Vera Southwell for RRISD Trustee, Place 3

Accountability

Real Oversight

The board's most important job is oversight: setting clear priorities and holding the administration accountable for results. That isn't hostility. It's how good organizations work.

• Independent votes.

  I have no ties to current board members, the administration, or any party network. I won't vote unanimously just to go along or rubber-stamp a decision because it's easier.

• Alternatives before decisions.

  For every major decision, I'll ask to see the options considered, what each would cost, and why this path was chosen.

• Measurable results.

  Clear, measurable goals for district programs and for the superintendent, with regular check-ins on whether they're working, and the willingness to change course when they aren't.

• Patterns, not just reports.

  The board should track trends across the district, including family concerns, so recurring problems get fixed at the root.

Listen. Analyze. Improve. That's what oversight looks like.

Deliberate, not reflexive

Technology with Purpose

I work in technology and analytics. I'm not anti-technology. I see how powerful it is, and that's exactly why I want us to be deliberate about it in classrooms.

• Basics before gadgets.

  When classrooms are short on books, copy paper, or library hours, no software license should renew on autopilot. Every EdTech contract should show what it costs, how many students use it, and evidence that it works. Contracts should expire by default unless staff make the case to renew.

• Student data protected.

  If we don't need data to educate a child, we shouldn't collect it. Every app students use should have a one-page, plain-language summary of what it collects, who sees it, and when it's deleted. No advertising, no profiling, no resale.

• Parents informed, not surprised.

  A published list of every digital program families are expected to use, who requires it, and how it affects grades. No child should be graded down for a rule their parents were never shown.

• Screen time with limits.

  Age-based limits, strictest for the youngest students, starting with an honest measure of how much screen time kids get today.

• AI with care.

  A pause on student generative AI until the district has a sound policy, while still teaching students how AI works and where it fails.

• Equal access to a real education.

  The new digital divide isn't who has a device. It's who gets books, hands-on learning, and time with teachers, vs. who gets a screen. Public schools must give every child the full, human education.