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Public commenter Miss Perry accuses Humble ISD SLAC committee of excluding librarians and parents, urges voters to replace board
Summary
Miss Perry told the Humble ISD board the district's SLAC committee was structured to ban books, excluded librarians and many parents (she cited demographic imbalances), and pledged to attend SLAC meetings and publish board votes by name.
Miss Perry, a public commenter, used her three-minute public comment to accuse the Humble Independent School District's SLAC committee and the board of creating a process to "ban books" and to exclude librarians and large segments of parents from decision-making.
"I am standing in front of the board today, but I am well aware you will not hear a word I say," Miss Perry said, calling on "Parents and community members" to pay attention to the committee's actions. She said the committee's stated purpose was to "ban books and undermine the librarians in this district," and asserted the seven-member SLAC committee would review and decide which books were appropriate rather than trusting librarians or parents.
Miss Perry criticized the committee's membership, saying six members were white and one was nonwhite while the district is "27.5% white and 72.5% nonwhite," and she complained that only four parents were appointed to the committee (all, she said, from Kingwood-area schools) despite larger student populations in southern schools. She also said the three community members on the committee were "all over 70 years old and Republican operatives," asserting that the appointments did not reflect district demographics.
She said she would "attend every SLAC meeting" (the transcript sometimes rendered the committee name as "Slack") and would "record every vote by name and board member" and make those records public. "I just ask that the community remember to vote in May and choose a new board," she said.
The Chair thanked Miss Perry and proceeded to the next agenda item; the board did not take public or formal action in response to her remarks during the meeting.
