Yearly Archives: 2014

Get HISD weather plans here and @HoustonISD on Twitter

HISD families and employees are urged to stay connected through social media – such as @HoustonISD on Twitter – to check whether another round of wintry weather forcecast for the Houston area will impact schools, district facilities, and afterschool activities on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for all of southeast Texas from 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday. The forecast shows the potential for precipitation, including snow and freezing rain, that could lead to dangerous driving conditions.

The wintry weather is expected to arrive just a few days after freezing rain and icy conditions forced HISD and school districts across the area to cancel school last Friday.

Please continue to follow this website, your school’s websites or our Twitter account @HoustonISD and Facebook page at Houston Independent School District for the very latest information about HISD’s plans. We’ll also call parents and update the Inclement Weather Hotline, which you can reach at 713-267-1704, if the district cancels classes.

All HISD schools and offices closed due to inclement weather

Classes to resume on Monday

UPDATE: 1/24 @ 1:04 p.m.: 

With dangerous road conditions still present across the Houston area, HISD has decided to cancel all districtwide athletic and academic events scheduled this afternoon and this evening, including the wrestling and debate tournaments. Also canceled are all soccer and basketball games. For information on the status of school-based events, please contact the individual school for updates. Currently, all athletic and academic events scheduled for Saturday are anticipated to take place. The debate tournament, however, will be rescheduled to a later date.

 

The Houston Independent School District has canceled all classes today — Friday, Jan. 24 — as a result of this morning’s inclement weather and the related potential for dangerous road conditions.

HISD officials have been closely monitoring the weather for the past 48 hours and have determined that icy road conditions in some parts of the Houston area may make for dangerous driving. As a result, all HISD schools and district administrative offices are closed for the day. Parents, students and staff are being notified by phone.

With temperatures forecast to rise throughout Friday and into the weekend, no schedule changes are expected for district athletic events on Friday afternoon or evening. No interruption to academic events scheduled for Saturday is anticipated.

Classes will resume as usual on Monday, Jan. 27.

HISD will make up the day on either April 18 or Memorial Day (May 26).

For additional updates, please visit www.houstonisd.org, call the HISD Inclement Weather Hotline at 713-267-1704, or follow the district on Twitter and Facebook: twitter.com/houstonisd (handle: @houstonisd) and facebook.com/houstonisd.

Contractor event offers opportunity to network on Worthing HS building project

More than 70 subcontractors were encouraged to bid now for construction work for a new building addition at Worthing High School during a meet and greet Wednesday with the school’s construction managers.

“The people here today are very interested in the 2012 bond,” said HISD supplier diversity specialist Vanessa McGinnis. “We’re giving local subcontractors and minority- and women-owned businesses an opportunity to talk one-on-one with the construction manager at risk for this project, so they can learn how their business and services may be used for this project.”

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Students share their vision of the Bayou City in ‘Eye on Houston’ exhibit

This photo, taken by Bellaire High School student Maggie Dib and entitled “Limitless,” is one of dozens captured by students from three HISD campuses that will be in the Eye on Houston display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, through April 20. (Image courtesy MFAH)

For almost two decades, students at HISD’s Jack Yates High School have been chronicling the rhythm of life in Houston’s historic Third Ward.

Under the leadership of photography teacher Ray Carrington III, teens learned the basics of photography, film development, and print-making, then used their developing artistic eye to record interesting images of their neighborhood.

The photographs were displayed each year in an exhibit called “Eye on Third Ward” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston—and now, that program has expanded to include the work of students from two other campuses: Bellaire and Chávez high schools.

Now known as “Eye on Houston,” the exhibit opened on Jan. 11 in the museum’s Audrey Jones Beck Building (5601 Main St.). It will stay there through April 20.

Decisions, decisions: School Choice Week celebrates variety

Kolter ES students are excited about School Choice Week!

