Yearly Archives: 2015

2015 Green Schools Challenge winners announced

The 2015 Green Schools competition has concluded, and HISD’s Energy & Sustainability Department is pleased to announce the winners of the Green Schools Challenge.

Mistral Early Childhood Center, Baylor College of Medicine Academy, McGowen Elementary, Piney Point Elementary, Seguin Elementary, and Garden Oaks Elementary all placed in the contest. As part of the competition, 28 schools pledged to take energy saving actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help protect the environment for future generations. Schools also were encouraged to become a registered Eco-School through the National Wildlife Federation.

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Sterling HS to add welding to course offerings

Sterling High School will offer a new course in its airframe engineering and design program in the 2015–2016 school year: welding.

The school is able to offer welding through a new partnership with Houston Community College. Students who successfully complete all of the necessary courses will earn a certificate as a welder’s helper. If they go on to study at Houston Community College, they will be able to take advanced welding courses there. Continue reading →

Washington HS students achieve liftoff in New Mexico

It took them five long years to do it, but the High Altitude Rocketry Team from Washington High School has finally achieved success.

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On their fifth visit to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico this July, the team managed to launch its 23-foot suborbital rocket. Continue reading →

Duane Clark named principal of Worthing High School

Duane Clark poses for a photograph, September 2, 2015. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)Duane Clark has been named the new principal of Worthing High School. He began his career in 2001 as a Teach For America Corp member, teaching physics, AP physics and AP statistics in the Jones High School Vanguard program, and has 14 years of experience in education with HISD. Clark has served as teacher, athletic coach, graduation coach, assistant principal, and dean of instruction. Most recently, he served as the dean of instruction at Davis High School.

Clark is originally from Baton Rouge, LA. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Dillard University in New Orleans, and later obtained a master’s in educational leadership from the University of Houston. 

Kristina Davis-Troutman named principal of Mistral Early Childhood Center

Kristina Troutman poses for a photograph, January 13, 2016. (Dave Einsel/Houston ISD)Kristina Davis-Troutman has been named the new principal of Mistral Early Childhood Center. In her 29 years of experience in education, she has served as a teacher, Title VII/multilingual director, assistant principal, and principal in both public and charter districts.

Davis-Troutman began her career with HISD as a bilingual teacher at Cunningham Elementary School. She later moved to Benavidez Elementary, where she wrote, facilitated, and implemented a Title VII grant for the district’s first bilingual gifted and talented program. Davis-Troutman began her administrative career at Pilgrim and Fonville middle schools as an assistant principal. She was then recruited to Southwest Charter Schools as director of multilingual programs. For the last four years, Davis-Troutman has been principal at Young Learners School, an HISD charter network of early childhood centers.

Davis-Troutman received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with minors in bilingual/bicultural education and Spanish from Central Michigan University. She holds a master’s degree in elementary education from Eastern Michigan University.

Don’t Miss Texas’ Annual Sales Tax Holiday Aug. 7–9

Most clothing, footwear, school supplies, and backpacks exempt

Parents have the opportunity for some extra back-to-school savings during Texas’ fourteenth annual Sales Tax Holiday, August 7–9, 2015.

The holiday provides exemptions from state and local sales taxes on most clothing and footwear priced at less than $100, saving shoppers about $8 on every $100 they spend. Many retailers offer sales and special promotions over the weekend, so that shoppers can maximize their savings.

For complete details, please visit the Texas comptroller’s website.

Teachers get support in science instruction from Baylor College of Medicine

Greg Vogt demonstrates Newton's second law of motion by igniting vaporized ethanol to show how thrust is generated for rocket launches.

Greg Vogt demonstrates Newton’s second law of motion by igniting vaporized ethanol to show how thrust is generated for rocket launches.

Students may still be on vacation, but more than 450 teachers from the Houston Independent School District went back to the classroom this summer for an intensive training program organized by Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Education Outreach.

The Baylor Summer Science Institute is geared toward teachers who may not have a strong science background. The program included presentations by scientists and inquiry-based lessons featuring content specific to teachers’ grade levels, with a focus on the nature of science and physical science. Each participant also received teaching resources to take back to their campuses and earned professional development credit.

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Lamar HS named ‘National Debate School of Honor’

Lamar High School has been recognized as a National Debate School of Honor by the National Speech & Debate Association.

The National Speech & Debate Association is the largest interscholastic speech and debate organization serving middle school, high school, and collegiate students in the United States, and it presented the award to Lamar during its annual tournament held in Dallas over the summer.

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HISD earns “Met Standard” rating from state for the 2014-2015 school year

Almost 80 percent of HISD campuses also receive “Met Standard” designation.

The Houston Independent School District earned an overall “Met Standard” rating, according to 2015 state accountability data released Friday by the Texas Education Agency.

The district received the rating — the highest offered under the state’s current accountability system — despite increasing performance targets on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test.

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