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September 19, 2025

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60 years from Aledo integration page 7 September 19, 2025 · www.community-ne ws.com

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The Community News Serving Aledo · the Annettas · Hudson Oaks · Willow Park, Texas

ALEDO ISD

ALEDO ISD

District names new Executive Director of Special Programs

McKinney addresses TEA report

Lynn Jameson brings 27 years of experience

Bearcats of Character honored Alex Hoben

The Community News

By Mercedes Mayer Aledo ISD

Lynn Jameson has been named the executive director of Special Lynn Jameson Programs for Aledo ISD, bringing more than 27 years of experience working with special education students, including more than a dozen years in leadership roles. “Finding someone with Mrs. Jameson’s experience can be extremely difficult, so we are very grateful to have found a leader with the expertise she has to serve our special education students and staff,” Aledo ISD Superintendent Dr. Susan Bohn said. “I know her knowledge and significant leadership capacity will have a huge positive impact on this very important, significant and complex program, but equally so will her deep commitment to students with special needs, the staff who serve them, and the families who raise them.” Jameson will fill the position as Lynn McKinney, retired Aledo ISD deputy superintendent and namesake of McKinney Elementary, steps away from her interim role as the executive director that she has held since July. McKinney will assist Jameson in the transition when Jameson officially joins AISD in mid-October. “Even after giving 37 years of her life to our students and staff and this community and while she was thoroughly enjoying her retirement life, Lynn McKinney felt the pull to come back and give even more to our Bearcat family,” Bohn said. “All I had to do was ask. Once a Bearcat, always a Bearcat! We are so grateful for her stepping back in and for the work she will continue to put in to ensure a smooth transition and continuous support for our special programs staff and students.” Jameson has been the executive director of special education in Keller ISD since 2021. Prior to that, she was the executive director of special education in Castleberry ISD for six years. Jameson has worked in Mansfield ISD as an educational diagnostician, a lead educational diagnostician and a special education coordinator. She was an educational diagnostician and American Sign Language teacher in Arlington ISD, and an ASL or Deaf/Hard of Hearing teacher in Fort Worth ISD, Plano ISD and at Tarrant County College. “I am honored to join the Aledo ISD as the executive director of special programs,” said Jameson, who will join the district in mid-October. “I look forward to working together to serve the students and families, support the dedicated teachers and staff, and contribute toward the momentum of growing greatness in everything we do.” In her time serving special education students, Jameson has vast experience ensuring compliance with IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and state and federal regulations, overseeing ARD (Admission, Review, and Dismissal) processes, administering grant funds and the department budget, supporting program evaluation and compliance reporting, and leading a large staff while ensuring consistent Turn to JAMESON, page 2

The recent reports from the Texas Education Agency were addressed during the September Aledo ISD school board meeting during an in-depth presentation on the special education programs offered in the district. The topic of special education students and their programs headlined the meeting, with community members and staff filling the seats. Teachers and staff were wearing shirts showing support for the SPED programs around the district, many of those who work for the program itself. Before the presentation, multiple members of the public spoke to the board in regard to the special education program. Some came to thank the board as well as the teachers present for the work that they have done, and others came to talk about their concerns with the program. Recently, a TEA investigation report came out about the special education program and was reported by newspapers such as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the CBS Texas affiliate. Courtney Morey, a parent mentioned in the CBS story, was there at the meeting and spoke to the board. Morey, who has been regularly speaking at board meetings about her concerns, has a 3-year-old daughter named Annie who she has spoken of multiple times. Her main concerns lie in how she said she was told her child required an IQ test and when she refused, Annie was excluded from the program. She spoke to the board about how she was frustrated with the communications she had with previous staff members and is looking into transfer options for her daughter. “You want to do the least and make it appear like you’re doing the most,” Morey said. “I’m so tired of all the appearances. You want the general community to think

ALEX HOBEN/THE COMMUNITY NEWS

Bearcat of Character Maverick Wright shows his certificate to fellow awardee Eleanor Hanover, telling her how it says his name.

