May 6 Ballot Includes Two Places, One Unopposed
A parent, an entrepreneur, and a “comedian” run for school board
The Highland Park ISD board of trustees will soon get two new members, with long-timers Stacy Kelly and board president Tom Sharpe not seeking re-election on May 6.
Highland Park Education Foundation Pete Flowers is running unopposed for Sharpe’s Place 7 seat, while Kelly’s Place 6 seat has drawn three candidates.
Voters will find Blythe Koch, a parent and volunteer in Highland Park schools, entrepreneur Paul Calce, and social media provocateur Alex Stein on the ballot.
Koch, 44, has served as Boone PTO president in 2020-2021 and on the district’s facilities advisory committee, golden pennies campaign in 2021, boundary rezoning committee, fifth elementary design committee, and more.
“As a trustee, I will work to ensure we set specific expectations and goals around academic rigor and student outcomes, train our teachers in time-tested instructional practices, adopt an evaluation system that better supports our teachers, and ensures we are implementing best practices in the classroom, and reduce technology usage in the classroom to that which is truly purposeful and beneficial for our students,” Koch said.
She also supported the school board’s decision last June to replace the Units of Study materials published by Heinemann previously used for teaching reading and writing in grades K-8.
“We must also provide our teachers with the best resources, even if that means adopting new math textbooks outside of the usual adoption cycle like we did last year for English Language Arts,” Koch added.
Calce and Koch filed 30-day campaign finance reports. Calce’s shows $4,200 in total political contributions from more than 20 people. Koch’s shows $43,446.88 in total contributions from more than 120 people.
Calce has been involved with the Bradfield Dads Club and calls for “returning the district to quality, traditional education and the replacement of educational technology with teacher-led instruction.”
He’s called for changing mathematics materials and cutting ties with the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), as Southlake Carroll ISD’s school board recently voted to do.
“I plan to restore traditional academics, eliminate indoctrination, and prioritize teachers over technology in HPISD schools,” Calce said.
Stein, 36, a Highland Park alumnus, no stranger to public meetings, is known for his performances during open microphone portions of governmental sessions in Dallas County and beyond.
In his campaign filing paperwork, he identified himself as a YouTuber/comedian, which might explain the intent of his answers to a questionnaire sent to each candidate by Park Cities People.
In his responses, he identified such aims as preventing women from attending school, expanding adult-themed content in elementary libraries, and financially helping the poor people of Highland Park.
For the rest of the candidate Q&As, click here.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This post has been updated to reflect Calce’s 30-day campaign finance report.)
