Yearly Archives: 2014

HISD Board of Education to consider final redistricting plan

During its regular scheduled board meeting Thursday, the Houston Independent School District Board of Education will vote on new boundaries for HISD’s nine trustee districts. The boundaries, which are used to elect the trustees, must be redrawn as a result of the annexation of North Forest ISD in 2013.

During the June meeting, the board approved a draft redistricting plan. The item up for vote includes public input and complies with federal election law mandating that population be distributed evenly throughout the entire school district.

In addition, the board will receive status updates on a number of projects and vote on several programs, contracts, and grants. For a full copy of the board meeting agenda, click here. The board meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center (4400 West 18th Street.) It will be carried live on HISD’s website and on the HISD Channel, which can be found on Comcast Channel 18 or AT&T U-verse Channel 99.

Trustee Wanda Adams hosts teen health summit

A teen health summit featuring health screenings, games, music, prizes and more will be held at Worthing High School, 9215 Scott St., from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16.

Houston ISD District IX Trustee Wanda Adams is hosting the “All the Way Live” summit. It’s part of the We Can Do More initiative, which aims to reduce teen pregnancy throughout Houston by providing information, resources, skills, and opportunities.

We Can Do More is led by The University of Texas Prevention Research Center at UTHealth in partnership with Houston ISD, Baylor College of Medicine, Communities in Schools – Houston, Collaborative for Children and families in the Sunnyside neighborhood. To learn more, visit http://www.wecandomore.org.

The art of engaging parents through ‘old-fashioned, grass-roots organizing’

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More than 500 teachers and principals from 30 HISD campuses are learning how to get greater numbers of parents involved in their children’s education this year during a series of two-day trainings being offered by the district’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) department.

The topic of the training is the district’s Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT), whose expansion from the nine pilot schools was approved by the Board of Education earlier this year. The mission of those teams is even more critical now, with the district’s focus on Literacy By 3. Continue reading →

NCAA donates 4,000 backpacks for third-graders

Third-graders at 40 Houston ISD elementary schools will start off the new school year with brand new backpacks and school supplies, thanks to a generous donation from the NCAA.

Volunteers from Target spent Tuesday getting everything ready, and then on Wednesday volunteers from the beneficiary schools stuffed the backpacks full of notebooks, pencils, glue sticks and more.

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The elementary schools that will receive the backpacks include: Continue reading →

Countdown to 2014-2015: What’s new in HISD #8 — Cybersafety website unveiled as part of PowerUp expansion

This is the third in a series of stories counting down to the start of school, spotlighting what is new in HISD in the coming year.

As 21 more HISD high schools gear up to become part of the PowerUp one-to-one laptop initiative in the 2014-2015 school year, HISD has unveiled a powerful new companion — an all-encompassing cybersafety website to make sure students’ cybercitizenship matches their technological knowledge.

Developed for use by students, parents, and educators at all grade levels, the new site offers updated and user-friendly information about safe and sensible use of the Internet and social media. The site, which includes content from Common Sense Media, features resource links, tip sheets, videos, learning resources, parent information, and a model media agreement for families to use to set down guidelines for use of cell phones, tablets, laptops, and gaming devices. Continue reading →

Self-assessment identifies strengths, weaknesses in HISD’s community engagement efforts

Analysis of district’s effectiveness at communicating with stakeholders is part of new HB5 requirement

One of the requirements House Bill 5 now makes of public school districts is an annual assessment of their efforts to reach out to parents, students, employees, faith-based leaders, corporate partners, taxpayers, and any other group of community stakeholders who might have an interest in their students’ success.

Continue reading →

HISD celebrates AP ‘Ramp Up’ by honoring those who teach advanced courses

More than 500 Advanced Placement (AP) teachers shouted ‘I AM AP’ at HISD’s inaugural AP Ramp Up Celebration, which recognized AP teachers for helping students get a head start on college.

“This is not just about the kids who are able to go to college, but those who get to college and are so much more prepared because they already have college credits through our AP program,” said Carolyn Klein, who teaches AP environmental science at Westside High School.

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The program was held at Westbury High School, which the district recently announced will be its first school to focus heavily on AP curriculum. The decision comes after the school community recently expressed a desire to raise student academic expectations as the school welcomes a new principal on board. Students in all grade levels will be urged to enroll in at least one pre-AP or AP course. Students who receive a 3 or higher on AP course exams are eligible to receive college credit. Continue reading →

Countdown to 2014-2015: What’s new in HISD #9 — Lunch is free at 169 campuses

This is the second in a series of stories counting down to the start of school, spotlighting what is new in HISD in the coming year. For online Nutrition Services, including information about school meal benefits, managing your child’s cafeteria account, menus, nutritional information, healthy recipes and the latest news, go to www.HoustonISD.org/NutritionServices.

Expansion of a federal pilot program is enabling Houston ISD to offer free lunches to students at 169 campuses in the 2014-2015 school year, regardless of family income — no applications required. Continue reading →

‘Workshop Wednesday’ event offers strategies for local businesses

HISD’s Business Assistance Supplier Diversity team joined Jamail and Smith Construction recently to help 20  local business professionals pitch their products and services during August’s Workshop Wednesday event.

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