HISD staff members took hundreds of calls and answered questions on a variety of topics during the district’s back-to-school phone banks on Friday as the district helps families to Reconnect Safely and Return Strong for the 2020-2021 school year.

The phone banks gave the public the opportunity to ask questions in English and Spanish by calling the HISD at H.O.M.E. hotline number at 713-556-(INFO) 4636.

“Every year, we hold our phone banks to ensure our parents and students can get their questions answered by talking one-on-one with an HISD team member,” HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said. “During this ‘Year of Flexibility,’ we want our parents to know that we are partners with them in their child’s education.”

HISD principals, like Melissa Melchor from Oates Elementary, were on hand to assist with questions about virtual and in-person instruction options, testing and attendance, meals, COVID-19 precautions and procedures, resources for special populations, and more.

“We want to make sure our parents feel at ease when kids start school,” she said. “We want to make sure all of our parents and students are well-taken care, well informed, and ready to start the school year on Tuesday.”

HISD’s morning phone bank was conducted in partnership with KPRC-TV Ch. 2 and allowed callers to ask questions by phone or through the “Ask 2” chatroom, which was manned by HISD staff. The archived digital chat can be found at Click2Houston.com/chat.

HISD’s afternoon phone bank was conducted in partnership with KTMD-Telemundo Houston Ch. 47 and was held in Spanish.

The first day of virtual learning for all HISD students takes place on Tuesday, September 8th. For more information on HISD’s reopening plan, visit HoustonISD.org/Reopening.