HISD Board of Education to swear in new members

Trustees also will consider turnaround plans for schools in second-year Improvement Required status

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education on Thursday will swear in three new trustees – Elizabeth Santos (District I), Sergio Lira (District III) and Susan Deigaard (District V) – and re-elected trustees Wanda Adams, Anne Sung, and Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca.

Santos won the seat vacated by Anna Eastman. Deigaard won the seat vacated by Michael L. Lunceford. Both Eastman and Lunceford chose not to run for re-election. Lira will fill the unexpired term of the late District III Trustee Manuel Rodríguez Jr., which runs through 2019.

The six trustees will be sworn in at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 18 in the Manuel Rodríguez Board Auditorium at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St. A reception will follow.

During the first regular meeting of the new Board of Education, trustees will consider turnaround plans for the campuses designated Year Two Improvement Required by the Texas Education Agency. Schools with this designation have not met state standards for two years. These four campuses – Bonham Elementary School, Gregory-Lincoln Education Center (prekindergarten through grade 8), Madison High School, and Washington High School – are required to develop and submit a two-year plan to improve student outcomes.

The Board will also consider accepting a donation to the HISD Police Department of 200 cartons of Narcan nasal spray in response to the growing national trend of opioid abuse. The spray is used to treat known or suspected opioid overdose. The donation, valued at $72,000, is from Kaléo Pharma. HISD Police would be responsible for distributing the spray in the event of an overdose, whether it be a student or adult, on any of HISD’s 287 campuses.

The Board’s regular monthly meeting begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018, in the Manuel Rodríguez Board Auditorium of the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St. Click here to view the full agenda. The Board meeting will be broadcast live online at www.hisdtv.org.