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Residents offer tutoring help; pastor urges board to rescind appointment and comply with open-meetings rules
Summary
Members of the public urged transparency and offered to volunteer as tutors; a local pastor told trustees he had filed a lawsuit alleging the board violated the Texas Open Meetings Act in a board appointment and offered a settlement to rescind the appointment.
Three public commenters addressed trustees during the open forum, urging transparency, offering volunteer help for students and raising legal concerns about a recent board appointment.
Luis DeRusso, a Cedar Creek resident, said he is retired and willing to volunteer to tutor students during the school day. “I would be willing to volunteer and tutor students to help them catch up,” DeRusso told the board, and he asked that the district share its plan for addressing a low state accountability grade publicly so the community can help.
Deborah Carter asked the board for a written response to her remarks at the June 11 meeting and invited trustees to begin conversations with community members who want to help the district. She said local organizations and parents have ideas for collaborative solutions and asked the board to make students their “priority 1.”
Pastor Jeremy Story raised legal concerns about a board appointment. Story said he filed a lawsuit alleging the board violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by making an appointment “behind the scenes” rather than in public. He said the lawsuit is not about the appointee’s qualifications but about transparency and public notice. Story asked the board to rescind the June 11 appointment vote and to adopt a written policy to provide at least 30 days’ public notice and an opportunity for input before filling future vacancies. In his remarks he referenced the appointment by name in different parts of his statement (he referred to “mister Coy” and later to “Josh Korg”); the transcript records both names as used by the speaker.
Why this matters: public volunteers can supplement tutoring and recovery services for students, and the legal challenge raises questions about the board’s compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act (often abbreviated TOMA) and public participation in trustee appointments.
Board response: The board clerk acknowledged DeRusso’s offer and said staff would follow up about volunteer and mentor opportunities. Trustees said the district would share updated accountability information when available.
Ending: Public commenters urged greater transparency and community partnership; the board said staff would follow up on volunteer inquiries and that legal and procedural issues raised during public comment would remain subject to the district’s records and legal process.
