HISD’s Drop Out Prevention Office has collaborated with the Transportation department to make sure every former HISD student throughout the Houston community earns their high school diploma. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2015
Transportation shows bus personnel some love with heart-healthy celebration
HISD’s Transportation department teamed up with the Houston Educational Support Personnel, Local 6315 Union all week long to celebrate National Love the Bus month with their “Lettuce Show You Some Love” event.
HISD teams see district basketball playoff action
Teams from 12 Houston ISD high schools — including last year’s state champion Yates HS — launch district basketball playoffs this week.
North Forest, Sharpstown, Madison, and Sterling all have their first games Monday, with Yates, Sam Houston, Bellaire, Lamar, Westside, Scarborough, Worthing, and Wheatley seeing action Tuesday.
HISD principal named ‘Educator of the Year’ by LULAC
Henderson ES principal Herlinda Garcia
Herlinda Garcia was named “Educator of the Year” by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Council 402. The J.P. Henderson Elementary School principal was honored at the council’s annual scholarship gala on Feb. 11, along with former HISD Board President Juliet Stipeche, who represents District VIII and was named “Honoree of the Year.” Also in attendance was current HISD Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones.
“I have devoted my life to education, and this means a lot to me, because this event is a fundraiser that raises money for scholarships for area students who want to go to college,” Garcia said. As the principal of Henderson for 35 years, she is only the fourth principal in that position since the school was built in 1929.
eNews Highlight: Author visits build love of literacy through inspiration, encouragement
Meeting a favorite author can really bring a book to life for young readers. In fact, it can even make them readers for life. That’s why a number of HISD schools regularly invite popular authors to visit their campuses and read to students.
Barney Saltzberg, writer and illustrator of “Beautiful Oops,” spoke to art students at Memorial Elementary School recently about making mistakes and creating something beautiful from them. Continue reading
Nutrition Services tour educates youth about healthy eating
With the nation’s largest school district food production facility, Houston ISD Nutrition Services has a lot on its plate preparing more than 270,000 meals each day for delivery to schools across the greater Houston area. Continue reading
Family Learning Academy offers five spring events for HISD families
Parent and community members are invited for presentations, workshops, and resources to help students succeed
This spring, the HISD Family Learning Academy will be offering five free events to connect families to resources to help students succeed in school, get into college, and find a rewarding career. Family Learning Academy partners with HISD Departments and community organizations to tailor every event to community needs.
Continue reading
HSPVA leader participates in inaugural Cooke Foundation Summit
Dr. R. Scott Allen
Dr. R. Scott Allen, the principal of The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) was one of only 100 campus leaders from around the country to be invited to participate in at a two-day summit last week to identify solutions to close the excellence gap—the troubling disparity in academic performance between lower-income and higher-income students at advanced levels.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation convened “Closing the Excellence Gap” on Feb. 5 and 6 to share cutting-edge research and best practices for supporting high-achieving, low-income students.
A number of principals formed a new organization at this landmark event, called the “Coalition of Leaders for Advanced Students Success,” whose goal is to support and advocate for high-achieving students with financial need.
“We are leaders in our communities who have a stake in nurturing talent wherever we find it and regardless of a student’s economic status,” said Dr. Allen. “We need talent to remain competitive as a nation. This summit underscored the fact that HSPVA is part of the solution.”
“This summit confirmed my belief that these leaders have excellent insights to offer policymakers at all levels of government,” said Harold Levy, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and former chancellor of New York City Schools.
The creation of HSPVA in 1971 represented the first attempt by any public high school in the nation to correlate an academic program with concentrated training in the arts. It was one of only three public schools in the nation to offer programs in both the visual and performing arts, and the first such institution in the Southwest. HSPVA is fully accredited and offers the same academic curriculum and graduation requirements as all HISD high schools.
Author visits build love of literacy through inspiration, encouragement
Author Barney Saltzberg with Visual Art Specialist Rebecca Stewart
Whether you’re five, 15, or 55 years old, it can still be a thrilling experience to meet someone who actually created a book you enjoyed. If it makes a big enough impression, the experience can even make you a reader for life.
That’s why a number of HISD schools regularly invite popular authors to visit their campuses as part of the district’s literacy initiatives, such as Harvard ES, Patterson and Red elementaries, and Burbank Middle School.
Barney Saltzberg was the latest writer/illustrator to bring inspiration and encouragement to students. He came to Memorial Elementary School on Feb. 13.
“His visit was awesome,” said Visual Art Specialist Rebecca Stewart. “He spoke about not being a very good student. He said he was terrible at spelling. No one—not even his parents—was very optimistic that he would ever do anything significant, because he had such a hard time in school. But he loved to draw, so he drew all the time. When he went to art school, he still didn’t think he was very good, but a teacher looked at his drawing one day and said, ‘You need to write a book with that character.’ So he did. And the little boy who had such a hard time at spelling is now a best-selling author with more than a million books in print.” Continue reading
Lamar HS football player to accept prestigious Watkins Award
Lamar High School football player Holton Hill will be in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 21, 2015, to receive this year’s Franklin D. Watkins Memorial Award. He is one of only five high school athletes nationwide to be so honored this year by the National Alliance of African American Athletes. Continue reading