The Public Record

This is where the fight for accountability began. These meetings were not just routine public comment sessions. They became part of a larger story about whether ordinary people still have a real voice when speaking truth in public. What started here grew into a federal case about speech, transparency, and the rights of the people.

This meeting captures a turning point. I told the board that my microphone had been muted and that a government body should never silence public speech. Right after that, the board president publicly denied that speakers are ever muted and pointed people to the online record. This is where the fight became bigger than one meeting. It became about truth, accountability, and whether the public can trust what it is told.

In this meeting, the public was again told that no speaker had ever been muted. I then pointed people back to the September meeting and made the issue plain: the microphone worked before me and after me, just not while I was speaking. This is the point where the public record begins to collide with the denial.

This speech began a series based on the military values acronym LDRSHIP: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. In this meeting, I focused on Loyalty and what it means when a licensed professional is punished for doing the right thing. I described how my wife, a speech-language pathologist, was pressured by non-medical staff to alter student medical documentation, refused, and then faced retaliation after reporting it. I also raised concerns about district leadership protecting those accused of wrongdoing while those trying to protect students were left exposed. This speech was about integrity, accountability, and the message Comal ISD sends to future SLPs, especially minority professionals, who may one day have to choose between protecting students and protecting their own career.

This speech continued my series based on the military values acronym LDRSHIP: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. In this meeting, I focused on Duty and what it means to do your job even when the system turns against you for it. I spoke about how my wife, a speech-language pathologist, fulfilled her duty by reporting theft, harassment, threats to her job, retaliation, and pressure to alter medical documentation, all while carrying an overwhelming caseload. Instead of addressing those violations, district officials wrote her up for reporting them, while grievance files were later sealed from public view. This speech asked a basic but serious question: when someone does their duty and tells the truth, will Comal ISD protect them, or punish them for it?

This speech continued my LDRSHIP series by focusing on Respect, the duty to treat others as you would want to be treated. I spoke about how retaliation against my wife, a speech-language pathologist, did not stop with her. It spilled over onto disabled students, who were pushed out of their designated therapy space and forced to receive services in hallways, putting their accommodations, privacy, and educational protections at risk. I challenged the district to explain how that shows respect for students, families, or staff. This speech was about more than policy violations. It was about what happens when children become collateral damage in a system more focused on protecting itself than protecting those it serves.

In this meeting, I spoke on Integrity and what it means to do what is right and tell the truth when it matters most. I described how my son was seriously injured on school grounds, how district staff acknowledged there was video of the incident, and how repeated requests for that footage were delayed until I was finally told it had been deleted just before the retention window. I connected that incident to a larger pattern of denial, retaliation, false accusations, and efforts to protect the district’s image over students, families, and professionals. This speech was about a hard truth: when evidence of a child’s injury can disappear without accountability, integrity is no longer a value. It becomes a choice, and in Comal ISD, that choice too often seems optional.

In this meeting, I spoke on Honor and what it means to live by rules and principles even when others do not. I described how, despite threats against me, my wife, and my children, I chose restraint and trusted the system to do what was right. I warned that when institutions abuse power, excuse retaliation, and treat parents like enemies, they do more than harm one family. They damage public trust itself. This speech was about a simple principle: honor is not something a district claims in words. It is something it proves by following the law, respecting the public, and holding its own people accountable.

In this meeting, I spoke directly to the graduating class and to the broader community about what happens when values are tested in the real world. Students are often told to live with truth, integrity, and resilience, but I warned that doing the right thing can come with a cost. I shared how my wife spoke up for children with disabilities and was met with retaliation instead of support. This was a message about perseverance, courage, and the reality that protecting others sometimes means standing firm when the system fails.

In this meeting, I reflected on a month that held graduation, hardship, and an unexpected turning point. I congratulated the graduating class, acknowledged the serious accident involving Davenport senior Raithe Fox, and then spoke about being asked to testify in Austin on House Bill 3312, a bill focused on extending school video retention. I explained that my testimony was based in part on what happened in Comal ISD: video connected to my son’s injury was never produced before it was deleted, and video evidence also mattered when district staff threatened my family after misconduct was reported. This speech was about more than one district. It was about whether institutions protect the truth or protect themselves, and how what happens here can shape accountability across Texas.

In this meeting, I stepped back from local disputes and addressed a larger truth: Comal ISD’s budget struggles did not begin and end here. After reviewing legislation from the most recent Texas session, I argued that billions had been redirected away from public education through tax shifts, carve-outs, and private school funding schemes, leaving districts like this one to carry the damage. I used this speech not just to point at the problem, but to offer a response. I called for students to be taught how the Legislature really works, how to follow the money, and how to recognize when public promises do not match public policy. This speech was about turning frustration into understanding, and understanding into action.

In this meeting, I spoke on Personal Courage and what it means to do what is right even when the consequences are severe. I described how my wife, a speech-language pathologist, refused pressure to alter medical documentation and then faced retaliation for reporting what happened. She was pushed out of her office, left to provide services in hallways and public spaces, and forced to choose between quitting, enduring continued harassment, or transferring just to keep her grievance alive. I also raised the larger question of whether the district and the Board showed courage of their own once they were told that student rights, confidentiality, and required services had been affected. This speech was about the difference between expecting courage from individuals and showing it as an institution.

In this meeting, I closed out my LDRSHIP series by speaking on Selfless Service, the value of putting others before yourself and continuing to serve even when the cost is personal. I reflected on how that value shaped me first in the Army, then later as a father, husband, and advocate standing before this Board. I spoke about my wife’s service as a speech-language pathologist, the duty of this district to put students and parents first, and the need for accountability when services and rights are disrupted. This speech brought the full series together by showing that loyalty, duty, respect, honor, integrity, and personal courage all lead to one final question: will those in power choose to serve themselves, or the people they were entrusted to protect?​​

In this meeting, I spoke about the path that led me from standing at a local board podium to deciding to run for Governor of Texas. After a year of speaking on values, accountability, and public trust, I explained how researching more than a thousand bills showed me that the problems affecting families, schools, and communities do not stop at the district level. I spoke about building texanresilience.net so Texans could read laws in plain language, about being told certain stories would not be published, and about choosing to keep speaking anyway. This speech marked a turning point. It was about taking everything I had learned through this fight and turning it into a larger mission: to inform Texans, confront corruption, and fight for a freer future.

In this meeting, I asked the Board and the public to look for the truth inside the chaos. I recounted how my wife reported medical fraud, harassment, theft, retaliation, and violations affecting students, only to face retaliation and threats against our family. I spoke about sealed grievance files, the district’s response to my public speech, the federal First Amendment case that followed, and my effort to uncover how much public money was being spent to defend and conceal these actions. This speech was about character under pressure, public accountability, and what it means when a government entity uses its power not to protect the people, but to shield itself from them.

In this meeting, I spoke about what the chaos had revealed after months of silence, sealed records, and a growing federal First Amendment case. I explained that this is no longer just about one meeting or one muted microphone. It is about whether a government body can invite public comment, livestream it, and then make criticism inaudible while still claiming the public was allowed to hear it. I also raised the issue of sealed payment records for private lawyers defending that position with public funds. This speech was about a pattern: when the issue is uncomfortable, the record is hidden, the criticism is muted, and the public is left with the appearance of transparency instead of the real thing.