It’s hard to fail to notice the synchronicity of the arrival of the postcard exhorting us to vote “YES” for the two KISD propositions and the arrival of a letter from KISD Superintendent James Veitenheimer on KISD letterhead. 

I noticed that the postcard (addressed to “CONCERNED KELLER CITIZEN”) says that it is a Political Advertisment Paid For By Citizens For Great Schools.  I tried to find out more information about this political committee, and all I could find was a passing mention in a Star Telegram article about the KISD stadium.

When the stadium opened, it met standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Veitenheimer said. But times have changed, and so have the standards. Once the five parking spaces for handicapped people are filled, people must park at least 200 feet away. Handicapped seating is another problem, Veitenheimer said. The stadium has about 40 handicapped-accessible seats on the concourse, which is basically the bottom floor of the bleachers. Watching the game, however, is difficult because fans constantly walk in front of the seats. “This is no longer acceptable,” said David Vasquez, a member of Citizens for Great Schools, a bond support group that is mailing information to voters.  (emphasis added)

A little bit more searching shows that Mr. Vasquez is a member of the KISD Citizens Bond Advisory Committee as well as a founding member and a director of the Keller ISD Foundation (please note use of “it’s” on main page…    … sorry, can’t help myself…).

I’m not trying to be a muckracker here.  It’s just that when I saw this group’s name I wanted to know more about it as well as who was funding them.  The first thing I looked for was a website (hence the Google search).  I was a little surprised that they didn’t have one, since it’s an easy and inexpensive way to provide information about your position.

Since they appear to be a political committee I took a look at those rules to see how I could get more information.  If they spent or took in more than $500 they’re required to file an appointment of a campaign treasurer with the appropriate filing authority (in this case, the secretary of the school board). 

I have submitted an email to inquire about whether they’ve filed an appointment of campaign treasurer and how to examine the documents, if they have done so (no thanks to the KISD contact form, though, which ate my request and appears to have sent it to /dev/null).

Which reminds me about the “BondQuestions” address that Dr. Veitenheimer referenced once again in his most recent letter.  I’m a bit curious as to whether anyone is actually monitoring it since I sent a question there 7 days ago and have yet to receive any feedback (not even a “we read your message and will get back to you” message).  Or maybe it’s just us cantankerous CAVEs who get ignored. 

My question concerned getting a breakdown of what went into the cost estimate of the new high school.  I really, really want to know just what’s driving that huge cost estimate.  Was this addressed in one of the “community forum” sessions they held that I couldn’t make?  Or is it just something they don’t want to discuss?  I certainly didn’t see anything that addressed the issue in that nice, glossy, mailer (how much did that cost us?) they sent last week, nor did I see anything in the information provided on their website.