Stand Up Lamar CISD

10/06/2026

10/05/2026

🎥 MEET THE CANDIDATE: TIFFANY PERKINZ

Tiffany Perkinz is running for Texas State Board of Education — District 7, which includes our LCISD community.

The SBOE has a major say in what Texas students are taught, including curriculum standards and instructional materials. Tiffany is a longtime Texas educator who says she wants to keep partisan politics out of our classrooms and put educators, students, and families first.

Take a few minutes to hear directly from Tiffany about why she’s running and what’s at stake for Texas public education.

👇 Watch the interview and get informed before you vote.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPLLgWKJW/

10/04/2026

📚 It’s Banned Books Week — October 4–10!

We’re kicking it off by resharing this powerful message from one of our phenomenal LCISD teachers, who stood before the Board last year and spoke out about the 700+ books banned in LCISD.

And yes — those book bans are still happening.

So this week, we’re reminding our community: pay attention, speak up, and don’t let this become normal.

📚 Let kids read. Let teachers teach.

And if you haven’t already, sign our petition to fight book bans in LCISD! 👇

https://www.fightforthefirst.org/petitions/stop-the-book-bans-demand-accountability-from-lamar-cisd-1

10/01/2026

PUBLIC STATEMENT FROM STAND UP LAMAR

Stand Up Lamar strongly condemns the post shared by Trustee Jon Welch on his public page identifying him as a Lamar CISD Board Member.

Trustee Welch shared a post using derogatory language including “fatties,” “trannies,” “weirdos,” and “wimps,” while adding his own comments criticizing what he called a “passive, woke, social experiment.”

This is unacceptable behavior from an elected official entrusted with helping govern our public schools.

This is about the judgment and basic level of respect we should expect from someone elected to represent the entire Lamar CISD community.

Lamar CISD’s own social media guidelines prohibit personal attacks, name-calling, insulting statements, and discriminatory or harassing comments. While those guidelines apply to the district’s official social media and may not technically govern a trustee’s personal page, shouldn’t the people who govern our district hold themselves to at least the same standard of respect?

Trustees aren’t simply community members expressing personal opinions. They are part of the policy-making body that governs our district. Their decisions directly affect our students, employees, and families.

That is why this matters.

When a trustee publicly shares language that demeans groups of people, it raises legitimate questions about the judgment and attitudes that trustee brings to decisions affecting those same communities. Our students and families should not have to wonder whether they will be treated with dignity and fairness by someone entrusted with representing them.

We are calling on Trustee Welch to remove the post and publicly apologize to the Lamar CISD community.

We are also asking Board President Jacci Hotzel and every member of the Lamar CISD Board of Trustees to publicly condemn Trustee Welch’s comments.

The community deserves an answer. Silence leaves parents, students, staff, and taxpayers wondering whether this behavior is acceptable to the very Board entrusted with representing them.

As parents, taxpayers, and community members, we expect better from the people entrusted with governing our public schools.

This does not represent the Lamar CISD community we know, and it should not go unanswered.

— Stand Up Lamar

09/18/2026

During Hispanic Heritage Month, we celebrate Hispanic and Latino culture, history and voices.

But here in Lamar CISD, books by Latino authors have been removed from our school library collections — including:

📚 I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter — Erika L. Sánchez
📚 The Poet X — Elizabeth Acevedo
📚 Gabi, a Girl in Pieces — Isabel Quintero
📚 Juliet Takes a Breath — Gabby Rivera

Our community pays taxes. Our children attend these schools. Our stories deserve to be represented on the shelves — and our community deserves meaningful representation in the decisions being made about them.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month should include making sure Hispanic and Latino voices can actually be heard. 🇲🇽🇵🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇨🇴🇺🇸

09/16/2026

We’ve come a long way since 1980. When B.F. Terry High School began, its opening was commemorated in part with Confederate cavalry reenactors—a reflection of how directly the school’s identity was then connected to Benjamin Franklin Terry and the Confederate cause that he fought and died for. Today, that connection is far less explicit. The school remains deeply familiar to generations of students and graduates, but we should no longer assume that familiarity with Terry High School means familiarity with the man behind its name. Most students have no idea who he was.

Yesterday, the Board heard from district staff and historians regarding the future of the name of the Red Track high school to be built off Spur 10.

We appreciate the Board’s openness to this conversation and its willingness to hear from the community before making a decision. Last night’s discussion was thoughtful, serious, and respectful. So far, we have nothing but praise for the way the Board has approached this issue.

