Yearly Archives: 2017

HISD Trustees and Superintendent heading to Austin to discuss school finance solutions

Members of the HISD Board of Education and Superintendent Richard Carranza will spend two full days in Austin this week, collaborating with top state leaders to address changes to Texas’ school finance system.

Board President Wanda Adams, trustees Anna Eastman, Michael Lunceford, and Rhonda Skillern-Jones, along with Superintendent Richard Carranza will have scheduled meetings on Wednesday and Thursday with state leaders and members of HISD’s legislative delegation in Austin.

“The HISD Board of Education and administration are united in our desire to work constructively with our state leaders to identify funding solutions that put children first,” Adams said. “We all agree that Texas’ school finance system was never intended to take classroom resources from our state’s most needy children.” Continue reading →

Austin HS marching band receives Certificate of Congressional Recognition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Austin High School marching band were presented with with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition Jan. 15 during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Battle of the Bands at at Thorne Stadium.  The marching band has participated in various MLK activities since the band’s creation in 2005, including the battle of the bands every year.  The band nicknamed “Sonic Boom” has led the MLK Youth Parade since 2008, along with several other parades including Houston Veteran’s Day Parade, Houston Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Natchitoches Christmas Festival of Lights Parade in Louisiana. The students also have participated in the Cinco de Mayo Parade, Fiesta Patrias downtown, Fiesta Flambeau in San Antonio, and Mardi Gras in both Galveston and New Orleans. The band is led by music director Keavon Runnels, who pushes the group to not only represent diverse cultures but also to experience cultures first hand.

 

Westside HS culinary students add flavor to Super Bowl

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Westside High School culinary students have prepared two touchdown-worthy sandwich recipes, one of which will be featured in the concession stands at Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5 at NRG Stadium.

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Madison HS prepares for start of construction on new school

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Madison High School Principal Orlando Reyna hosted a community meeting on Thursday to review final designs and reveal an overview of construction plans for the school’s new $82.7 million building, which crews will start to build in the coming weeks.

About 25 stakeholders turned out to hear from the project manager, the architect, and the contractor, and ask them questions. Continue reading →

Houston ISD Foundation to honor distinguished alumni

Journalist Roland Martin and BP Vice President of Operations Aleida Rios to be celebrated during annual State of the Schools address

A Peabody Award-winning journalist and a top leader of a Fortune 500 oil and gas company will be honored as distinguished alumni of the Houston Independent School District at the district’s annual State of the Schools Luncheon in February.
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HISD monitoring weather conditions overnight

Houston Independent School District officials are monitoring the region’s weather and road conditions overnight to ensure the safety of students and staff.

As of this time, all HISD schools and offices are planning to resume normal operations on Thursday. With the threat of heavy rainfall still in Houston’s forecast, HISD intends to notify parents, staff and the news media of any school closures or delays by 5:30 a.m. on Thursday.

For additional updates, please visit www.houstonisd.org, or call the HISD Inclement Weather Hotline at 713-556-9595. You also can follow the district on Twitter and Facebook: twitter.com/houstonisd and facebook.com/houstonisd.

New literacy initiatives put more books into the hands of HISD students 

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Two new literacy initiatives – a literacy bus and “My Home Library”– were unveiled by HISD on Tuesday, Jan. 17 with the goal of closing the literacy gap for economically disadvantage children in the district.

The Astros Foundation, Philips 66, and HISD are partnering to send the “Literacy Bus” on the road to distribute age-appropriate books to children in grades K-5 at various city-owned baseball and softball parks renovated by the Astros Foundation as part of its Community Leaders Program. These parks are located within HISD boundaries and serve more than 1,200 Houston-area children each year. The Literacy Bus is a mobile interactive bus that will encourage family reading in Houston-area communities.

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Three libraries premiere new and improved features

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Three new and improved libraries were unveiled on Wednesday at Attucks Middle School, Cullen Middle School, and Yates High School.

The three libraries were updated through funding as well as donations facilitated by District IV Trustee Jolanda Jones, including a special collection at Cullen Middle School from the NAACP of Houston featuring publications about African-American scientists and inventors that focus on STEM-related subjects. The Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation also donated 1,200 to both Attucks and Cullen middle schools, which will be delivered next week.

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Some HISD after-school activities canceled Wednesday due to flooding

District to continue to monitor weather conditions throughout the night

Several Houston Independent School District after-school activities scheduled for today — Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017 — have been canceled due to limited staff, flooding and dangerous road conditions.

The cancellation effects all after-school activities and athletic events except for high school varsity girls and boys basketball games. High school varsity girls and boys basketball games scheduled for today will go on as planned.

High school soccer games have been rescheduled to Thursday, Jan. 19 at this time. Middle school basketball games have been moved to Friday, Jan. 20.

All HISD schools will dismiss today at their regular time. Students who were unable to attend school due to weather will be given an excused absence.

HISD officials will continue to monitor weather conditions throughout the night. For additional updates, please visit www.houstonisd.org, or call the HISD Inclement Weather Hotline at 713-267-1704. You also can follow the district on Twitter and Facebook: twitter.com/houstonisd and facebook.com/houstonisd.

HISD offers ‘We Khan Do It’ challenge to all district schools 

Thousands of HISD high school students will take the SAT during the school day on April 5, and now there is one more reason for them to start preparing early for the important college-admission test.

HISD is kicking off a challenge among the district’s schools that will reward them for having the most students using Khan Academy to prepare for the SAT.

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