Monthly Archives: February 2015

TX Dept. of Agriculture dubs HISD Nutrition Services the ‘Cream of the Crop’

Nutrition Services representatives (L-R): Glenn Topfer (vendor liaison), Amanda Oceguera (nutrition manager), Angela Olige (chief administrator), and Audene Chung (senior administrator) accept the award on behalf of the district.

Nutrition Services representatives (L-R): Glenn Topfer (vendor liaison), Amanda Oceguera (nutrition manager), Angela Olige (chief administrator), and Audene Chung (senior administrator) accept the award on behalf of the district.

HISD’s Nutrition Services department was recently recognized for supporting agriculture in the Lone Star State. The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) presented it with a “Cream of the Crop” award on Jan. 8 for the district’s commitment to sourcing food locally.

Each year, the TDA challenges schools to use more Texas products in the meals they serve during National School Lunch Week and recognizes those who complete the challenge.

HISD served nine menu items that were locally sourced, including milk from Oak Farms, apple juice from Cal-Tex, and tortillas from Kurz.

“Our vision is to create more recipes from scratch, sourcing the ingredients and menu items locally to not only provide wholesome meals for our students, but also to support the Texas community,” said Audene Chung, senior administrator of Nutrition Services.

This was the district’s second year of recognition. HISD Nutrition Services was also presented with the Grapefruit Award for completing a local products challenge last year.

Updated HISD emergency administrative guide to be distributed

HISD Risk Management Field Safety Team Leader Robert Cage, Jr. and HISD Risk Management Safety and Loss Control Manager Julie Burris-Richardson.

HISD Risk Management Field Safety Team Leader Robert Cage, Jr. and HISD Risk Management Safety and Loss Control Manager Julie Burris-Richardson.

HISD’s Risk Management department recently rolled out a new Emergency Resource Administrative Guide aimed to prepare staff members and students across the district for potential emergency situations.

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TV stations partner with HISD to spread word about free money for college

FAFSA public service announcements airing on Spanish and English stations

Houston’s Spanish and English TV stations have partnered with HISD to help high school seniors apply for and receive financial aid to pursue higher education. All local stations are running public service announcements (PSAs) produced by the HISD Multimedia Department to encourage seniors and their parents to fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). FAFSA gives students access to $150 billion in grants, loans, and work-study funds made available by the federal government.

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Austin High School students take a bite out of “Shark Tank” competition

Houston Community College Professor Catherine Smith’s Business Dual Credit/College Credit students at Austin High School made “business dreams and ideas come alive” twice this past year when they participated in two high-level collegiate business plan and business development competitions. Continue reading →

Digital Learning Spotlight: Herrera Elementary

During the month of February, all HISD teachers are being encouraged to try something new in their classrooms, as well as share ideas, resources, and lessons learned by posting their experiences and photos on social media using the hashtag #HISDdigital. Each week during the month, we are profiling a teacher or campus that is using technology to break up rows in classrooms, engage students, and innovate instructional practice. This week’s profile features Herrera Elementary.

Students at Herrera Elementary are using tablets and digital programs such as iMovie, Animoto, Prezi, and Roxio to produce digital book trailers instead of the standard book report most of us remembering doing in elementary school. Continue reading →

Yates HS students create video for PowerUp persuasion

Students at Yates High School are encouraging their classmates to join the digital revolution by creating a video touting the benefits of the district’s one-to-one initiative which provides every high school student with a laptop. Yates, and over a dozen other HISD high schools have distributed nearly 18,000 student laptops over the last five weeks. The distribution is part of the district’s digital transformation known as PowerUp.

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Thousands turn out across the district to learn more about rightsizing classrooms

Parents get answers to questions about proposed changes to attendance boundaries

Thousands of parents and community members turned out at a series of community meetings this week to provide parents with an overview of proposals designed to reduce classroom overcrowding at certain elementary schools.

The proposal for each school was discussed during regional meetings that took place on Tuesday, Feb. 17, and Thursday, Feb. 19. District officials will use the feedback to finalize the proposals and present them to the HISD Board of Education in March. If approved, the changes would be implemented for fall 2015.

Options under consideration include attendance boundary adjustments, program enhancements, and limiting the number of students each school may accept from outside its own neighborhood. District officials are also considering ways to improve internal practices such as adding a layer of additional scrutiny to the waiver request process and eliminating waivers for district charter schools.

The proposals would primarily affect new, incoming students. Current students would be grandfathered and allowed to stay at their current schools when possible.

The move is a result of a directive from the Texas Education Agency, which requires kindergarten through fourth-grade classes to have no more than 22 students per classroom. Classes that exceed that number must request a state waiver.

This school year, HISD had to submit nearly 1,500 class-size waiver requests to the TEA. District officials aim to cut that number in half by the 2015-2016 school year, with plans to continue the decrease incrementally through 2019.

Here is a list of the meetings that took place and the schools that may be affected by proposed boundary changes:

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 6 to 8 p.m.
Briar Forest Area Community Meeting
Location: Revere MS, 10502 Briar Forest
Affected Schools: Ashford, Askew, Bush, Daily, Emerson, Shadowbriar, Walnut Bend

Northwest Area Community Meeting
Location: Waltrip HS, 1900 West 34th St.
Affected Schools: Crockett, Highland Heights, Love, Memorial, Sinclair, Smith, Stevens

288 Corridor Community Meeting
Location: Attucks MS, 4330 Bellfort
Affected Schools: Bastian, Kelso, Young

Thursday, Feb. 19, 6 to 8 p.m.
Northline Area Community Meeting
Location: Sam Houston MSTC, 9400 Irvington Blvd.
Affected Schools: Burbank, Lyons, Northline

Tinsley and Halpin Area Community Meeting
Location: Tinsley ES, 11035 Bob White Dr.
Affected Schools: Anderson, Tinsley, Halpin ECC

Medical Center Area Community Meeting*
Location: Pershing MS, 3838 Blue Bonnet Blvd.
Affected Schools: The Rice School, Roberts, Twain, West University
*Only programmatic changes  under consideration.

The proposals for each school are available online: http://www.houstonisd.org/Page/125328

33 HISD high schools rated as best in nation in annual Washington Post rankings

More than two-thirds of the high schools in the Houston Independent School District made the Washington Post’s annual list of the Most Challenging Schools in America — and four schools cracked the top 100.

Carnegie Vanguard High School took home top honors for HISD, ranking 11th out of the 2,156 high schools from across the country that made the list. Energized for STEM Academy came in 32nd place, the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice ranked 52nd and Challenge Early College High School came in at 97th place. Continue reading →

Super Bowl champ and HISD grad surprise students

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Former Houston Astros Manager Marquis Donnell “Bo” Porter and wide receiver Brandon LaFell of the Super Bowl championship New England Patriots surprised students at Revere Middle School on Feb. 13, when they visited the campus to talk to them about what it takes to be successful.

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Another HISD student earns perfect score on Advanced Placement test

Last month, we shared the news that two HISD graduates had earned perfect scores on an Advanced Placement test in macroeconomics. Now, here comes Janett Ordoñez, a student at the DeBakey High School for Health Professions, who was one of just 91 students worldwide to earn every point possible on her Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish Language and Culture exam. It is very rare for a student to earn a perfect score on any AP exam.

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G00005hBbaWsE1cc” g_name=”20150213-DeBakey-perfect-AP-score-Laurie-Leon-Janett-Ordonez” width=”600″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” ]  Continue reading →