely the root of the misinformation efforts. As for me, this lone issue from 13 years ago doesn't overshadow or erase 40 years of love and dedication I've had for Tomball ISD.

I'll also ask voters to consider that I would never have been able to get a job at such a competitive place as Lone Star College without glowing recommendations from several Tomball ISD administrators. I also would not have enjoyed the successes I had in the military and at Lone Star College if the things the trolls on the internet want you to believe were true.

Sometimes I have folks ask me about topics that a school board trustee has no control over. While I enjoy engaging in these conversations with my neighbors to stay in touch with community values and expectations, I also don’t want to be dishonest and give the impression that I would be able to help with these things. For example, the Texas Republican Party Platform passed in 2026 includes a lot of things related to education that require the legislature to act. So, even though I agree with things like the wish to “replace the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) accountability test”, that’s not something I can make happen. It feels deceitful for me to try to win votes based on my support for issues I won’t be able to influence if elected.

What I do feel comfortable with is focusing on points from the Texas Republican Party Platform that I believe apply to school board trustee duties and abilities. It seemed to me like this standard applied to 4 of major party platform education points, all four of which I agree with:

111. School Board Authority, Responsibility, and Ethics: We support the revision of Chapter 11 of the Texas Education Code to more clearly define and strengthen school board authority, remove barriers to access to information or district property for individual trustees, and establish explicit responsibility for boards to actively ensure that all laws and individual rights are protected, while exercising independent informed oversight and governance. A framework for school board development (the basis for annual school board training) must include anti-corruption practices and clarify that trustees represent the interests of residents and have full authority over the superintendent, policy, legal decisions, goals, and performance of the district. School board training shall not undermine board authority and blur statutory lines of hierarchy. Any familial or moderate financial conflicts of interest with the district shall render a trustee ineligible for office, ensuring that trustees serve solely in the public interest, with transparency and accountability. Boards shall receive time-to-complete reports for requests for public records, to enforce the law’s requirement to promptly release information, and must publish any Interlocal Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

113. No Government School NDAs: No public educational institution, or any official, employee, contractor, or agent thereof may enter into a nondisclosure agreement on any district- or election-related matter.

114. Prohibit Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Groups: We believe locally elected school boards have a duty to ensure that the education provided reflects traditional Texas values, and have purview over policy, curriculum, and budget.
a) Severing Ties with Lobby-Aligned Associations: Local independent school districts should sever all ties with taxpayer-funded lobby groups, including the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), and the Texas Association of Community Schools (TACS). We support prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used to pay dues or any fees for these groups. Required training now provided by groups like the above-named organizations would instead be under the auspices of the State Board of Education, with funds appropriated for that purpose.
b) Prohibiting Lobbyist Reimbursement and Unauthorized Legislative Activity: We support prohibiting the use of tax dollars to train or reimburse any school board trustee or employee who lobbies the Legislature or Congress. Any legislative position taken by a school district must be approved by a board vote and posted publicly. Administrators who lobby for unapproved positions shall be found in violation of the educator code of ethics.

115. Enforcement of Open Meetings and Government School Transparency: We demand requiring audio or video recordings and publication of minutes for closed sessions, with employee and student identifiers redacted, and allowing taxpayers to seek civil penalties against government school officials who violate the Texas Open Meetings Act. We believe calling out a violation of open meeting requirements should be an affirmative defense to a charge of disrupting a public meeting. We further demand Attorney General enforcement authority for Public Information Act violations, mandatory disclosure of all legal fees by category and date, board approval for any legal expenditure exceeding $1,000, and application of public information requirements to organizations operating primarily on school property.

My platform is not limited to these points. In order to directly answer this specific question, I used these examples copied verbatim from the official party platform that I believe apply to what a Trustee has the ability to help make happen.

Sometimes I have folks ask me about topics that a school board trustee has no control over. While I enjoy engaging in these conversations with my neighbors to stay in touch with community values and expectations, I also don’t want to be dishonest and give the impression that I would be able to help with these things. For example, the Texas Democratic Party Platform passed in 2022 includes a lot of things related to education that require the state and national governments to act. So, even though I agree with things like the wish to “Prohibit awarding taxpayer dollars to corporations to develop high-stakes tests”, that’s not something I can make happen. It feels deceitful for me to try to win votes based on my support for ideas I won’t be able to influence if elected.

