When Dallas College Board District 1 Trustee Sonny Williams died unexpectedly last year, Lynn Davenport decided to run for election to fill the vacant seat.
“Because he died, they had to appoint someone to his position until the 2022 election, and it forced an earlier election,” Davenport told The Dallas Express. “He still had two years left on his six-year term.”
If the mother of three children wins on Election Day on May 7, Davenport will serve the remainder of the late Williams’ term until it ends in May 2024.
“I probably wouldn’t have an agenda to change many policies,” she said. “I think there are good policies in place that are not being followed much. I would bring up the conflict-of-interest policy at a meeting, and I would try to get another trustee to put it up for discussion on the agenda with me.”
Davenport alleges that the board’s conflict of interest policy is not enforced among current members.
“They’ve got a board trustee, Phil Ritter, who’s running for a District 2 seat and who works with Greenlight Credentials,” she said. “Greenlight Credentials did a massive deal with Dallas College, with Region 10 Education Service Center in Richardson, and with Dallas ISD. This was to do digital credentials and to do their transcripts on blockchain. It wasn’t revealed that Phil Ritter worked for Greenlight until after the fact.”
GreenLight is the world’s largest academic record blockchain platform, according to a Dallas ISD statement online. On its website, Ritter is listed as Greenlight Credentials’ senior vice president of health records.
“A trustee told me Phil Ritter recused himself on something else and that she didn’t realize he worked for them until that moment,” Davenport added. “It was a no-bid contract with no competitive bidding.”
Ritter, an incumbent trustee, told The Dallas Express that Davenport is running a smear campaign against him based on deceit and misinformation.
“Rather than offering a positive agenda and engaging her opponents in District 1 (I am running in District 2), Lynn Davenport is attacking my good character with no basis,” he wrote. “This should cause voters in District 1 to question her fitness for office. Lynn Davenport’s ‘facts’ are wrong, and she clearly does not understand the law governing these matters.”
Ritter added that Dallas College had a business relationship with GreenLight long before his employment there.
“When I joined GreenLight, I disclosed my relationship with the company to the Dallas College Chancellor, General Counsel, and fellow board members,” Ritter said. “As required by law, I have recused myself from board discussions and voting on any matter related to GreenLight. All this is a matter of public record. These assertions by Lynn Davenport of impropriety on my part are patently false.”
Davenport is one of three candidates campaigning for election to the District 1 seat. The other two candidates include incumbent Gretchen Minyard Williams, and Dr. Catalina Garcia, a medical doctor.
Garcia also expressed a desire for board members to be transparent about conflicts and potential conflicts of interest.
“If an administrator or faculty member is proposing a resolution to the Board of Trustees, these individuals must disclose their personal interests in the proposed policy,” she told The Dallas Express. “Written policies must be revised to incorporate these protections.”
Williams, the widow of Sonny Williams, was appointed to fill her husband’s seat until election day.
“They interviewed people who were far more qualified, but they put Gretchen Minyard Williams in there because they knew she would continue to rubber-stamp along with the other trustees,” Davenport alleged.
Williams, who attended classes at Richland College, is known for being a minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks. She was also co-chair of a supermarket chain in Carrollton called Minyard Food Stores and has worked in real estate.
“I bring a business-minded approach to the Dallas College Board of Trustees,” she said. “I’ve been involved with the college since my husband was first elected to the board in 2006. My motivation and commitment for serving in this role is a deep, profound belief that Dallas College is critical to the economic vitality of Dallas County.”
If elected, Williams said she will continue to advocate for more scholarships, student support, and upskilling programs so that students are empowered to achieve their educational goals and secure high-paying jobs.
“These kinds of opportunities and offerings will also help us bring students back to Dallas College as we look to a future past the pandemic,” Williams said in an interview. “I will work with the Board to expand our student services, access to childcare, mental health services, and add more 4-year degree opportunities.”
The Dallas College Board of Trustees oversees the Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake, and Richland campuses in Dallas County.
“I would like to know why more black students aren’t enrolled at Dallas College and to figure out what programs they want and why we don’t offer those programs,” said Davenport.
Data obtained from the communications department of Dallas College shows that, as of Spring 2022, the student population is 47.72% hispanic, 21.55% black, 16.42% white, 8.31% Asian, and 6% other races.
The board is already trying to increase enrollment among minority men, according to Williams.
“We provide support for initiatives such as the Male Achievement Program, which is an academic success and mentoring program geared towards men of color,” she said. “Programs like this can help ensure students have the support needed to be successful.”
Garcia has several items in mind to investigate if she is elected.
For example, the retired physician alleges a high number of classes have been dropped, making it more difficult for students to obtain their associate degree in two years.
“Curriculum has been reduced to accommodate lower skills, such as decreasing assignments to make less work for the student and, since the formation of Dallas College, a high number of tenured and experienced professors have been terminated, only to be replaced by young, inexperienced, part-time or adjunct professors,” Garcia said in an interview.
But Williams counters the allegation with claims that consolidation in 2020 has resolved those issues and that faculty turnover has been relatively flat the past several years.
“Before Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) was consolidated into Dallas College, it was difficult in some situations for students to get the classes they needed to graduate in a timely manner,” Williams told The Dallas Express. “The consolidation now provides a comprehensive view of course scheduling rather than being done in isolation at individual campuses. The amazing faculty and staff go above and beyond to prepare students to transfer to a university or enter the workforce.”
As a doctor, Garcia says she was trained to pay close attention to details to find solutions to problems, and she plans to apply those attributes to being a trustee on the Dallas College board.
“Too many times, people try to take short-cuts, and they take action that actually creates more problems and does not address the problem at hand,” she said. “I know what to do, and I know when to seek additional knowledge to get the job done.”
Garcia has served on many boards, including the Texas State Medical Examiners and Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART).
“I bring much serious board experience to this position,” she said.
As reported in Advocate magazine, Davenport was a global IT service recruiting manager with Arthur Andersen and volunteered as a career coach for unemployed people for 11 years. She was a commissioner for the City of Dallas Community Development Commission from 2015 to 2017.
“I had to step down when I filed to run for a seat on the Richardson ISD school board,” Davenport said in an interview. “They have a rule with the city where you can’t serve on a commission when running, but you can run for mayor or county judge if you are on the Dallas ISD school board.”
The Dallas College Board of Trustees election is slated for May 7.
Note: This article was updated on April 1 at 10:07 a.m. to include additional comments.