Author Archives: HISD Communications

Retired brigadier general to speak at Austin HS’s fourth annual White Rose Dinner

BrigGenRamirez_250The commandant of Texas A&M University’s Corps of Cadets will be returning to his alma mater on Thursday, March 12, 2015, when Brigadier General Joe E. Ramirez Jr., U.S. Army, Ret., presents the keynote speech at Austin High School’s fourth annual White Rose Dinner.

After graduating from Austin, General Ramirez attended Texas A&M University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in science in 1979. He obtained a master’s degree in management from Webster University, St. Louis (1993) and a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania (2000).

General Ramirez has earned numerous awards during his 31 years of military service, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, and the Parachutists Badge.

The dinner will take place at 6 p.m. at the University of Houston’s Hilton Hotel (4800 Calhoun, 77004) and the public is invited. Tickets are $50 each, and there are three premium sponsorship levels available. To reserve a seat or arrange a sponsorship, please call 713-924-1600.

All proceeds from the event will be used to support Austin High School programs. The white rose, symbolizing truth, purity, and honesty, appears on the Stephen F. Austin family’s coat of arms.

‘Home Field Advantage’ program building educational stability for students

Students whose families move during the middle of the school year are being allowed to stay at their “home school,” or the one they enrolled in at the beginning of the academic year, thanks to a innovative HISD program called Home Field Advantage.  Since May 2014, schools involved in the program have seen their overall mobility rate drop by an average of 10 percentage points.

During his State of the Schools address last February, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier promised to create a program to build educational stability among highly mobile students. Subsequently, students at 13 elementary schools, where roughly 30 percent of families move in any given year, were offered transportation to their “home” school, even if their parents moved. Continue reading →

Wheatley HS students welcome new U.B.U. Lounge

UBU_Wheatley1_400Students, faculty, and staff at Wheatley High School celebrated the grand opening of their new U.B.U. Lounge on Jan. 22. The cafeteria now features three dining stations, Custom Brothers, Tortilla, and Home Zone and students had the opportunity to sample items from all three.

“The food being sampled is good,” said Wheatley senior Mwyinika Heard. “I didn’t eat lunch at school much before, but I will start, if they are serving these items. The food is more flavorful than it has been in the past.”

The dining stations were designed to provide menu variety and offer students the ability to customize their lunch experience.

“Students at Wheatley participated in a taste test that helped us select items for the menu,” Nutrition Services Senior Administrator Audene Chung told attendees. “You provided your feedback and we listened. Our goal is to bring you items that you want to eat.”

Sharpstown HS breaks ground for new school

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000sIWuEXtarbg” g_name=”20150207-Sharpstown” 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” ]

Sharpstown High School students, staff and alumni were joined by elected officials and business representatives Saturday morning for a groundbreaking ceremony for the school’s new 21st century campus.

Continue reading →

Business Operations employees awarded Service Excellence Employees of the Month

A group of five HISD employees were recognized as the first employees of the month for Service Excellence at Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on Feb. 4 during a special breakfast.

Continue reading →

HISD celebrates a legendary football coach

[su_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpVJIsU0-Ns”]

Few will argue that one of the finest men to coach an HISD varsity team was Coach Luther Malachi Booker at Yates High School. Coach Booker’s legacy continued Feb. 7 with his posthumous induction into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame. The late football coach’s family, friends, and former students will also gather at the Feb. 12 HISD Board of Education meeting to honor Booker.

Booker was head coach at Yates from 1971 to 1988. In those years, his teams won 13 district titles, made it to the state semifinals three times, and won a state championship in 1985. That year, the Lions even beat the favored team, Odessa Permian, 37-0, ending the season with a perfect 16-0 record. Continue reading →

Burbank MS leaders to share best practices at TABSE conference

Campus leaders from HISD’s Burbank Middle School will be sharing the wisdom of their experiences with hundreds of other educators at the Texas Alliance of Black School Educators’ Demonstration Schools Symposium on Feb. 27.

The campus is one of only eight from across the state that will present some of its best practices at the event. Burbank was selected in part because of its success in closing the achievement gap. The school matched or beat both the district’s and the state’s averages on all students’ reading and math scores in every grade on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in 2013–2014. Continue reading →

Elementary student secures $1,000 donation for USO Houston

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000EllwIDVPFcg” g_name=”20150212-Lyons-ES-American-Legion-Award” 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” ]

At 9 a.m. on Feb. 12 Lyons ElementarySchool student Samantha Torres will present baskets of candy and other supplies to Ellington Air Force Base personnel in appreciation of their military service. Through her work with the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 77, where she is a junior auxiliary member, she has secured a donation of $1,000 from Houston Community College and is using it to stock USO hospitality rooms at Ellington Air Force Base, Hobby Airport and Bush Intercontinental. USO Houston is a nonprofit organization dedicated to lifting the spirits of the nearly 50,000 troops and military families who visit the USO centers at Houston’s three airports, as well as the 8,000 military personnel based in Greater Houston.

Continue reading →

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier to deliver 2015 State of the Schools address

2015-SOTS-642

Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier will deliver his sixth State of the Schools address on Feb. 11 at a gathering that is expected to draw thousands of educators, community partners, and area businesses interested in hearing about the latest initiatives to strengthen the nation’s seventh-largest school district.

The event is sold out, but those interested in watching Dr. Grier’s speech live, streamed courtesy of KPRC Channel 2, can tune into www.houstonisd.org at 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 11. You can also follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #HISDSOTS. Continue reading →