“Protecting Frisco’s Lewisville ISD Children & Property Values”

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An Open Letter to Our Members:

 

Dear WeAreFrisco.org Members,

 

WeAreFrisco.org was founded to with the ultimate goal of redistricting all Frisco city residents in Lewisville ISD into Frisco ISD.  We realized this effort would not come easily or quickly and that it would take neighborhood commitments and the pursuit of political avenues to achieve success.  We remain committed to this cause and have made great strides toward reaching our goals. 

 

Last year, we promoted LISD candidates as well as Frisco City Council candidates.  All of the Frisco Council candidates we supported were successful and one in particular, Patrick Fallon, has proven to be an awesome resource for our agenda. 

 

We heard some say we “failed” in last year’s school board election. That is absolutely NOT the case.  We came about 200 votes short of taking a seat.  More importantly, we formed a coalition of almost 700 voters, which is an amazing accomplishment for an organization as young as ours. 

 

We have also heard some ask if we are 1) looking for representation on the LISD board, 2) trying to avoid being fed into The Colony High School, or 3) working to get into Frisco ISD.  The answer is “all of the above”.  We believe pursuit of all of the aforementioned will protect our property values and provide a better educational future for our children.  While being redistricted into Frisco ISD is our long-term goal, preventing the move to The Colony High and gaining representation on the LISD Board of Trustees are initiatives we are pursuing now.

 

The voting bloc theory….

 

Politicians understand voting numbers so that is what we must produce.  We are asking all of you to vote.  We did well last year, but we can do better.  700 votes got a lot of attention, but one or two thousand will win elections.  

 

Why is the school board election important?  The Trustees decide where schools are built, what funding goes to those schools, which kids go to what school, and they decide whether or not our children will get to go to school in the city in which they live.

 

Why the interest in local and state elections?  Everyone reports to someone.  It is that simple.  The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is tasked with overseeing all schools in Texas and they report to the state.  There is no question, we need our state Senators and House members on our side as well.

 

We started out on a mission to produce the required number of petitions to qualify under section 13.051 of the state education code to redistrict.  In the interpretation of this law, it is up to the school boards, the education commissioner, and ultimately, the state government.  If we submit our petitions prematurely and are unsuccessful, we will not be able to resubmit for 3 years according to our legal advisors.  Therefore, we need to get it right the first time.  Speed is important, but eventual and ultimate success far outweighs it.

 

What we have done and are doing now to make it happen.

 

We certainly have not been idle since May ‘09.  Our most urgent initiative over the past year was to establish a single polling place for our residents and end the voter disenfranchisement created by having to vote in three different places.

 

Towards that end, we targeted the Heritage Lakes Clubhouse as our designated polling location and subsequently  obtained the approval of the Heritage Lakes Board of Directors for such use.  Next came the successful survey of the site by the Denton County Elections Administration.

 

Following the Elections Administration approval were formal requests to both LISD and the City of Frisco to establish the Heritage Lakes Clubhouse as a single polling place.  The city effort was spearheaded by Patrick Fallon, who also spoke at three consecutive  LISD Trustee meetings (December, January and February) to present our case and garner Trustee  support.  We also solicited and obtained the support of our other elected officials, including Justice of the Peace James DePiazza , Denton County Commissioner Hugh Coleman, State Representative Burt Solomons, US Congressman Michael Burgess, and State Senator Jane Nelson.

 

In January, The Frisco City Council voted unanimously to establish the Heritage Lakes Clubhouse as a polling place for all future elections and created a new precinct in the process, which required an amendment to the city charter.  Our voter disenfranchisement finally came to and end with the approval of the site in February by the LISD Board of Trustees.  Congratulations and a big “Thank Your” goes out to all who participated in the process.

 

Many other initiatives are under discussion ranging from establishing a 401(c) non-profit corporation (to take donations) to starting a newsletter so stay tuned.

 

As we said at the onset, “we are not going away”.  If we stay the course and continue to strengthen our voter bloc, we will achieve our goals.

 

Best Regards,

 

WeAreFrisco Leadership Team