KBR Building Group held a pre-bid meeting this week to get acquainted with representatives from minority- and women-owned business enterprises (M/WBEs) who have an interest in working on HISD building projects.
Author Archives: HISD Communications
Stay informed about wintry weather with HISD text alerts
With winter upon us, it’s a great time to sign up for HISD text alerts to receive updates on school weather conditions. Just text YES to 68453, and you will be enrolled in HISD text messaging. Texting provides instant access to the latest updates regarding school closures and other emergency situations.
Before you send your student out the door on a cold morning, be sure they are dressed in layers, including a scarf, gloves, and hat or hood. Dressing in layers allows them to adjust for varying temperatures throughout the school day, from waiting outside for the bus to learning inside the classroom.
For more information, go to the HISD texting homepage.
First-year school nurse revives campus club to encourage STEM careers
HISD’s Booker T. Washington High School is usually known for its magnet engineering program, but some students there have an interest in healthcare—and one first-year school nurse is helping them to explore it.
Members of the Booker T. Washington High School health club examine a sheep’s heart during a field trip to the Houston Health Museum.
Worthing High School alumna Shara Fontaine, who joined Team HISD in 2014 after nine years as a labor and delivery nurse and a stint in the U.S. Air Force, resurrected the student health club at Washington last fall to better serve students with career aspirations in healthcare. The club now has about 15 members, and Fontaine has been coordinating special activities to further stoke their interest in that field. Continue reading
DeBakey wins $7,500 grant in national H&R Block budget challenge
The DeBakey High School for Health Professions recently received a $7,500 grant from the H&R Block Budget Challenge, a teen financial literacy program that rewards high school classes for mastering real-world budgeting and personal finance decision-making. H&R Block representatives presented campus leaders with a check at a special gathering held in December.
High school students and educators nationwide are competing this year to win a portion of $3 million in classroom grants, college scholarships, and cash prizes through the Challenge, which was created to help students learn to manage their money and become financially responsible adults. Continue reading
Two alternative certification grads discuss what makes HISD’s program superior
Physics teacher Adeeb Barqawi works with his students at Kashmere High School.
The one thing most participants in HISD’s Alternative Certification Program have in common is that they did not originally plan to pursue a career in education. However, the desire to be a positive influence on children and the greater Houston community eventually brought them to the classroom, and to HISD.
Recently, we sat down with Cory Bates, a bilingual Pre-K teacher at Stevens Elementary School, and Adeeb Barqawi, a physics teacher at Kashmere High School, to reflect on their experiences in the district’s Alternative Certification Program, also known as the Effective Teacher Fellowship (ETF), and why they feel HISD’s program is superior to others. The deadline to apply to the next Effective Teacher Fellowship cohort is Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. Continue reading
Student Congress giving high school kids a voice in their own education
Speaker of the Congress Zaakir Tameez (lower left) poses with members of the Student Congress at the Dec. 11 Board of Education meeting.
A group of juniors and seniors from four HISD campuses is on a mission to give their peers a voice in public education—and they have created a new Student Congress to do it.
More than a dozen students from Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, Lamar, and Yates high schools founded the congress last spring, after participating in senior Zaakir Tameez’s Texas Performance Standards Project at Carnegie Vanguard.
“We were originally called ‘Our Shared Future’ and talked about current events,” explains Outreach Chair Amy Fan, now a junior at Bellaire High School. “But as we met with city leaders from all over Houston, our conversations would constantly lead back to education. Yet the only people with whom we could share our critiques was each other.” Continue reading
Teachers: Turn your professional development dreams into reality
Garden Oaks Montessori teacher Shana Steinhardt milks a camel (or a yak) while on a trip to Mongolia this summer. The trip was underwritten by a grant from Fund for Teachers.
If you could design your ideal professional development opportunity, what might that look like?
Would you be studying volcanoes in Iceland, exploring nomadic life on the steppes of Mongolia, steeping yourself in the art of Salvador Dalí in Spain, or visiting the Children’s Peace Memorial in Japan that inspired a beloved children’s book?
Whatever your interest or passion might be, now is the time to flesh out your fantasy, as the Fund For Teachers is in the business of turning dream professional development opportunities into reality, and time is running out to make your dream come true. Continue reading
School secretary Karen Reed is HISD Employee of the Month for January
Karen Reed, left, is recognized as the January 2015 Employee of the Month at the HISD Board Meeting in December.
Karen Reed, Employee of the Month for January, is a Special Education secretary at Hogg Middle School, a position she has held since 2012. She walked away from a lucrative career in commercial real estate to join Team HISD, after realizing that her job wasn’t meaningful enough.
“As a research analyst, I did all this work so brokers could go home with big commissions,” said Reed. “I was padding someone else’s pocketbook, but not making a difference. I wanted somewhere for my stamp to be. These kids provide me with what I need: a purpose.”
New year, new hope: Volunteer for Read Houston Read
If you’re still deciding on a New Year’s resolution, look no further because we have a great one for you that will change a child’s life.
You can help a first-grader learn to read by spending at least 30 minutes reading to a child per week as part of HISD’s Read Houston Read program. Volunteers can become a Read Houston Read mentor, in person or over the Internet, by reading to a child at their school or by logging onto the web. Volunteers also listen to the child read, help the child learn new words, and play fun games to reinforce what he/she has learned.
Houston is in a literacy crisis, and it will take everyone – schools, families, communities — to help provide this basic skill that can make the difference between lifelong learning and achievement or frustration and failure.
For a listing and map of participating schools, click here.
Gallegos ES uses innovative strategies to boost attendance
Faculty and staff at Gallegos Elementary School are celebrating a victory for learning this week, after more than 99 percent of the student body reported to school for seven days straight.
The streak began on Dec. 10 with an attendance rate of 99.4 percent, and continued through Dec. 18, when the rate topped out at 99.8 percent. Continue reading