Covey says he looks forward to serving Cy-Fair ISD again

Bob Covey

The Cy-Fair ISD Board of Trustees vice president was re-elected last night by a 51.7 percent margin. We asked him about his plans for his next term.

Where were you when you found out you won your race?

I was actually with my family, and we had just had dinner, and it was announced that Channel 26 had called the race and said that I had won my race along with the other two incumbents.... I have three sons. Two of them live here, and they're married. And I had two of my grandkids, who are three years old and one year old, and then my wife and I. We were all together having dinner. It was a late dinner, because we didn't get to the polls until late.

Why do you think you were re-elected?

Well, probably my overall feeling is, I think the Cy-Fair community realizes that we have some tough roads ahead of us, and I think they were more interested in having experienced people in here working on it at that point in time.

What do you think are the most important personal qualities you bring to this position?

I feel like I give it a total perspective, because I have a degree in education—I'd actually taught school for a couple of years—I have been in business for 35 years, I have volunteered for over 20 years in the school district, my wife was a 28-year schoolteacher before she retired. I am the father of three Cy-Fair graduates, as well as, now, the grandfather of three future possible Cy-Fair graduates, and so with all of that encompassing I feel like I can look at it with an overall perspective.

What are the most important things voters should know about you if they want to work with you?

Well, they should know that I try to go into every decision based on what I think is the best thing for all children. They should know that I also try to go in with an open mind. I try not to have pre-defined ideas of what I think needs to happen. I need to listen with an open mind, and I'm always open to people and to what their beliefs and their thoughts are. 

What would you say is your number-one priority going forward?

Well, I think there's probably two or three that basically are tied, but of course, with the way the finance package is and how the state funds education, especially in Cy-Fair, I think that's gonna be one of the most important things, with our ability to work with the legislatures, and getting our information out there. In addition to that, it's always gonna be the education of the students and offering them the best education that they can possibly get, retaining our excellence in education in Cy-Fair.

What accomplishments are you most proud of from your previous work on the board?

Well, I'm always proud that we're able to balance the budget. I'm proud that we get to vote on a balanced budget, I guess is one of the things. I'm an alumni of Texas State, and I've been able to pull Texas State and Cy-Fair together, Texas State being one of the premier universities for teaching degrees. I've been able to bring them more into our Cy-Fair family and work with student-teachers, bringing them back home to do their student-teaching, and I'm very proud of that. I'm real proud of the new innovative programs that we have seen the district come up with. They're doing everything that they can to retain students and to have them reach completion. I'm very proud of the fact that the Cy-Fair district is number four in the nation for big districts for our completion rate, which I think is a phenomenal achievement, especially when you look at the diversity in our district. I'm extremely proud of a recent report that Senator [Dan] Patrick sent out, stating that the Education Research Group had said that Cy-Fair is in the top one percent of 1,040 districts for efficiency and effectiveness. I think that is another thing that we didn't ask for. It's been reported based on our scores and based on our finances and based on our costs, everything put together.

What have you learned in your board experience so far that will help you in your next term?

Everything is a learning situation for me, and I think it is for any board member. It's taking what we have learned and experienced and making an application of what we can find that is going to work in the future. I can't pinpoint any one specific thing. I will say that as far as I'm concerned, it's highly important for a school board member to be educated and to be informed. We are given every opportunity to learn about our district and then to make those decisions based on that information.

How would you like to approach your position differently in the coming term?

Again, it's a learning situation, and it's taking what I've learned and applying it to the future. I would say that working with the legislature has become an easier task, because I feel like I personally know some of the legislators, and that way it feels like it's a little bit easier task in talking with them and working with them and gaining information from them about what we may be seeing in the future.