things at Aledo are perfect and shiny. It’s okay for things to be wrong. We need to work together and make them better.” John Turnage, an Aledo resident with a son in the SPED program, spoke at the meeting, thanking the board and the program staff for working with parents and staff to make a focus group about the concerns that parents have. He got emotional when saying how, because of the teachers and staff who have worked with his son, his son now not only knows how to read but enjoys to, and the district has enhanced his son’s sense of ownership and pride. “He has made strides in other academic areas, and he has embraced the love of serving others,” he said. “The way you continue to show up every day with smiles on your faces and serve our children and handle the unique challenges that come from time to time with special needs in the midst of an undeserved degree of public criticism is a testament to your heart for our kids and your professionalism.” John Roach, another parent with a child in the SPED program, said he came forward in April with concerns about the program and said that, after meeting with

board members, 90% of his concerns were addressed and said that the work done has caused dramatic improvements for his son Ben. “We have considered moving,” Roach said. “We have considered changing schools, and this is the place for us in part because [the staff] care and y’all listen, and that’s what I can ask. Nothing more for y’all to do. There’s always room for improvement, and I hope that we look for the next big thing that can be worked out.”

Program Changes

Interim Executive Director of Special Programs Lynn McKinney gave a presentation about the changes that have been made to the program since she came out of retirement for this position. McKinney began the presentation by thanking the new team of program coordinators and the teachers and staff who make the program possible, then gave a brief overview of each SPED program offered around the district. She also touched on how this year they have added increased staff support Turn to BOARD, page 2

ALEDO

Invisible company returns Local business fights back — Again By John English Contributing Writer

Robert Rushing spent roughly two-thirds of 2023 correcting a problem that was not of his own making. The Operations Manager of Aledo Overhead Door had to prove that his then five-yearold company existed, while another “company” called Aledo Garage Doors & Gate, whose listed address turned out to be an empty field in Aledo, was allowed to advertise fraudulently and with seeming impunity. “Back in 2023, we tried for eight months to remove the fake listing Aledo Garage Doors & Gate that was located in an empty field at 241 S. Front St., Suite 400, Aledo,

TX,” Rushing said. “We have on recording someone named ‘Jimmy Lee’ that was pretending to be our company, Aledo Overhead Door. Our listing was wrongfully suspended for those eight months while Jimmy Lee was able to continue operating under this fake, empty field listing.” After several months of research, investigation, phone calls and emails, Rushing finally got this fake listing removed and the company’s real listing restored by January 2024. The Aledo man thought the matter was over — until recently. “So now they are back as TCAMM Door & Gate located at 6900 I-20, Suite 107, Aledo, TX 76008,” Rushing said. “I called them to see who they were a few nights ago and recorded the very same Jimmy Lee on the phone. I asked him

directly if he was the same Jimmy Lee that tried to pretend he was in the empty field. He proceeded to cuss me out and then hung up.” Rushing then went to Lee’s office and took photos of a picnic table with paper on it and two garage door samples on the floor. Rushing said the facility was “completely unmanned.” The Aledo man said he interviewed the two other tenants in that building, and they said that they have only seen Lee there one time in the last year. “One of the tenants also said that when Jimmy Lee first rented that space, the landlord and Jimmy Lee were discussing how to work the lease so that when Google tries to verify everything that it will pass verification,” Rushing said. “This was because Jimmy Lee

told the landlord that he probably won’t actually be in the office very much…this type of fraud should be illegal and punishable.” Rushing took the step of submitting a Business Redressal Form last week and reported what he said were “fake reviews” that had just recently appeared. The issue was brought to the Aledo business owner’s attention through a recent phone call. “I received a call from someone that got ripped off for $1,700 to replace their springs,” Rushing said. “They needed help getting their money back. That’s what led me to check the listings again to see if the fake ones had come back. Press Cafe, The Community News, and Aledo Diner all had become garage door companies.” Turn to INVISIBLE, page 2


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