Huffman Independent School District
Huffman Independent School District is a public school district based in Huffman—an unincorporated area of northeastern Harris County, Texas (USA) within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area.
Huffman ISD serves a small portion of the city of Houston.[1]
In 2009, the school district was rated "recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.[2]
As of 2018[update] the district had 3,500 students.
On March 4, 2024 The Attorney General of The State of Texas Ken Paxton filed a Lawsuit against Huffman ISD and the Huffman ISD School Board members for allowing Huffman ISD Superintendent Dr. Benny Soileau to commit the crime of Electioneering on school grounds. The Attorney General's lawsuit papers were served to Board Members Amanda McGee, Kirk Vaughn, Ray Burt, Matt Dutton, Dean Warren, Jared Dagley, Jeremy Phillips, and Dr. Benny Soileau on March 7, 2024 at Huffman ISD attorney's Thompson & Horton office and filed in the Harris County Court system on April 2, 2024. The District Attorney of Harris County Kim Ogg picked up the Electioneering allegations against Dr. Benny Soileau on March 28, 2024 and opened a Criminal investigation. Electioneering in Texas is a Class A Misdemeanor and is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 dollar fine. [3]
Schools
[edit]Secondary schools:
- Hargrave High School
- Huffman Middle School
Primary schools:
- Huffman Elementary School
- Falcon Ridge Elementary School
- As of 2018[update] it had 748 students. It opened in 2018, was designed by Huckabee & Associates, and was built through contractor Paradigm Construction LLC, with the company Bond Program Management Services, used by Huffman ISD to manage its school bond programs, chose. The following Lawsuits Paradigm Construction vs Huffman ISD (Cause Number 2018-62696), Paradigm Construction vs Tom Trial, Individually and D/B/A Bond Program Management Services, Inc (Cause Number 2018-90553), Argonaut Insurance Company vs Huffman Independent School District (Cause Number 2019-02891) all came out of the construction of Falcon Ridge Elementary. The claims contained in the Lawsuits were:
- Huffman ISD entered into a contract with Tom Trial (BPMS) on June 28, 2016. The Contract the District created paid Tom Trial $150,000 up front when signing the Contract and then a percentage of the 2016 voter approved $44,100,1000 dollar Bond. That number came out to be $938,224.87.
- Tom Trial (BPMS) did not have a Federal or Texas State Tax ID number on June 28, 2016. That Tax ID number was not filed for until November 15, 2016.
- Texas Government Code 2269.053 and Texas Government Code 2254.027 require Project Manager’s in this capacity to have verifiable experience and qualifications. Tom Trial and his company BPMS could not have had any of those since the company was not even in existence until 5 months after signing the contract with Huffman ISD.
- On July 16, 2018 Huffman ISD began supplementing Paradigm Construction on the project without giving proper statutory notice per the contract with Paradigm Construction and the contract with Argonaut Insurance Company.
- On November 30, 2018 Huffman ISD & Tom Trial BPMS attempt to make a Performance Bond claim in the amount of $4,087,772.80. That claim was statutorily denied by Argonaut Insurance Company and then brought into the Harris County court system for a Declaratory Judgement. Huffman ISD never responded to the suit and it was dismissed on November 18, 2021.
- Huffman ISD settled the case Paradigm Construction vs Huffman ISD on January 7, 2020 and Paradigm Construction vs Tom Trial D/B/A Bond Performance Management Services, Inc on January 15, 2020 after writing Paradigm Construction checks totaling $6,039,618.07
Former schools:
- Huffman Intermediate School
- Copeland Elementary School
- Ben Bowen Early Childhood Center
References
[edit]- ^ Map of the Houston city limits. City of Houston. Retrieved on January 2, 2019.
- ^ "2009 Accountability Rating System". Texas Education Agency. Archived from the original on 2015-10-25.
- ^ a b Webb, Shelby (2018-12-28). "Huffman ISD and contractor spar over new school building". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
