Screenshot from Katy ISD
Following the May 3 election results, Katy ISD students and community members are asking school board members to repeal the Houston-area district’s controversial book and gender policies.
The board appointed trustee Lance Redmon as its new president Monday after Katy ISD voters ousted former president Victor Perez, who had championed the policies and campaigned on conservative principles. Perez lost his reelection bid against longtime educator James Cross, who has voiced opposition to the district’s book and gender policies.
Cross’ victory means a majority of the seven-member board might be interested in overturning at least some of those policies as Redmon, Dawn Champagne and Rebecca Fox voted against a gender fluidity policy that narrowly passed in 2023. Several community members on Monday urged the board to begin that process immediately.
Former Katy ISD librarian Lynette Alidon addressed the board during the public comment period and asked the trustees to listen to the needs of the fast-growing community west of Houston.
“Let this be a lesson to future school board candidates and their campaigns,” she said. “These cultural wars created distrust, fear and hatred, which brought negative attention to this district. Please listen to the speakers at the board meetings and have discussions with our students and educators to determine what is best for this district.”
Jarred Burton, a Tompkins High School senior and president of the student-led Sexuality and Gender Alliance Club, said the board now has the opportunity to eliminate the policies implemented by the previous administration that some view as discriminatory.
“I am speaking not only for myself, but for the students who are not safe enough to come here and talk to you themselves,” Burton said. “Please repeal the gender fluidity policy and stop the book bans. These policies have put an insane strain on both students and teachers. Please listen to the people who are most directly affected by these decisions.”
In August 2023, the board approved a gender fluidity policy in a 4-3 vote. The policy prohibits the discussion of gender identity in the classroom, requires students to use restrooms that correspond with their sex at birth and mandates that school administrators notify students’ parents if their children say they are transgender or ask to use pronouns that differ from their gender at birth.
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A year later, in August 2024, the board approved a library policy that bans books “adopting, supporting, or promoting gender fluidity” from elementary and junior high libraries in Katy ISD. The policy passed with a 5-0 vote, with Champagne and Fox abstaining.
Burton said Perez was partly responsible for the passage of both policies and that the recent election showed that much of the community had been against them.
“Everywhere this policy has been proposed, it has been met with fierce opposition by a majority of community members and now that opposition has made its way to the polls,” Burton said. “Mr. Perez ran a deceptive, dirty campaign, spreading lies and using my peers and I as political pawns.”
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During Monday’s meeting, Perez gave his last comments as board president and defended the policies that contributed to his ousting.
“Together, we enacted meaningful policies designed to safeguard our children and strengthen our district,” he said. “Among these were the groundbreaking parental authority and gender fluidity policies to ensure curriculum and library materials are appropriate and educationally suitable. … As I step aside, I extend my best wishes to all trustees and the new board as they begin the important work ahead.”
Graduating senior Zeo McGhee was among the public speakers to ask for the book and gender policies to be repealed.
“I am young, but I am also my own person, and I am smart enough to know that anyone who limits my self-expression does not have my best interests in mind,” McGhee said. “Stop trying to control students. It is your responsibility to right the wrong that has been done and only you can change what this district is known for.”