COLUMN: A missed opportunity
This town hall was supposed to be an opportunity for anyone to come and hear the facts about legislation being considered with regard to the school choice bill and other public education-related bills in the Texas House of Representatives and how it will benefit school districts and families across the state.
Buckley serves as chairman of the Public Education Committee and is the author of the proposed legislation. Harris served on the Public Education Committee in the 88th legislative session.
The format for the event was for individuals to write down questions on cards. An introduction of Harris and Buckley was followed by a presentation by Buckley of the state legislative information, with Harris and Buckley answering questions afterward.
Due to unruly behavior by the crowd, Buckley had a hard time getting through the informative presentation uninterrupted, as people yelled questions and made comments over him. This made it hard for those trying to listen to Buckley hear and understand what he was saying.
The presentation lasted around 45 minutes before Harris and Buckley began to answer the questions on the cards.
Harris said at three different intervals in the program that if people did not stop yelling out and being disrespectful that they would stop. Both men tried to keep sharing information and answering questions until it was clear the crowd was getting more rowdy and disrespectful. The two men eventually had to leave the stage.
The crowd at this event was made up of teachers, administrators, parents, community members and students.
I can't imagine any teacher would allow a classroom full of students to behave that way.
I can't imagine any administrator would allow a room full of parents to act that way during a presentation of any kind at school.
No adult would want to stand on that stage trying to share information while they were being yelled at or booed.
Why would you think Harris or Buckley, who took time out of their schedules to drive in from the ongoing legislative session to share important information about laws that are in committee discussions this week, would stay on stage and allow people to yell and boo them?
Sadly, we didn't get through the stack of questions Harris and Buckley had begun to address and questions did not get answered and important information did not get heard.
Furthermore, what if one of those questions was something that had not been considered on the state level?
What if there was a question about something that needed to be addressed this week as the committees begin to focus on and dissect these bills?
What if there was a question in that stack that would serve as a turning point in the legislative process that would make a difference?
Well, we'll never know because a few of you decided that what you had to say, or more pointedly, what you had to yell out, was more important than that of anyone else in the room. You let your driving need to be heard silence the entire event.
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