Texas’ largest school district will open the 2013-2014 academic year on Monday with two new neighborhood school buildings, two new specialty magnet schools, and thousands of new students.
HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and members of the HISD Board of Education will visit with students, parents, teachers and principals at two campuses to personally welcome them to back to school on Monday, Aug. 26.
Less than two months have passed since the state-ordered annexation of North Forest into the Houston Independent School District took effect. Since then, HISD maintenance crews and educators have been preparing to welcome North Forest students back into neighborhood schools. At the same time, new principals that just recently assumed responsibility for the schools have been busy hiring and training teachers.
Dr. Grier, Board of Education Trustee Juliet Stipeche and others plan to visit Thurgood Marshall Elementary School (6200 Winfield) in North Forest at 8 a.m. to welcome students back to class. They will be joined by Misty White, Executive Director of Reliant Charitable Foundation, to distribute school supplies that the company donated to students in schools across HISD.
New STEM-Focused Magnet Schools
At 9 a.m. on Monday, Dr. Grier and Trustee Paula Harris will tour the Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan (2610 Elgin). The academy is one of two new magnet schools that HISD is opening on Monday that will emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) instruction. The new middle school will open with 250 sixth-grade students, and has a waiting list of about 400. Monday also marks the first day of school for the first class of freshmen at the new Energy Institute High School, the only energy industry-focused magnet high school in America.
New School Buildings
Construction crews are wrapping up the final projects that were funded through the voter-approved 2007 bond program. On Monday, students will attend classes inside the new Atherton and Dogan elementary schools. Next month, HISD will open Sherman Elementary School, the last of 23 new school buildings that were funded by the 2007 bond program. All of HISD’s newest schools are being built to Green Building standards. Click here to read more about the 2007 bond program.
PowerUp Learning
About 1,000 teachers at the first 11 pilot high schools participating in HISD’s PowerUp initiative are returning to class Monday with new laptops that will help make their teaching more engaging for today’s students. These teachers spent much of the summer being trained on how to best incorporate technology into their lessons, and in January, HISD will assign laptops to all students in the 11 pilot schools. Click here for more information on the PowerUp initiative.
First Day of School Visits
8 a.m. – Thurgood Marshall Elementary School (6200 Winfield Road)
9 a.m. – Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan (2610 Elgin)