Author Archives: HISD Communications

Board of Education Approves Two New Magnet Schools

New campuses will expand options for students seeking specialty schools with academically challenging courses 

The HISD Board of Education on Thursday approved creating two new magnet schools that will offer a highly rigorous curriculum emphasizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The newly created Energy Institute High School and the Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan will now begin enrolling students for the upcoming 2013-2014 school year. The Energy Institute High School will begin with ninth-grade students and add a grade level each year to eventually serve students in grades 9-12.  The Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan will open with a sixth-grade class and eventually serve students in grades 6-8.  Earlier this year, the Houston Independent School District Board of Education authorized the district to apply for $12 million in federal magnet school funds for these two new magnets and six others (click here for more information).

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Team HISD discusses partnerships with NAACP and HCC to promote literacy

Team HISD and members of the Houston Branch of the NAACP discuss HISD’s literacy initiative at B.K. Bruce Elementary School.

Team HISD and members of the Houston Branch of the NAACP discuss HISD’s literacy initiative at B.K. Bruce Elementary School.

Representatives of the Houston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Houston Community College recently toured Lora B. Peck and B.K. Bruce elementary schools to discuss partnerships with the district to promote HISD’s literacy initiative.

Bruce Principal Trealla Epps and two teachers described how partnerships affect student achievement. The educators noted that the United Way of Greater Houston’s partnership with the school has motivated students about reading by pairing first-graders with volunteers who read to them and help them complete literacy exercises.

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Board of Education to Consider Two New Magnet Schools

Proposed campuses would expand options for students seeking specialty schools with academically challenging courses

The HISD Board of Education will consider a proposal Thursday to create two new magnet schools that will offer a highly rigorous curriculum emphasizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

If approved, the proposed Energy Institute High School and the Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan would immediately begin enrolling students for the upcoming 2013-2014 school year. The Energy Institute High School would begin with a class of ninth-grade students and add a grade level each year to eventually serve students in grades 9-12.  The Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan would open with a sixth-grade class and eventually serve students in grades 6-8.  Continue reading →

Seven HISD Seniors Awarded National Achievement Scholarships

Ten percent of Texas winners are from HISD

April 10, 2013 – Seven Houston Independent School District students have been named National Achievement Scholarship winners and will each receive a $2,500 scholarship for their undergraduate studies.

Each year the National Merit Scholarship Corporation awards scholarships to African-American students who have excelled in academics and have demonstrated the potential for academic success in college.
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Farias ECC Recognized as a Model for Behavior Management

Farias ECC students model the emotions represented by the “Feeling Buddies” they are holding. “Feeling Buddies” help children recognize and name the feelings they are experiencing, so that they can better deal with emotional upsets.

Farias ECC students model the emotions represented by the “Feeling Buddies” they are holding. “Feeling Buddies” help children recognize and name the feelings they are experiencing, so that they can better deal with emotional upsets.

For the second time in three years, HISD’s Farias Early Childhood Center has been singled out by a nationally known child-development expert for its success in implementing a particular behavior management program.

Dr. Becky Bailey, author of Conscious Discipline, came to the campus on March 22 to recognize Farias for being a model of the behavior modification program of the same name she developed. More than 150 educators from across North America (including a few from as far away as Mexico) also came to visit, to see the strategies described in the book in action.
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Board of Education to Consider 12 More Contracts for Work Related to 2012 Bond

Selected projects include 10 of the largest high schools slated for construction

Administrators are recommending that the HISD Board of Education authorize the district to negotiate design contracts with 12 firms on a dozen more 2012 bond projects, including 10 of the largest high schools. The projects represent about $750 million in bond dollars.

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HISD Officials Share Insight on Passing 2012 Bond

Leo Bobadilla, HISD's chief operating officer, presents at the 2013 Council of Educational Facility Planners International Southern Region Conference in Austin on Friday about planning and passing a $1.89 billion bond referendum. Photo by Christina Burke

If any school districts are looking for some tips on how to plan and pass a bond referendum, HISD Chief Operating Officer Leo Bobadilla has some advice: Make the information engaging.

“We can’t tell people how to vote,” Bobadilla said.  “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun communicating the information to voters so they can make informed choices.”

See more photos from the CEFPI Conference

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Westside Students Win Big at Shell Eco-marathon Americas

Allison Falender, Technology Manager Shell Global Solutions, and Niel Golightly, Vice President of Communications, Upstream Americas present Westside student Timothy Huang with the Eco-design Award at the Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2013 on Sunday, April 7, in downtown Houston.

The WEGA Gents take eco-design seriously. So seriously that the student team from the Westside Engineering and Geosciences Academy (WEGA) at Westside High School won the Best Eco-design Award for the second year in a row at the Shell Eco-marathon Americas this past weekend.

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Booker T. Washington High School Celebrates School Namesake and Oldest Living Graduate

Ruby Lea Pope is recognized during a April 5 celebration at Booker T. Washington High School honoring the birthday of its namesake. Pope, one of HISD's oldest living alumna, will turn 104 years old on April 9.

Students and staff at Booker T. Washington High School gathered for a special school assembly on April 5 to celebrate the life and legacy of the school’s namesake, along with a living legend—Ms. Ruby Lea Pope. Pope is 103 years old and is the school’s oldest living graduate. In her lifetime, Pope has traveled to Europe and the Middle East, earned two college degrees, founded an area chapter of a sorority, worked with the city to get safety measures installed near schools and still found a way to teach in Houston ISD for 24 years.
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HISD Forms Bond Oversight Committee

The Houston Independent School District is pleased to announce the selection of seven volunteers to serve on its newly reorganized Bond Oversight Committee as the district embarks on its $1.89 billion bond program approved by voters in November.

Administrators decided in December to revise the existing committee charter to give the group a more active role in monitoring the district’s bond program and keeping the public informed on new construction and renovation projects.

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