IC ISD Special Meeting March 5 2026 Nikki Moore Leaving
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Agenda Analysis | Meeting Review | Meeting Documents | Commentary | Last Meeting
A. Agenda Analysis
Approve Supt. search firm, item 3. These searches are intensive and require more resources than a typical board can dedicate on its own. Options for outside assistance are typically either Region 15 or TASB. In terms of track record of those two, TASB brought in former Supt. Ray DeSpain, and Region 15 brought in Supt. Moore. My bet, then, will be on Region 15.
Closed session, personnel, item 4: The Board gets a lot of latitude in closed sessions to discuss the transition and hiring. So, the vast majority of the deliberative process on all this will be done behind closed doors.
Read my Commentary below for my impressions on her leaving and what the future looks like.
B. Meeting Review
(Pending)
C. Commentary
The "Why" part of "She is leaving?!": I didn't see Supt. Moore's departure coming, though I should have. Go here, at C 1, whereI recently heaped praise on her and expressed my relief that she would be present beyond the expenditure of the 2024 bonds.
Supt. Moore reached out to me within hours of posting the letter at the top of this page, and she invited me to meet with her to discuss. We met the following morning, Feb. 26, in her office and had a frank discussion. (I do a monthly open records requests, and our practice has been to meet in person for me to deliver that and to address bond construction. We have a functioning cooperative relationship, which was most definitely not the type of relationship I had with the prior superintendent.)
Several things came out of our meeting. The opportunity for her at Merkel and the decision to go there came up quickly, even faster than she had planned. She is not leaving as a result of Board displeasure in her. (I think the Board is quite sorry she is leaving.) Rather, she is leaving to be closer to her new husband who works in the area.
I did not discuss with her the perks of going to a larger school and whether a better financial package was part of her decision. I assumed it was, and left all of that out of our discussion. The financial reality for all public employees is that they have to maximize earnings to get the best retirement package down the road. The economic reality of this is that, as a wealthy district under the school finance system, IC ISD is a nice stepping stone for a superintendent to a more lucrative retirement.
The larger part of our discussion was about how not to waste our mutual efforts at improved community relations. She and I have accomplished a lot, and neither of us want to dismiss that upon her leaving. (A blog like Government in the Sun in a county with a population of less than 2,000 makes its own gravy, or sweet and sour sauce or even vinegar, depending on one's perspective and taste buds. It suits me well, because I'm not particularly interested in reviews, and Supt. Moore knows this.)
The immediate future: Based on my discussions with her, I am hopeful that the search effort and new hire process moves fast. Apparently all of the ordering and design work is done on the bond construction, so now the reality is execution. But, I don't care who the contractor is, a contractor that knows the principal is distracted will tend toward cutting corners to maximize profits. The District cannot allow Gallagher for one moment to think it has more important things than the construction to tend to.
Long term future: I'm hopeful for long term stability given this particular board, even with the board election coming up. President Maegin Carlile has done a great job managing Supt. Moore and the Board as well. The Board has weathered some disagreement in the past year, and that's a sign of a healthy board. I'm more worried about the kooky things coming down from the Governor, Texas legislature, TEA, the Dept. of Education and the U.S. Supreme Court than I am about the functioning capacity of this particular board. "Local control" is a misnomer, and managing outside forces is really challenging.
Another challenge: financing all this and staying calm when the tax base expands yet again. The Eiger pipeline, the pipeline following the already existing Matterhorn pipeline, will be completed in 2028. That pipeline will add a tax base of an additional 3.7 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas per day traveling through Irion County. (The Matterhorn is 2.5 billion cubic feet per day.) That's yet another shot in the arm for the District. It will make it very attractive, once again, for a new superintendent to promote another bond package for capital improvements. Beware what you dream for, folks. "Rolling" bonds are dangerous things, particularly during this AI revolution. We are as close as one AI mega donor to a sycophantic governor's campaign account away from replacing living, breathing teachers with AI robots managed by TEA. This is about the almighty dollar, not about party affiliation or the children of Texas. The Board is going to need to be disciplined with the next superintendent to not allow that person to propose yet more debt just because the tax base is flush with new revenue. Now is the time to pay down debt as rapidly as possible, and the current Board and Supt. Moore appear to understand that.
New Readers: I'll fill in my "Meeting Review" above a day or two after the meeting. Candidates for superintendent: I caution against using this blog as a bellwether for anything. At times I am the District's harshest critic, while simultaneously being an unabashed proponent of public education. I am, however, the only community member that regularly attends board meetings, so I suppose that counts for something.
Copyright 2026 G. Noelke
