HISD PD dispatcher Raycinda Buxton
Sitting behind four large computer screens with a headset attached to her left ear, Raycinda Buxton spends her days responding to other people’s emergencies.
On any given day, the HISD Police Department dispatcher is answering 911 calls, dispatching officers, monitoring alarms and video surveillance — often all at the same time. Continue reading
The Houston Independent School District Board of Education on Thursday will consider a resolution calling for federal action related to school shootings.
The board’s regular monthly meeting begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2018, in the Manuel Rodríguez Jr. Board Auditorium of the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St. Click here to view the full agenda.
Trustees are expected to consider a resolution acknowledging the Board stands with the students of Broward County Public Schools and students across the country, including HISD, in demanding effective and comprehensive action from the federal government to protect schoolchildren. Continue reading
Wearing theatrical costumes and practicing their best Old English accents, approximately 100 elementary theater students from five HISD schools on Saturday will perform kid-friendly adaptations of select plays by William Shakespeare during HISD’s first-ever Shakespeare Festival for Elementary Schools.
This free event, which will be held at Tanglewood Middle School (5215 San Felipe St., Houston, 77056) from 2 to 4:30 p.m., coincides with Shakespeare’s birth and death month. It is a culmination of theater coursework for Crespo, Patterson, Poe, Herod and Sinclair elementary school students during the 2017-18 spring semester. Continue reading
As we all know, Hurricane Harvey had a devastating impact on our communities. Houston’s students, parents, teachers, and staff were impacted in one way or another, and the effect on classroom performance has yet to be determined. We’ve worked hard to fill the gaps and make the 2017-2018 school year as normal as possible, but many factors are simply out of our control.
This is the first week of STAAR testing statewide. The Texas Education Agency has not informed school districts of the cut scores or “goal post” of student achievement in the new accountability system. In addition, we learned this week that the TEA will announce in June how they will respond to Harvey-affected school districts for accountability purposes.
We need your help asking TEA for a one-year pause on accountability ratings and sanctions post-Harvey for all districts in the governor’s disaster-declared areas.
We have created the #HISDStrong Toolkit for you to contact the governor and TEA officials, along with key state leaders. We hope you utilize this toolkit to reach out to state leaders via email, regular mail, or Twitter. It is a guide to help you and others effectively ask our state leaders for a one-year pause in state accountability and reprieve from state sanctions.
We are not afraid of accountability. But our children deserve relief as our communities still recover from one of the worst floods in American history. In addition, the state did a one-year pause after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike.
We cannot successfully impact the policy decisions of our elected and appointed leaders without the support of our communities. They need to hear from you. Your voice moves the needle.
We are #HoustonStrong and #HISDStrong because of your support. There is no greater tool for effecting change than the unified voice of a community.
For a digital version of the toolkit, visit HoustonISD.org/HISDStrong.
For a downloadable version of the toolkit, click here.
HISD Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby
Houston Independent School District Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby has been named as one of the Houston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 for 2018.
The list honors young professionals in Houston who have become key leaders in their respective industries and in the community. Judges selected the honorees based on leadership, community involvement, and the ability to overcome challenges.
“I am truly honored to be selected by the Houston Business Journal as one of their 40 Under 40,” Busby said. “The work I do each day in my career and my community is my passion. To be honored for it is indescribable.”
When you meet Tristan Love, assistant principal at HISD’s Secondary DAEP campus, you first notice how polite and smartly dressed he is – wearing a light gray suit, pink bowtie, and polished shoes. He has a sparkle in his eye and a smile for everyone. It’s a far cry from his former life as a gang member.
Love’s politeness and respect extend to his students at the school, who are among the most behaviorally challenged students in HISD. They all have been sent to Secondary DAEP from their home campuses, many of them gang members. But this doesn’t faze Love. He’s living proof that coming from poverty, a broken home, being a gang member, and living a life of violence doesn’t mean you can’t have a bright future.
“I tell my students, my job is to serve you,” Love said. “If I hadn’t run into the caring adults I did when I was younger, I don’t really know where I’d be.” Continue reading
Gregory-Lincoln Education Center dance instructor Thomas Porter teaches all types of dance in his classes, but he has found that ballet helps his students improve in all areas.
“When I began taking dance lessons, I focused on jazz and tap,” Porter said. “But when I took ballet, I saw a major improvement in my jazz techniques. Ballet quickly became my favorite form of dance.”
That’s why he jumped at the chance to have Melanie Hovis from the Houston Ballet teach a series of six master classes at Gregory-Lincoln this spring. Hovis has been teaching with the Houston Ballet for two years, having danced previously with the Austin Ballet. Continue reading
District designating April 16-20 as Volunteers in Public Schools Recognition Week
The Houston Independent School District on Thursday, April 19 will recognize the efforts of thousands of volunteers and will honor the top volunteers of the year at the Volunteers in Public Schools Recognition and Awards Ceremony.
During the ceremony at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center (4400 W. 18th St., Houston, 77092), HISD will acknowledge the contributions of the volunteers in four award categories:
HISD has several transitional programs for students with cognitive disabilities that train them to find meaningful work and sustainable life situations after graduation. After two years in the H.E.A.R.T. program at the Houston Food Bank, Trevor has been hired as a full-time worker. Trevor is doing everything regular employees do—chopping vegetables, cutting bread, packaging meals, and washing trays and utensil. Trevor’s mother is thrilled.
Watch the video to find out what Trevor is planning to do with his first paycheck.
Noelia Longoria, HISD’s assistant superintendent of the Office of School Choice, has been named interim chief academic officer of the Houston Independent School District.
Longoria assumes her new role immediately, reporting to Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan.
“Ms. Longoria has more than 25 years of experience in urban education and a proven record of turning around underperforming schools,” Lathan said. “I am confident that she will have a positive impact in helping to guide instruction across our district.” Continue reading