u/RyanforCISD

TLDR

On May 12, 2026, the CISD Board adopted its first ever Board Operating Procedures Manual on a 4-3 vote. Trustees Horton, Semmler, and Dungan voted no. Dungan is the Board Vice President.

This is CISD’s first formal board operating procedures document. Previously, only a TASB-modeled Code of Conduct existed, which several current trustees refused to sign due to their protest of TASB.

These procedures do several things well: code of conduct, training tracking, agenda transparency, policy development process, communication discipline, and the removal of a censure section that could have been used punitively.

These changes also concentrate substantial authority in the Board President, including approval of trustee reimbursements, training-compliance that gate officer eligibility, approval of meeting agenda items that can be delayed months, sole spokesperson authority including editorial approval of board communications, routing of complaints about trustees, and locked officer terms with no removal mechanism.

The board spent two full meetings negotiating these procedures. The fact that it still passed only 4-3, with the Vice President voting against, signals alignment problems that the lengthy process did not resolve.

Voters in November 2026 should expect candidates to speak to this document. Concentration of authority in one elected trustee creates risks regardless of who holds the office.

I built a series of watchdog apps that will provide the public with alerts for when new meetings are posted, including a breakdown of what’s on the agenda (with details and history), a post-meeting summary, as well a policy tracking portal to show you which exact policy changes are being made in real time. Happy to get any feedback for improvement. I’m also building a finance tracker, a PIR archive, and have a few others in mind.