Required Longview ISD meeting on Primerica violated state law
An Oct. 7 mandatory meeting at which Longview High School staff members were forced to listen to a sales pitch from a finance company violated state law.
"The prohibition on school districts requiring or coercing an employee's attendance at any meeting at which qualified investment products are marketed is a prohibition under state law (see Vernon's Civil Statutes, Article 6228a-5, Section 9)," said Howard Goldman, director of communications for the Teacher Retirement System.
The state law Goldman referenced was passed in 2007. It lists guidelines for educational institutions regarding 403(b) products — products that Longview ISD Superintendent James Wilcox has said he advocates as a representative of Primerica.
The law states an educational institution cannot "require or coerce an employee's attendance at any meeting at which qualified investment products are marketed."
Read more: http://www.news-journal.com/news/2015/nov/08/required-longview-isd-meeting-on-primerica-violate/
Longview ISD parents tell board superintendent should step down
Longview ISD parents, graduates and community stakeholders Monday night called for the resignation of part-time Superintendent James Wilcox and for the school board to begin a search for a full-time leader for the city's largest school district.
Parents also suggested school board members should be subject to term limits similar to those in place for the Longview City Council and said recent problems in the district, including a mid-semester classroom shakeup at Hudson PEP Elementary School and a loaded gun being brought onto campus at Longview High School, have been especially troubling.
Parent Jason Bates, who has organized a petition calling for the district to replace Wilcox, said many of the problems in the district "can be traced back to the person who isn't on staff — a full-time superintendent."
"We want a full-time superintendent," Bates told the school board Monday night. "Give the people who elected you what they ask for. You are the spokesmen for the community. Give us what we want or leave the board. You must all wake up to the issues you have fostered, take action and, I hope, prevent another ignorant glitch in the system. The next one might not be so easy to work through."
Read more: http://www.news-journal.com/news/2015/nov/09/longview-isd-parents-tell-board-wilcox-should-step/