The fourth annual National School Choice Week (NSCW) kicks off its Whistle-Stop Tour across the nation in Houston at 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, at Union Station at Minute Maid Park, 501 Crawford St. The event provides an opportunity to learn more about HISD’s School Choice program and the portfolio of educational programs offered by the district’s many magnet and vanguard, International Baccalaureate, Montessori, and early college high schools, Futures academies, and charter schools. Despite the December deadline for first-round consideration for magnet applications, there are still many openings in great schools across the district.

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Follow HISD weather plans here and @HoustonISD on Twitter

UPDATE 1/24 @ 4:38 a.m.: All HISD schools and district administrative offices are closed Friday, January 24, due to inclement weather. Read more.

HISD families and employees are urged to stay connected through social media – such as @HoustonISD on Twitter – through Friday afternoon to check whether wintry weather will impact schools, district facilities, and afterschool activities Friday.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning from 9 p.m. Thursday through 12 p.m. Friday and warns travelers to be prepared for freezing rain that could lead to up to a quarter-inch of ice on roadways. Crews from the Texas Department of Transportation began spraying de-icing chemicals on elevated roadways – bridges, overpasses, and ramps – early Thursday morning.

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Student laptop distribution underway as part of PowerUp initiative

More than 18,000 students to receive computers this month to use at school and at home

More than 18,000 students are receiving laptops this month as part of HISD’s one-to-one initiative that will eventually give every high school student a computer. The initiative, called PowerUp, not only will offer students 24-hour access to a laptop and a variety of software, but to digital-age instruction that will transform teaching and learning both inside and outside the classroom.

“PowerUp is not about the device,” said Superintendent Terry Grier. “This is about creating anytime-anywhere learning for our students so they can have the world at their fingertips. We want to make sure they learn the skills that complement technology so they aren’t replaced by technology.”

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CANCELED: ‘Houston FAFSA Day’ training scheduled for Jan. 24

Did you know that high-school seniors who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are 90 percent more likely to attend college than those who don’t?

FAFSA gives students access to $150 billion in grants, loans, and work-study funds made available by the federal government—and to get the word out, HISD is taking part in Houston FAFSA Day, a communitywide effort to help high school seniors and their families complete the application with confidence and ease.

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Cornelius ES student wins Martin Luther King Jr. oratory competition

Amari Venzor of Cornelius Elementary School took home top honors in the 18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Oratory Competition sponsored by Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP in Houston.

Every year since 1996, fourth- and fifth-graders from two dozen HISD schools have competed in this annual contest, which challenges students to write and present a short original speech on a subject related to the slain civil rights leader. The topic this year was, “If Dr. King were speaking at a March on Washington today, what would he say?”

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“If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was speaking at a March on Washington today, he would say: As I consider the past 50 years of progress, I can’t help but wonder if for every two steps we have taken forward, we have taken three steps back,” Amari said. “Have we fought so hard to instill that pride that we fail to include words like integrity, self-respect, and even a simple hi? Have we allowed economic and social status to lull us into a crippling complacency and a sense of entitlement? Simply meaning, are we putting $200 sneakers on our children who can barely read or solve basic mathematical equations rather than teaching them how to invest the same $200 into the actual shoe company? Have we been so busy trying to give our children what we didn’t have that we forgot to give them what we did have?”

Byron Roberson of Dodson ES won second place and Bruce ES student Chrystyna Haywood won third place.

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The other 2014 finalists, in alphabetical order, were:
• Shahnoor Ahtesham, Sutton ES
• Reginald Brown, Pleasantville ES
• Chrislyn Brownlow, Anderson ES
• Kierra Hunter, MacGregor ES
• Robert Lane III, Valley West ES
• Amaria Maldonado, Wainwright ES
• Kennady Roberson, Lockhart ES
• Jayla Wright, Burrus ES
• Jacovia Young, Windsor Village ES

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Other participating HISD campuses include: Atherton, Crespo, Garden Villas, Golfcrest, Gregg, Gross, Park Place, Port Houston, Rodriguez, Thompson, Whidby, and Woodson.