CROSBY – At the Tuesday meeting of the Crosby ISD Board of Trustees Dr. Keith Moore, former Superintendent of Crosby ISD, came to speak at the Public Hearing portion of the school board meeting to explain what had happened during his tenure.
Dr. Moore was banned from showing up on Crosby ISD property but the Crosby ISD Bus facility now converted to an Executive Office that once was HEB is on records as being a grant of HEB, not Crosby ISD property, to reveal another even older administration’s secret.
The board afforded Moore three minutes to give his about 7 minute address. Then they called time and went on to discover that the Technology Maintenance Fee (computers to a maximum of $40) to students was not allowed by law and the school would have to make their best efforts to reimburse parents for 2016 and 2017 charges. The Board also approved moving forward with implementing new accounting measures, hopefully the origin of oversight.
While the Board was in Executive Session Moore read his 7 minute speech and then he consented to answer questions for about 20 more minutes to an angry and disappointed, near capacity audience in the meeting room.
Dr. Moore began with heavy emotion, saying, “Things happened that I did not mean to. I love this place.”
He pointed to building the new high school, the football stadium updates and the new baseball complex as the source of the cost overruns, and change orders that made the challenges to the accounting. He was challenged repeatedly for his accounting practices.
“Do you want to do less facilities or do you want to do as many as we can good, and my philosophy was to stop when we could not do anymore.” he answered a preemptive question before he had read the rest of his speech.
“I know I didn’t do anything wrong intentionally. I was just trying to live and work. You have my sincere apologies. I don’t blame you for being angry at me. I can honestly go to my grave knowing, I did not lie. I did not try to hide anything wrong. I did not try to defraud, but I did a very bad job.”
A more complete report on this interaction with the public will have to come in next week’s issue.