Help HISD get dropouts back in school by volunteering for the 2013 Grads Within Reach walk.
This year’s event will be held at 24 high schools from 8 a.m. to noon on Sat., Sept. 7, 2013. Volunteers will be placed in teams and fan out across the city, based on the school to which they are assigned, and visit the last known address of students who dropped out or didn’t show up for the first weeks of school.
Hundreds of multilingual and bilingual educators gathered on Aug. 21 at Hartman Middle School for pre-service training that provided content-specific teachers and specialists with information regarding research-based instruction, best practices, classroom resources, and technology integration.
“It’s important for these teachers get together as a community, share with one another, and have a common goal and purpose,” said Dr. Higinia Torres-Rimbau, director of Bilingual/Dual Language Education at the University of St. Thomas. She was on hand to provide HISD teachers with insight into bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism. The common goal this year is to ensure that all of HISD’s 61,000 English language learners are successful, both academically and linguistically.
The days before school starts can be overwhelming for parents, so we’ve compiled the top 10 things they need to know before classes begin.
Parents of Houston Independent School District students in the North Forest community are invited to participate in a tele-town hall meeting Thursday night.
This is HISD’s second tele-town hall meeting to provide North Forest parents an opportunity to ask questions of top HISD officials before the first day of school on Aug. 26.
Graduation day may have come about 17 years later than she originally intended, but come it finally did for Samiya Savannah and more than 430 other HISD students on Sat., Aug. 17.
Each August, the Houston Independent School District hosts a summer graduation ceremony for students who have completed their coursework and passed any state testing requirements over the summer months, and this year, Savannah was among them.
The freshly minted Sharpstown High School alumna, who just turned 36, was originally slated to graduate in 1996 but did not complete the TAAS/TAKS exit-level requirements until this year.
Ceremony will mark new building constructed under 2007 bond program
What: Lockhart Elementary will dedicate its new 750-student school, built under the 2007 bond program. Events will include student performances, special guest speakers and classroom tours of the new facility.
Who: HISD Board of Education Trustee Paula Harris, Lockhart Principal Felicia Adams, and Rev. William Lawson of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church
When: Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013 at 9 a.m.
Where: Lockhart Elementary School, 3200 Rosedale St., Houston, Texas 77004
The first day of the school is only days away, and HISD’s Transportation Department is doing everything possible to ensure a safe and successful school year.
All parents should receive a postcard in the mail and at least two telephone calls before school starts with their children’s bus-route information, but a customer call center has also been set up to answer questions. Parents can call 713-613-3040 between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. starting Thurs., Aug. 22, for assistance with transportation-related issues. The call center will remain open for at least 30 days.
For HISD school bus safety tips, watch this HISD informational video.
More Transportation Updates:
• There are 889 bus routes this year, a 5 percent increase over last year
• Some 60 new drivers are coming onboard this year
• Safety trainers were schooled in bus inspections, precision-driving techniques, parking, and correct mirror usage so that they could train drivers
• Bus drivers and attendants partnered with the Houston Fire Department for bus evacuation and rescue training and received instruction on treating smoke inhalation and burns
• All 1,001 buses in the HISD fleet will have been inspected and bus cameras, GPS units, and newly activated silent alarms have been checked
Teachers at Austin HS received their laptops on Aug. 13
After 33 years with the district, 65-year-old HISD Secondary Curriculum Manager Angela Miller had every intention of retiring at the end of the 2013 school year. That was until she was tapped this past spring to serve on a committee charged with implementing the district’s PowerUp initiative.
“This program is so exciting in terms of what it’s going to do for students and teachers that I knew I couldn’t leave,” said Miller. “I had to stick around and be a part of this.”
Do you want to transfer your child from one school to another? Now is the time, and the HISD Office of School Choice is ready to help you.
The Texas Department of State Health Services issued a measles alert after more than a dozen cases were reported throughout the state.
As of Aug. 16, one case of measles had been reported in Harris County. Dallas and Denton counties have each reported two cases of measles, and nine cases have been reported in Tarrant County. There were no cases of measles in Texas in 2012.