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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 47 • No. 39 • $1.00
Missouri City keeps IT manager as interim city manager Armors Your Glass From Burglars, Storms & Heat
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2022
READERS’ CHOICE PLACE YOUR VOTES FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Entrepreneur group expanding into Fort Bend County
By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Less than a year ago, Sedrick Cole was running the city of Missouri City’s IT department. Now, he’ll be overseeing the city’s $61.2 million general fund budget and staff of almost 400 fulltime employees for the foreseeable future. The city council last week in a 4-3 vote opted to keep Cole in place as the city’s interim city manager while it searches
for a full-time replacement. Mayor Robin Elackatt was joined by councilmembers Lynn Clouser, Anthony Maroulis and Floyd Emery in voting to keep Cole in the interim role, while council members Vashaundra Edwards, Monica Riley and Jeffrey Boney voted against the decision. Like several other recent decisions in Missouri City, the vote did not pass without some controversy. “I do want to make it
FBISD teachers seek higher pay, more security
Cole
clear that we’re getting ready to continue the contract for Mr. Sedrick Cole, and he doesn’t have
the experience needed, and he doesn’t have the certifications needed for a city manager,” Edwards said ahead of the vote. City leaders declined to make Cole available for a phone interview with the Fort Bend Star last week. But Cole provided written responses to several questions about his expanded role with the city. “While I am overseeing city management, I am just one piece of the puzzle,” he wrote. “The city has a great leadership team and frontline
employees who are dedicated to providing the support needed to help make this transition as smooth as possible.” The city, however, has declined to provide information about who has remained part of the city’s administration since the council opted last month to fire former City Manager Charles “Tink” Jackson. But there’s some evidence there’s been
SEE COLE PAGE 7
Raising their voices
By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
By Matt deGrood MDEGROOD@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
A Houston-based entrepreneurial program is expanding to Fort Bend County, with plans to tap into the area’s potential for startup companies, according to the company’s new owner. The Fort Bend Economic Development Council (FBEDC) has reached an agreement with Houston Exponential to expand into the county, according to a news release. Through a partnership, Houston Exponential will share office space with the economic development council and institute programming meant to support local founders and innovators, according to the release. “We could not be more thrilled to bring Houston Exponential to Fort Bend County,” said Rachelle Kanak, executive vice president of marketing and operations for the FBEDC. “Our county is ripe for an explosion of innovation and entrepreneurialism and we are excited HX will help support and grow our innovation community.” Houston Exponential was formed several years ago after Houston failed to recruit Amazon’s big second headquarters to the region, according to Lawson Gow, the company’s new owner. The organization was initially founded as a nonprofit and helped expand Houston’s reputation as a startup destination, according to an InnovationMap article. Gow is a Houston native who started a company called The Cannon in 2017 to provide workspaces and other resources for Houston-area startups, he said. After several years running The Cannon, Gow took a step back and started a holding company, called Gow Companies, that recently acquired Houston Exponential. While Houston Exponential was founded as a nonprofit, Gow now plans
SEE ENTREPRENEUR PAGE 7
The teachers aren’t all right. For months now, school administrators and experts in districts across Fort Bend County and the country have talked about an exodus of teachers from the profession and how they might go about staunching the loss. All of it came to a head last week when a group of teachers protested with several organized labor groups outside Fort Bend ISD’s administration building, seeking better salaries, safety precautions and smaller class sizes, among other issues. “I taught for 31 years and, last year, my salary was only about $16,000 higher than a first-year teacher,” said Terri Verdone, a teacher who opted for retirement from FBISD. Verdone spoke at last week’s protest and laid out how more and more paperwork, few raises and retention bonuses and a seemingly uncaring administration had led her to decide not to return next school year. “I’m content with my decision, but I will miss my students,” she said. Local and national education experts have known that teachers were leaving the profession. Through just the first six months of the fiscal year, about 470 teachers had quit before their contracts were complete – a significant uptick from other recent years, such as 2020 when 378 left before their contracts ended, according to an April Texas Tribune article. FBISD Superintendent Christie Whitbeck, for instance, spoke about more than 120 teacher vacancies in December – shortly
Teachers and other attendees speak at a protest last week in front of the Fort Bend ISD administration building, seeking higher wages and more security from the district. (Photo by Matt deGrood)
after her arrival – and the need to maintain high teacher pay to recruit high-quality candidates. The average starting teacher salary in FBISD is about $58,000, she said at the time. Representatives for the district, in response to the protest, released a media statement that argued that they have increased teacher pay. The new budget, for instance, includes a $1,500 increase for teachers and a 2 percent raise for non-teaching staff, according to the district’s response. That,
coupled with a 6 percent teacher raise and a 4 percent raise for non-teaching staff last year, make FBISD comparable to surrounding school districts, according to the news release. The teachers and organizers who gathered last week said they were frustrated FBISD hasn’t yet taken steps to increase teacher pay like some area districts, such as Houston ISD, which last week approved a pay increase that will give teachers an 11 percent raise on average. But the protesters’ frustrations with the profession
went far beyond just pay. Glenda Macal, the president of Fort Bend AFT, a union that represents FBISD teachers, laid out teachers’ concerns through the organizing group’s RESPECT campaign. “R” stands for raising salaries, “E” stand for expectations within reason, “S” is for safety and security, “P” is for not taking away teachers’ planning times, the second “E” is for eliminating
SEE TEACHERS PAGE 7
Panthers proud despite state semifinal loss By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Ridge Point second baseman Zion Stephens prepares to s in at a pitch d rin a e ion - A nal a ainst Strake Jesuit on June 3. The Panthers lost to eventual state champion Southlake Carroll in the Class 6A state semi nals. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
It was a historic season in many ways for the Ridge Point Panthers’ baseball team, but ultimately the team fell short of its goal of a state title in Round Rock last week. The Panthers dropped a 6-1 decision to the eventual state champion Southlake Carroll Dragons last Friday at Dell Diamond in Round Rock in the Class 6A state semifinals, and were de-
nied the chance to play for their first state championship in the process. It is the second straight trip to Round Rock during which Panthers have lost to Southlake Carroll, after also falling to the Dragons in the 2019 state championship game. “We just got beat,” head coach Clinton Welch said. “Plain and simple.” The semifinal loss brought an end to the high school careers of 10 Ridge Point seniors who played their last game
in purple and white on Friday. It was a tumultuous one for a group that includes starting pitcher Hunter Nichols and Texas A&M commit Justin Vossos, a group that Welch said led by example and held the team together despite high school careers that saw them experience extreme lows (C OV I D -19 - s h o r t e n e d 2020 campaign) along with the high of reaching
SEE RIDGE POINT PAGE 7
JERRY FLOWERS
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