Be sure your children’s immunizations are up-to-date before they head back to school on Aug. 24, 2015. There are many opportunities to get free vaccines this summer, courtesy of Texas Children’s Hospital’s SuperKids Mobile Clinic and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile Clinic. Continue reading
Author Archives: HISD Communications
Migrant students set their sights on college
[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/FQk7ij5sPOA” responsive=”no”]youtube url=”http://youtu.be/GzLcJfvbaww” width=”320″ height=”200″ responsive=”no”][/su_youtube]
Migrant students may not always live conventional lifestyles, but that doesn’t mean they don’t share the same dreams as other young people—such as getting a college education. That’s why HISD students who qualify for assistance through the district’s Migrant Educational Program have spent the past few weeks touring Lamar, Texas A&M, and Sam Houston State universities in order to learn more about the college application process. They concluded their tours, which were organized by the Office of College Readiness, with a trip to Stephen F. Austin University (SFA) in the East Texas piney woods on June 30.
Ocean predators, paintball wizard top kids’ summer reading lists
Summer vacation may be well under way, but HISD students have not been resting on their laurels since school let out on May 28.
Between May 31 and June 30, children read almost 50,000 books through myON, HISD’s summer reading partner, and two of the most popular titles were a hit at both the elementary- and middle-school levels.
Ram Band marches in national Independence Day parade
Waltrip High School’s Roarin’ Red Band made the trip to the nation’s capital and played in the National Independence Day Parade.
The band was invited to perform by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, and it was the only band in the state selected. Continue reading
Education technology specialist named ISTE emerging leader
Brittany Lewis
Brittany Lewis, an HISD education technology specialist, has been named a 2015 emerging leader by the International Society for Technology in Education.
Lewis’ colleague, Elvira Salazar, nominated her for the award, which honors educators 35 years or younger who demonstrate vision, innovation, action, and transformation using technology to improve learning and teaching.
Lewis began working in HISD in 2007 as an AVID tutor at Westbury High School. She went on to teach seventh-grade math at Revere and Pershing middle schools before moving into instructional technology. Continue reading
2015 Bellaire HS grad to play piano with Houston Symphony
A 2015 Bellaire High School graduate will be playing the piano with the Houston Symphony before she begins the next chapter of her education.
Esther Liao was awarded the opportunity to play with the Symphony as part of becoming the gold medalist in the 2015 Ima Hogg Competition. She’ll take the stage at Jones Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, and perform a selection of Tchaikovsky and Dvoràk pieces. Continue reading
HISD students venture into the world of STEM at Rice
Eastwood Academy student Michael Casio tests water samples in a microbiology lab.
A chemistry formula is just letters to be memorized until it becomes the answer to a problematic disease.
This summer, a group of HISD students are interning in various labs at Rice University and finding such answers. Linked Learning, an HISD program that initiates applied and career-based learning, created these internships with help from the Rice Office of STEM Engagement. More than 300 students applied for 12 spots, making the six-week paid internship applicant pool more competitive than that of a top-tier college.
At the Rice labs, each student is paired with a graduate student mentor. The interns are helping their mentors research everything from Alzheimer’s disease to solar cells to volcanoes. After a few short weeks in the advanced labs, the interns can now toss out scientific terms without a hint of a stammer and handle chemical samples as if it were second nature. Continue reading
Workshop Wednesday features strategies for developing a great business plan
July’s Workshop Wednesday featured Luis Ramos, a business adviser at LiftFund, describing what his firm and other lenders look for in a successful business plan.
HISD reorganizes Schools Office, announces new principals, promotions
Last month, the HISD Board of Education approved a budget aligned with improving human capital in an effort to address persistently low-performing, hard-to-staff schools. As a part of that process, the district made some adjustments to the structure of its organization.
Under the previous structure, five chief schools officers (three at the elementary level, and one each at the middle- and high-school levels) reported directly to a chief school support officer and indirectly to the superintendent. Moving forward, there will be six chief school officers (two each at the elementary and secondary levels, and two new “transformation” officers tasked exclusively with supporting struggling schools), and all will report directly to the superintendent. Each will have a director assigned to them to help manage daily operations. HISD will also be expanding its corps of school support officers, with 15 SSOs dedicated to serving the two transformation officers, to ensure a small school-to-SSO ratio.
Employees honored for promoting a culture of Service Excellence in HISD
In a special luncheon Tuesday, nine employees from across different Business Operations departments were honored for their work in promoting a culture of Service Excellence within HISD.
The event follows a year of trainings held by the nine employees to introduce the mission and standards of Service Excellence to their fellow employees. In all, more than 5,270 people have been trained in Service Excellence since the initiative launched in April.
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G00001uo9_5NsSSw” g_name=”20150630-ServiceExcellenceLuncheon” width=”600″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” ]