What I do feel comfortable with is focusing on points from the Texas Democratic Party Platform that I believe apply to school board trustee duties and abilities. With that being said, I express my support for the following points from the platform:

• A world-class education system is a moral imperative and an economic necessity. We must ensure every Texas child receives the best education in the country from pre-K through postsecondary, including the arts and career and technical programs.

• Our education system must value highly-skilled teachers and encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity, without the harmful impacts of high-stakes standardized testing.

• The full, meaningful inclusion of Texas students with disabilities as a fundamental right

• Guarantee a safe and high-quality classroom learning environment;

• Expand learning opportunities for every child at every level of education;

• Ensure students with disabilities receive an appropriate early childhood, primary, secondary, and postsecondary education in the most equitable environments, including access to the full range of services and supports called for in their individual education plans at all learning institutions.

• Every Student Deserves a Highly Qualified Teacher

• Teachers are the single most critical component to a student’s success in education. Teachers not only provide classroom instruction, they also provide emotional support, a sense of belonging, and sometimes even provide students with financial support through classroom supplies and other essentials.

• Recognize the critical role teachers play in students’ lives by setting a starting salary for teachers sufficient to attract appropriately certified teachers and eliminate vacancies, with median salaries commensurate with the national averages

• Ensure that public school employees have attractive compensation packages that incentivize career-long public service of education professionals;

• Prohibit awarding taxpayer dollars to corporations to develop high-stakes tests and “Value Added Modeling” linked to teacher evaluations, and oppose test-based performance pay;

• Support basing teacher evaluations on multiple measures designed by practicing educators;

• Restore, respect, and safeguard the rights and benefits of education employees;

• Guarantee that every class has a teacher certified to teach that subject;

• Provide a mentor or master teacher for every novice teacher;

• Respect support personnel by providing them due process employment rights and a salary schedule

• Support parental and community involvement in our neighborhood schools and encourage their expansion in partnership with community stakeholders, including parents and teachers

• Extend appropriate class size limits to all grades, enforce those limits, and strive for smaller class sizes;

• Ensure that schools, classrooms, programs, and appropriate transportation are physically and programmatically accessible to all students;

• Provide all students with disabilities inclusive and integrated academic and vocational instruction, evidence-informed supports, and full access to the general curriculum, extracurricular activities, and related services in classrooms with their non-disabled peers;

• Support teachers when they exercise their statutory right to remove a disruptive student from class, subject to state guidelines and in line with their campus Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports system;

• Prohibit active shooter drills that utilize traumatic, realistic simulation;

• Teach non-violent conflict resolution to students;

• Equip classrooms with free computers, high-speed internet access, and digital instructional materials;

• Adequately fund Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) and Trade programs.

• Equip schools and teachers with resources, including teachers’ aides, and effective techniques to ensure that every child performs at grade level in reading, social studies, math, science, and a second language by third grade;

• Promote and appropriately fund multi-language instruction, beginning in elementary school, to make all students fluent in English and at least one other language;

• Support Title IX protections for gender equity in public education institutions;

• Serve the individualized needs of each student with appropriate identification based exclusively on the objective assessment of their strengths and needs by qualified professionals for all students who require special education services or services provided under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act;

• Restrict out-of-school suspension to only those cases necessary for the safety of students and personnel;

• Ensure that every student has access to appropriate academic counseling services, as well as psychological and social services provided by competent and licensed professionals;

• Provide and appropriately fund high-quality instruction for careers in trades and technical education programs;

• Provide fully funded arts and music education in all schools;

• Identify instances of bullying, including cyber-bullying, and implement school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports to prevent violence, disruption, bullying, and harassment

My platform is not limited to these points. In order to directly answer this specific question, I used these examples copied verbatim from the official party platform that I agree with and believe are things a Trustee has the ability to help make happen.