During Thursday’s regularly scheduled meeting, HISD’s Board of Education unanimously approved renaming Jack Yates Field to George Perry Floyd Jr. Athletic Community Field.
In June 2021, the renaming committee members—which included students, parents, Jack Yates alumni, and community members—voted to suggest the name George Floyd in honor of his life.
Floyd is an alum of Jack Yates High School where he played football and grew up in Cuney Homes in the Third Ward.
Earlier this year, in tribute to Floyd, a Black Lives Matter mural was painted in crimson and gold on Alabama Street in front of Yates High School. At the end of the mural is a red football jersey with a yellow 88, the number Floyd wore, along with the dates of his birth and death.
The board also approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Houston to provide a COVID-19 screening and testing program to HISD students and employees.
This program will offer voluntary COVID-19 screening by trained personnel to help decrease the rate of COVID-19 transmission, increase, and maintain school attendance, and provide a safe in-person learning environment for students, faculty, and staff.
Under the agreement, the City of Houston agrees to provide to HISD students who have parental consent and district employees at no cost to the district the following services:
• COVID-19 screening by trained personnel
• COVID-19 testing of students, faculty, and staff
• COVID-19 test results reported daily
• Contact tracing
• Increased frequency of screening and testing based on the increase in positivity rate of the community
• Testing supplies
• Informational pamphlets regarding COVID-19
Schools and central office departments will be invited to voluntarily participate in the COVID-19 screening and testing program.
The board also approved a $1 million donation from the Houston Endowment to support HISD’s strategic planning efforts. The investment will support the development of a district wide strategic plan to maximize student outcomes.
The strategic planning process will include the creation of a student-centered vision, district benchmarking, and a plan to optimize Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds.
The board also considered a measure that will give property owners some tax relief. The board approved lowering the tax rate to $1.0994 for FY 2021-2022 from $1.1331 the last fiscal year. The drop is due to property growth and HB3 tax rate compression. House Bill 3, passed during the 2019 legislative session, funds public education and property tax reform.