Sour Grapes

It doesn't matter what I call it, it will sound like the title anyway.  The views and opinions stated in this blog are not the opinion of Jennifer Shockley-Daniels and do not represent her.  (but she really, totally, agrees with me)


I can't believe Jen lost the election
When I left the RRISD Administration building, I thought the election was over.  Fourteen-point lead after the early voting and Williamson County was outvoting Travis 2-1 in turnout.  I wasn't ready to call it yet but, inside, I thought it was done.  So I get home, everyone is excited and enjoying a lovely Saturday evening together.  Friends, TexMex, and something to celebrate happens to be one of my favorite Saturday night combinations.  I chatted with everyone a few minutes, talked about the lead and what it might mean, had a taco and tried to decide when to start throwing people out of the house.


After forty-five minutes of catching up with everyone, the phone rang.  Jennifer checked the caller ID and went to the other room.  Everyone immediately worried that something bad was happening.  After three or four minutes, Jennifer comes out with a shocked look on her face.  She pauses for effect, then says, "That was Dr. Chavez calling to congratulate me on the 'win' and discuss what's next."  Cheers, hugs, handshakes, and some tears.  Relief, at last.


Jen followed that statement with a warning to everyone that the election was over yet, all boxes had not been counted, so let's not count our chickens just yet.  Prophetic.
Being the worrier I am, I started watching the Williamson and Travis websites.  As the first votes from the day started coming in, we still looked really strong in Williamson - Good News.  The first Travis results weren't as reassuring.  As the night dragged on, it got closer each time results were posted.  The last update went up and we were nine votes behind.  I thought, "This can't be write.  She couldn't overcome that kind of deficit."  Then I started looking at the precincts.  Jennifer had won or was close to winning in 90% of the precincts.  The 10% directly adjacent to Westwood High School were overwhelmingly pro Catherine.  That was our biggest worry throughout the campaign -- and it was coming home to roost.
I tried to convince myself there were still some votes out there but I just couldn't will it to happen.


How Elections are lost
We'll never know because we can't talk to the individual voters, but I firmly believe this election was decided by a single issue and a single constituency.  Westwood parents wanted a change to district policy and they wanted it badly.  Many Westwood parents want the district to change the policy for Class Rank reporting on official transcripts.  State law requires that all Texas high schools must rank the top ten percent of their class.  These students are eligible for automatic acceptance to state universities in Texas.  Seems like a good thing.


The problem at Westwood is, according to the parents, the hyper-competitive environment at their school.  Many graduates of Westwood that finish outside the top 10% or even 25%.  Although their class rank is lower, their overall achievement and test scores allow them access to some very good (very expensive) schools...and there is the rub.  Those expensive schools may penalize or preclude new students from scholarship opportunities based on class rank.  On the surface, this seems like it is certainly worth the districts consideration and bares the attention of administration and the school board.
So, when a Westwood parent asked Jennifer what she would do, she gave that exact answer.  We would look at the facts, consider the implications, and make the decision that is best for the district.  The resounding response (in email and on the Westwood parent web forum) was "That's not good enough!".  Jennifer's opponent, on the Westwood web forum, responded with, "The first step in fixing this problem is voting for me".  Apparently, making an informed decision was not what they wanted.  Promising to fix the problem regardless of the facts was the quickest way to their heart and vote.  I guess Jen should have pandered but that is not her long suit as most of you know.


Postscript
So, in the end, we finished with a 5 vote deficit.  Almost 3000 votes and 5 made the difference.  Even if you ignore the fact that Williamson County uses a machine with a known high error rate to count paper ballots (as you can see here, here and here), a gap that small seems like a pretty good reason for a recount.  If this was anything other than a school board election you would hear cries of 'DISENFRANCHISEMENT"..."TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION"..."HANGING CHAD"!


Okay, maybe not 'hanging chad', but you get the point.  But it is a School Board election so the only recourse is for us or Jennifer's campaign to cover the $6,000-$10,000 in costs to do the recount.  That would not be a good use of our money or the money of the great supporters and contributors we met along the way.  Maybe the board will reconsider their current position on how recounts get paid for in elections this close, but that doesn't change this year.


The elections was close and I don't think Jennifer would change a single thing she said or did.  For those who know her or have gotten to know her during the campaign, I think that is her greatest attribute.  Hopefully, next year will get here soon and we can do it all again with some better results.


Meanwhile, we are revamping Jennifer's website and you will be seeing some exciting changes there soon.