The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced this year’s $2,500 National Merit Scholarship winners, and eight HISD students are among them.
They winners from HISD schools are: Tianxiu Chen and Marina Finley (Bellaire HS); Brett Gu (Carnegie Vanguard HS); Xiaoyi Dou, Zachary Kortum, Teresa Lee, and Poornima Tamma (DeBakey HS); and Claudia Heymach (High School of Performing and Visual Arts).
Five HISD Business Operations employees were celebrated as Employees of the Month for May during the department’s breakfast with HISD’s Chief Operating Officer Leo Bobadilla on Tuesday.
(From left to right): Roy Giles, Pat Sykes, HISD Sr. Business Analyst Priscilla Martinez, Kelvin Bryan, and Eusebio Silver.
Every month, five individuals from the areas of Transportation, Police, Nutrition Services, Construction and Facilities Services, and Business Assistance are selected to attend “Breakfast with Leo.” The event serves as a way to recognize district employees who go above and beyond to provide exceptional customer service.
The Houston Independent School District Board of Education next week will consider adjusting neighborhood attendance boundaries at certain elementary schools in an effort to reduce classroom overcrowding.
The plan calls for boundary adjustments at 26 elementary schools, as well as grade reconfigurations at two elementary campuses: Ashford and Shadowbriar, both of which would become comprehensive elementary schools offering pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
Currently, the two schools share an attendance zone — Ashford offers pre-kindergarten through second grade, and Shadowbriar offers third through fifth grades. Under the proposal, Ashford would retain an attendance zone, but Shadowbriar would not. Instead, it would offer special programming designed to draw students.
The HISD Board of Education is expected to consider the proposals during their regular monthly meeting on May 14. If approved, the changes would go into effect for the 2015-2016 school year and would apply to new, incoming students. Students who are already enrolled — as well as incoming kindergartners — still would be allowed to attend the school to which they are currently zoned.
The attendance boundary proposals were created in response to state law, 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.
The proposed attendance boundary maps were originally submitted to the school board in March. All remain the same with the exception of the northline area, where the boundary between Lyons and Burbank elementary schools has shifted northward.
Parents whose children attend Lyons, Burbank or Northline elementary schools had an opportunity to discuss this change during a community meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, May 7 at Sam Houston Math, Science & Technology Center, 9400 Irvington.
For a full list of schools impacted by the proposals, go online: http://www.houstonisd.org/Page/126823.
Read the notes from that meeting here (.pdf).
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000.hcenGbPsHA” g_name=”20150506-VisualArtsShowcase” 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” ]
Stroll through the halls of HISD’s Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center (4400 W. 18th St, 77092) over the next few days, and you could see a lion, a wolf, or even a cheetah.
All of these and more are represented in original artworks created by HISD students as part of the 2015 Spring Visual Arts Showcase, which is organized annually to display the talent of student artists from across the district.
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000gMfapTroADM” g_name=”GardenOaks-charrette-gallery” 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” ]
Project Advisory Teams for Garden Oaks Montessori, Pilgrim Academy and Wilson Montessori spent two days last week in a design charrette, where they worked with architects and facilities planners to put together initial design concepts for their schools.
Samuel Saenz was a KBR Science TOTY in 2013 and a finalist for HISD’s secondary TOTY in 2014
The third time has proven to be the charm for HISD’s Samuel Saenz.
The East Early College High School (EECHS) physics teacher, who placed second for KBR’s Science Teacher of the Year in 2013 and was a finalist for HISD’s Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2014, has been named the National Southeastern Consortium of Minorities in Engineering (SECME) Teacher of the Year for 2015.
“Each year, SECME accepts nominations for extraordinary educators to be recognized for their dedication, creativity, and professionalism in inspiring students’ interest and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM),” said SECME, Inc. Interim Executive Director Michele Williams. “Mr. Saenz clearly demonstrates all of the qualities that SECME encourages in educators to accomplish our mission to engage and prepare a diverse pool of students for college and careers in STEM.”
On May 1, students at 16 HISD elementary schools observed School Lunch Hero Day, a nationwide celebration sponsored by the School Nutrition Association, Random House Children’s Books, and Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author and illustrator of the popular Lunch Lady graphic novel series.
Krosoczka chooses one school to visit each year on School Lunch Hero Day, and this year, he chose HISD’s own Scroggins Elementary. He connected with Scroggins Librarian Jo Reed on social media and saw the marvelous activities she has done with the Lunch Lady series.
Hundreds of students from 47 different HISD high schools will take their first steps into adulthood starting on Friday, May 29, when they walk across the stage to collect their diplomas as part of the district’s annual graduation ceremonies.
The ceremonies will take place at various locations around the city (primarily at the Barnett Fieldhouse, Butler Fieldhouse, NRG Arena, and Texas Southern University campus) from Friday, May 29, through Sunday, May 31.
A complete list of the dates and times is here.
Campus to receive proceeds from this annual event to support school programs
Each year, industry leaders gather together at the Offshore Technology Conference to recognize achievements, network with colleagues, and raise funds for a worthy cause. And each year, one organization is selected to receive the proceeds raised by the dinner held during the event.
The designated beneficiary of this year’s dinner is HISD’s own Energy Institute High School, which was created in 2013 in partnership with the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the Petroleum Equipment & Services Association (PESA). Continue reading
HISD’s Energy Institute held the last of a series of presentations given by distinguished speakers on April 30, and by the time their special guest was finished, he was as impressed by the students as they were with him.