In accordance with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement today for all Texas schools, the Houston Independent School District will stay closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

This decision comes in response to a new executive order by Gov. Abbott to continue safety measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 and that all public and private schools should not reopen for the current school year. Through the end of the school year on June 1, the district will continue online learning and virtual operations at the district level.

The district will continue to utilize HISD @ H.O.M.E. (Home-based Online Mobile Education), a distance learning plan to ensure students’ academic and non-academic needs are met.  Students and parents can access the site on their school’s main landing page by clicking on the HISD @ H.O.M.E. icon or by visiting the site at: HoustonISD.org/HOME.  Campuses also have been instructed to provide paper-based curriculum resources to provide to families without access to technology. 

This week, the district launched the HISD @ H.O.M.E. Hotline to help answer parent and student questions. The hotline — 713-556-INFO (4636) — is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Operators are on hand to answer questions in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Arabic.

HISD will also continue to support distance learning efforts with HISD @ H.O.M.E. TV. Educational lessons are produced in English and Spanish and are broadcast on HISD-TV (Comcast Channel 18 and Uverse Channel 99), as well as online via HoustonISD.org/LiveTV. Click on the graphic at right for a full schedule of lessons for next week.

HISD and the Houston Food Bank will hold a massive food distribution event from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, in the parking lot of NRG Stadium. The goal is to accommodate working families who are unable to visit HISD-sponsored distribution sites during the weekday. The site is expected to distribute 3,000 food bags — or 90,000 pounds of food — in three hours.

Additionally, food distribution has continued this week at 25 sites, and another 25 sites are expected to be in operation next week. A complete schedule is available online at HoustonISD.org/HealthAlerts. Between March 14 and April 10, the district has distributed 1.4 million pounds of food to 47,826 families.