Bio
Rebecca Tribo is a long-standing Humble ISD resident who attended grades Kindergarten through twelve in our district. She and her husband, Matthew, love spending time with their three children, Harvey (10), Dorothy (6), and Bernard (4). Their family enjoys being active, playing twenty questions, the culinary arts, and spending time with their dog, Ravioli, and cat, Gnocchi. Rebecca is an involved community member, serving on several boards in the greater Lake Houston area. She is excited at the chance to run for the Humble ISD Board of Trustees to represent everyone who lives in the district she calls home.
Q & A
What inspired you to run for Board Trustee? On that note, what are you hoping to accomplish if elected to the Board of Trustees?
As a lifelong resident of Humble ISD, I have a passion for this community and the people who live here. I decided to run for the Board of Trustees to give a voice to everyone in our district. I understand that holding a position on a board does not give me executive powers, and that six other positions will meet my ideas with their own. That being said, I believe I bring a new perspective to our board that could expand its horizons. I have served on the boards of several organizations, and I truly enjoy hearing other perspectives to find common ground and solutions to problems. My longevity in this community has provided opportunities for connection, both personal and professional, throughout every corner of our district. Humble ISD is a diverse district with a broad range of backgrounds and resources, and I believe being available to hear the needs of everyone is paramount. I am hoping to encourage an environment in our district where everyone feels like a valued member of our mission.
How will you advocate for teachers and staff within Humble ISD? In your opinion, what is important to the teachers and staff within Humble ISD?
I spend many of my days listening to and learning from our educators, administrators, faculty, and students. The time I spend, both at my job and volunteering, has afforded me the priceless knowledge of many aspects of running our schools. I know our current situation finds many employees worried about new issues, including safety, job flexibility (regarding new forms of learning), and support from our Board of Trustees. We are here because we care about our children getting the best education possible, but we all know that is not possible without our educators, administrators, and faculty. Listening to their point-of-view, concerns, and desires for our schools is the most important part of my candidacy for this position.
Tell us your thoughts on how Humble ISD has handled virtual learning, and ideas for virtual learning going forward?
As a parent of two children old enough to be in Humble ISD schools, I have been impressed with the implementation. I am acutely aware that each family’s perspective is going to be different based on their situation. If our family did not have the flexibility we do, virtual learning would be much harder. If one of our children had a diagnosed learning disability, it would be impossible to provide them with the resources they need. I completely support that some children need to be in school (for a plethora of reasons). I also understand that some children have taken to this new way of learning. We stand at a new dawn of education and have an unparalleled opportunity to create a personalized education for each child in our district. I support the idea of a Virtual Academy in Humble ISD, as some children enjoy the freedom of virtual learning, while others thrive while learning in person around peers. All of our children in this district have immensely diverse needs, and I know we are capable of rising to the occasion using critical thinking and innovation.
Other than virtual learning, tell us your thoughts about Humble ISD and the handling of COVID-19, both for teachers and students.
I want to start this response by recognizing how hard it has been for any entity to make regulations regarding COVID over the past year. When dealing with something so unknown, it can seem impossible to keep up with ever-evolving information and data. I truly believe that everyone working in schools is doing everything they can to keep all who enter safe. I am often impressed when I hear reports of how hard our school nurses and custodians are working to ensure sanitary conditions for our students. From what I have observed at a professional, personal and parental level, it seems the best way to mitigate spread of illness is to create effective safety standards and ensure they are being followed. I know the protocols for “(close) contacts”, mask-wearing, and quarantining have looked a little different from school-to-school, but I believe setting district-wide standards that are effective and realistic is the best way to keep our community well.
As you look at Humble ISD, are there areas where funds are overspent? What areas would you look at to reduce expenses?
Our district has incurred unprecedented expenses over the past four years including a hurricane, a tropical storm, and now a pandemic. These catastrophic events have created monetary needs for: immediate repairs; reallocating students, teachers, and faculty, as well as transportation; extensive PPE, additional technology resources, and professional development for the ever-changing landscape of education. My hope is that we can organize our finances in a way that responsibly allocates funds for new necessities while continuing to meet our long-term needs.
During several Board meetings, students and parents have brought up topics around diversity and inclusion. What can Humble ISD do to ensure it is welcoming to students of all backgrounds?
The discussion surrounding diversity and inclusion becomes more in-depth every day, and, for me, now is a good time to listen to those who have not traditionally had the chance to share their experiences. Understanding different lives begins with hearing different perspectives. I believe that representation truly matters, and will help promote inclusion for our diverse student body. Students from every walk of life should see themselves in our faculty, teachers, and administrators. All students deserve to have books in our libraries that tell their stories. As a district, we can provide education that best suits a child’s aptitude and abilities, including preparation for life beyond high school. I earnestly believe that our community has the capability of making every child feel seen, heard, and valued.
Humble ISD has several Title I campuses. How do we ensure that those campuses have the resources needed?
I have been impressed, and very proud, of Humble ISD’s commitment to nutrition assistance to the under-resourced areas of our community over the past several years facing natural disasters and pandemic. I understand Title I campuses face unique challenges, both for parents and educators that create needs from many angles. One area that could use direct assistance are the libraries in these schools. Much of our libraries’ funding comes from book fair sales, and some of these schools do not receive a fraction of the income as compared to other schools. Many of these libraries’ books have outdated non-fiction sections, including technology and biographies. When our children walk into libraries, they have a unique opportunity to personalize their learning for the next week. I believe it is important to provide our students with up-to-date learning in every school, and I am hopeful we can create a solution by listening to our educators in Title I schools.
Closing thoughts? Anything you would like to add that we didn’t ask? What can people do (or where can they go) to learn more about you?
I would like to thank the organizers of this questionnaire for reaching out. My hope is that the passion I have for our district has shone through my answers. It has been a privilege to take the time to address these important questions, however these are complex issues that I would like to devote more time to speaking about. This is why I have launched my TEN (Ten Every Night1) Initiative on my website, www.rebeccatribo.com. If you would like to ask me additional questions, share what you love about our district, or where you think we could improve, I would love to hear from you. On my site’s main page, there is a link to arrange a time for us to speak between now and Election Day, May 1st. Thank you again for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.
All the content above was provided by the candidate and is not necessarily the opinion of the administrators of Humble ISD Parents. Other than formatting, we have not made any edits.
Not every time is during the evening. There is a range of times to hopefully work with everyone’s schedule accordingly.
Candidate Profile: Rebecca Tribo
She really didn’t answer the question about HISD handling of COVID-19. Would she have supported keeping in-person learning unavailable for students longer than HISD actually did?