The countdown is on for the final days of campaigning for the school board races in Humble ISD and Position 6 candidates shared their reasons for running and their goals for the district.
Here are their responses at the Humble Area Retired Teachers Association candidate forum held on April 18 at Humble High School.
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Marques A. Holmes (incumbent)
Incumbent Marques A. Holmes has worked in the technology field for most of his career and currently works at a digital infrastructure company, Equinix, according to his campaign website.
“Teachers are at the heart of why I’m doing this campaign,” he said. “Teachers really matter to me.”
POSITION 2: Meet the Humble ISD board candidates
He recalled examples of educators who positively affected his life, including a teacher at Albuquerque High School who encouraged him to attend the University of New Mexico.
Following a two-year stint at UNM, he transferred to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and graduated with an electrical engineering degree.
Holmes said his campaign is based on three things: “Keep it about the students, the teachers, and keep it about the community.”
“Teachers need to feel safe. Teachers can’t teach unless they feel safe. Parents don’t feel safe if their students, their children, their lineage, their heritage, is not feeling safe,” he told the crowd.
His top priority is security, which he said is the top agenda item on the superintendent’s evaluation.
“The number one budget item for being on the board is security. We’re going to continue to advance that agenda. We’re one of the first school districts in the country that do certain things and we’re going to continue that,” he said.
Audra Deaver
Audra Deaver is a small business co-owner and graduate of the University of Houston Clear Lake where she received a Bachelor of Science degree, according to her campaign website.
Deaver is a parent, married for 26 years with three children that have gone through the district. She has spent 18 years in the district. She has two 2017 graduates and one current graduate now.
“Within that six-to-seven-year timespan, I have seen declines in the district,” she said.
She focused on two main areas: academic rigor and declines in test scores.
Deaver said she was concerned about what she described as “Marxist ideology” being incorporated into curriculum.
“I have a problem with that. We need to focus on perseverance rather than victimization. That victim mentality is no good for anyone’s mental health,” she said.
Deaver listed what she felt were urgent issues in the district.
“The first one has everything to do with education in the classroom, we need to focus on the basics. Teachers need support inside those classrooms,” she said.
She also said a solution needed to be found on why teachers may be leaving the district.
“We also need to figure out how to bring back classroom discipline inside those classrooms so students can learn all the time inside the classroom, and teachers need to feel supported, whether that means support in the classroom or with safety,” she said.
Holly L. Ham
Holly is a corporate executive with 29 years of experience across multiple industries, multiple technologies and cultures. She was a presidential appointee by President Donald J. Trump.
“I served his entire four years in education, commerce, Housing and Urban Development, and I was the executive director for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,” she said.
Her family immigrated to America when she was seven years old.
“I’m Chinese and I was born in Vietnam. When we came to America, we settled in Pasadena, Texas, south of here,” she said.
She attended public schools and received her bachelor’s and master’s in business administration, both from the University of Houston. Her family move to Humble in 2021.
Ham served on the 2022 bond committee and graduated from the district’s Community Leadership Academy in the spring of 2022.
“We selected Humble ISD. This is why my family is here. However, we have challenges,” she said.
Ham said she’s running to bring her nearly three decades of business and public service leadership to address some of the district’s most complex issues.
“Those include teacher retention, curriculum rigor, and how do we address and ensure that our students are ready for the real-world post-graduation,” she said.
She also believes the board and administration need to provide more transparency and accountability.
Early voting ended on Tuesday. Election Day is Saturday, May 6. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For the most up-to-date information regarding voting locations, visit harrisvotes.com/Vote-Centers.
dtaylor@houstonchronicle.com