Our position remains firm: the names we place on our students’ jerseys and carry forward on their diplomas and résumés should respect the dignity of every student.

As the district begins gathering community input, we have one request for the process: distinguish familiarity with the school from familiarity with its namesake.

For alumni, “Terry” may mean teachers, classmates, Friday nights, band competitions, friendships, accomplishments, and decades of memories. Those attachments are real and deserve respect. But they are not necessarily a judgment about the historical figure whose name the school carries.

We believe the survey should ask respondents about their prior familiarity with B.F. Terry’s history, provide everyone with the same concise and documented historical background, and include that context when the results are presented to the Board.

That will allow the Board to hear what the community thinks while also understanding the context in which those opinions were formed.

We will continue to follow the process and appreciate the care the Board has shown so far.

09/15/2026

At Stand Up Lamar, our intent is to inform the public about what's happening in the district and with education on the state level. Many in our community are familiar with the proposed Tesla solar cell manufacturing plant Project Crystal Sun and the JETI tax abatement Tesla has requested the LCISD Board of Trustees approve at tonight’s board meeting (Tuesday, September 15).

Last week on Thursday, September 10, representatives from Tesla presented the Board of Trustees and the public with their proposal, which is an expected 10.1 billion dollar investment in a large solar cell manufacturing plant that is expected to bring almost 10k permanent and well paying jobs to Fort Bend County. Tesla reps also shared the ways they work with CTE and school districts to provide internships and education opportunities and have had success with similar projects in other communities.

The JETI tax abatement is ten year break on part of the Maintenance and Operations property taxes that Tesla would typically have to pay to the school district. They are still responsible for paying other property taxes during the abatement period (from 2031-2040). The state also makes the district “whole” per the JETI agreement during that time. I have attached a photo that I took of a chart Tesla provided that explain the break down of these numbers:

During the ten years of the JETI abatement, Tesla would pay a total of $316 million in taxes to the school district. (Maintenance and operations taxes at half the full rate, plus interesting and sinking “bond” taxes at the fulll rate.) The JETI abatement saves them $104 million on M&O over that time period.

Considering the positive economic impact for the Fort Bend County community, including LCISD graduates, leads us at Stand Up Lamar toward endorsing Project Crystal Sun. We believe the Board of Trustees should vote yes to approve their request for the JETI abatement.

The only hesitations we at Stand Up Lamar have about a yes vote were echoed by some of the school board members at the workshop on Thursday and we thank them for their attention to detail and for asking thoughtful and difficult questions:

Trustee Lambert voiced concerns about powering the project and eventually, the plant. This has been something the community is rightly worried about. Our state power grid is not reliable enough that we are often urged to not cool or heat our homes to the level we desire during extreme weather. It is reasonable for the public to question how a huge manufacturing plant in our county might inadvertently raise our energy costs or further strain the power grid. Thank you Trustee Lambert for asking specific questions regarding Centerpoint and energy use. Tesla reps were unable to provide clear or detailed answers, understandably, though they did share that the site was chosen based on existing infrastructure.

President Hotzel voiced two other concerns that Stand Up Lamar shares: Light pollution. The plant site is close enough to the George Observatory, and the Tesla rep said they would do everything they could to mitigate light pollution. The other concerns are in regards to the job numbers and wage guarantees. The details of whatever penalties Tesla would face if they fail to meet their commitments were not made public (as far as I have found), but and we at Stand Up Lamar found it alarming that Tesla is publicly promoting 9,700 permanent jobs while the application with the State of Texas only states 75 jobs. It is quite a disparity, and the public would feel more comfortable with an update to the application where this number is concerned. Thank you President Hotzel for pointing out this important detail to the Tesla representatives.

Stand Up Lamar is unclear whether the LCISD Board of Trustees is able to negotiate on any of these concerns before they vote on the JETI approval. Unfortunately, there is no way to predict the future when it comes to these outcomes. Ultimately concerns we have about Project Crystal Sun do not outweigh the predicted economic benefits to the community and LCISD alumni, past present and future.

08/26/2026

There has been a lot of chatter about Project Crystal Sun around town, and today LCISD released a public survey with information about the proposed Tesla project asking the public for their questions, thoughts, and opinions.

If you’re just learning about all of this- don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

In our latest Substack, we’re breaking down what’s happening with the potential solar cell plant, the tax exemptions Tesla is seeking, and what questions we want answered before the board of trustees moves forward on this decision.

Share with your local communities! The survey closes August 28 so public attention to this matter is critical!

One of these things is not like the other?