Category Archives: District I – Elizabeth Santos

33 HISD high schools rated as best in nation in annual Washington Post rankings

More than two-thirds of the high schools in the Houston Independent School District made the Washington Post’s annual list of the Most Challenging Schools in America — and four schools cracked the top 100.

Carnegie Vanguard High School took home top honors for HISD, ranking 11th out of the 2,156 high schools from across the country that made the list. Energized for STEM Academy came in 32nd place, the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice ranked 52nd and Challenge Early College High School came in at 97th place. Continue reading →

Super Bowl champ and HISD grad surprise students

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Former Houston Astros Manager Marquis Donnell “Bo” Porter and wide receiver Brandon LaFell of the Super Bowl championship New England Patriots surprised students at Revere Middle School on Feb. 13, when they visited the campus to talk to them about what it takes to be successful.

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HISD to hold community meetings on plans for right-sizing school enrollments

District to provide details, gather feedback on various proposals under consideration

Six community meetings are being held to provide HISD parents with more information about a series of proposals designed to right-size classrooms at certain elementary schools beginning with the 2015–2016 school year. Meetings are scheduled for 6 – 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, and Thursday, Feb. 19, at area schools. See below for a list of schools being affected and meeting locations. The district would like to gather feedback from parents before the Board of Education votes on the proposal in March.

For the current school year, HISD submitted nearly 1,500 class-size waivers to the Texas Education Agency, which requires no more than 22 students per classroom in all kindergarten through fourth-grade classes. District officials aim to cut that number in half next year and plan to continue to decrease the number incrementally through 2019.

Additional factors include housing development, shifting birth rates, and demographic changes in neighborhoods around the district.

Options under consideration range from readjusting attendance boundaries and program enhancements to limiting the number of students each school may accept from outside its own neighborhood. The district’s goal is to alleviate overcrowding while still maintaining the traditional demographic makeup of each affected school. The following meetings are planned:

6 – 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17

  • Briar Forest Community Meeting – Revere Middle School, 10502 Briar Forest, 77042
    Affected elementary schools: Ashford, Askew, Bush, Daily, Emerson, Shadowbriar, and Walnut Bend
  • Northwest Area Community Meeting – Waltrip High School, 1900 West 34th St., 77018
    Affected elementary schools: Crockett, Highland Heights, Love, Memorial, Sinclair, Smith, and Stevens
  • 288 Corridor Community Meeting – Attucks Middle School, 4330 Bellfort, 77051
    Affected elementary schools: Bastian, Kelso, and Young

6 – 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19

  • Medical Center Area Community Meeting – Pershing Middle School, 3838 Blue Bonnet Blvd., 77025
    Affected elementary schools: The Rice School, Roberts, Twain, and West University (*see note below)
  • Northline Area Community Meeting – Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technology Center, 9400 Irvington Blvd, 77076
    Affected elementary schools: Burbank, Lyons, and Northline
  • Tinsley and Halpin Area Community Meeting – Tinsley Elementary School, 11035 Bob White Dr., 77096
    Affected elementary schools: Anderson, Halpin ECC, and Tinsley

District officials are also considering ways to improve internal practices such as the process to request class-size waivers, eliminating waivers for district charter schools, and limiting the number of transfer students that schools may accept from outside their attendance boundaries.

*Note to parents of students at The Rice School, Roberts, Twain, and West University: Attendance boundaries will not be changed for these schools.

For a list of Frequently Asked Questions, please click here (.pdf). (en Español)

For a list of proposed attendance boundary maps, please click here.

Music students showcased at State of the Schools 2015

Guests at HISD’s 2015 State of the Schools luncheon got a side order of entertainment with their meal. Westside High School’s Wind Ensemble of 35 students provided music throughout the program under the guiding hand of Conductor Joey Brunson, and students from 19 HISD elementary schools sang the national anthem.

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Table centerpieces put ‘a world of learning’ on display

Their subjects ranged from starry nights and galaxies to water lilies and sunflowers, but the one thing all the orbs had in common was their inspiration: a desire to show how HISD is putting a “global” spin on education for all of its 215,000 students.

Children from 28 different campuses decorated Styrofoam balls this year to serve as the table centerpieces at the State of the Schools luncheon, and participating students were eager to share their artistic visions with guests.

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Two HISD schools win most-improved attendance awards

If 80 percent of success is just showing up, students at Harper Alternative School and Inspired for Excellence Academy are going to have a great year. These two HISD schools made the largest gains in attendance from the fall 2013 to the fall 2014 semesters and were rewarded with certificates and assemblies featuring inspirational speakers and entertainment.

“You did something great!” said Harper Principal Raymond Glass II to his students. “You beat out all the other schools in HISD.”

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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

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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.

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Second-chance athletic showcase turns $5,000 budget into $12 million in scholarships

On Feb. 7, hundreds of graduating seniors from around the Houston area got the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to go to college for free, and play their sport of choice, too.

The Greater Houston Senior Football Showcase took place at the NRG Stadium’s practice bubble from 8:30 a.m. until noon, and male students from dozens of local campuses—including almost every high school in HISD—had a chance to land an academic scholarship there just by giving a demonstration of their skills on the football field.  Continue reading →

Twenty-seven HISD students land 2015 all-state ensemble seats

More than two dozen HISD students earned a spot on a Texas Music Educators Association All-State Ensemble this year.

Trumpeter Esmeralda Sandoval (Waltrip HS) and baritone saxophonist Grace Estrada (Westside HS), as well as five students from Bellaire High School and 20 from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, will perform in various groups during the TMEA’s annual convention in February.

All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. Approximately 1,750 students were selected through a process that began with more than 64,000 students from around the state vying for the honor to perform in one of 15 ensembles (bands, orchestras, and choirs).

Last year marked the first time a Westside student had ever been selected, and the same student (Grace Estrada, now a senior) is returning this year. You can read more about her achievement in this school-based newsletter.