Category Archives: District VI – Kendall Baker

Thousands of students taking advantage of STAAR EOC tutorials

Last week, HISD announced it had created online tutorials for the five State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) end-of-course (EOC) exams that every student must pass in order to graduate.

More than 33,000 high school students have already taken advantage of this valuable resource, with most (about 40 percent of that figure) using the tutorials to prepare for the English I and English II exams, which are scheduled for next week.

A number of forward-thinking students have also been using the STAAR EOC tutorials in biology (5,180), algebra I (8,870), and U.S. history (5,891), although those exams will not take place until the beginning of May.

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Westside HS educator named finalist for SHAPE’s Health Education Teacher of the Year

Delia Thibodeaux

Delia Thibodeaux

Delia Thibodeaux is one of only three teachers from across the nation to be so honored

A veteran educator with more than a decade of service to HISD students has been named one of three finalists for the national Health Education Teacher of the Year award by the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America).

Delia Thibodeaux, who teaches at Westside High School, advanced to the national round of the competition after being named SHAPE’s 2015 Health Education Teacher of the Year for the Southern District, which encompasses 13 states from Virginia to Texas.

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Walnut Bend students learn the love of reading from community volunteers

Neil Bush with the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation reads to a class at Walnut Bend ES

Neil Bush with the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation reads to a class at Walnut Bend ES

Pre-K and first-graders at Walnut Bend Elementary celebrated the love of reading Monday with the help of volunteers from Phillips 66 and the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation. The day marked the birthday of Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, and was National Read Across America Day.

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Rosa Parks’ story lives on at Daily Elementary

Urana McCauley

Urana McCauley

Urana McCauley shares the inspiration of her aunt’s bravery

History came alive Wednesday for about 400 students at Daily ES as part of Black History Month as the niece of Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks told the story of her aunt’s legendary stand against segregation. Continue reading →

Westside defensive lineman picked for 2016 Army All-American Bowl

Westside High School defensive lineman Jordan Elliot has been selected to participate in the Army All-American Bowl to be played on Jan. 9, 2016, in San Antonio — just one of 90 of the top high school players in the nation to be chosen for the elite game.

Jordan Elliot

Jordan Elliot

Elliot is currently the No. 6 defensive lineman in Texas and No. 33 in the U.S. According to his coach, Mark Byrd, he’s an automatic qualifier to the NCAA and currently holds 17 offers from Division I teams, including University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, University of Alabama, University of Oregon, University of Missouri, and University of Oklahoma.

The 6-foot-5, 300-pound junior has been named to the UIL District 20-6A All-District Defensive Team the past two years, and was selected for the Associated Press All-State Team this year.

HISD teams see district basketball playoff action

Teams from 12 Houston ISD high schools — including last year’s state champion Yates HS — launch district basketball playoffs this week.

North Forest, Sharpstown, Madison, and Sterling all have their first games Monday, with Yates, Sam Houston, Bellaire, Lamar, Westside, Scarborough, Worthing, and Wheatley seeing action Tuesday.

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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 →

Lamar HS grad makes a lasting impression on the visual art world

Lamar High School graduate and artist Marsha Dorsey Outlaw poses for a photograph at her installation "Vigango's Stoop", January 29, 2015. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)

Lamar High School graduate and artist Marsha Dorsey Outlaw poses for a photograph at her installation “Vigango’s Stoop”, January 29, 2015. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)

In this week’s edition of I am HISD, which features district students, graduates, employees, and other team members, we speak with Lamar High School graduate Marsha Dorsey-Outlaw about how she became a professional artist, what compels her to work with children, and where you can find her next district-related project.

You graduated from Lamar High School back in 1981. How old were you when you first realized you wanted to be an artist?

Art was always a good escape vehicle for me, but it wasn’t until after high school that I knew I could make a living at it. I spent one entire summer touring Western Europe through AIFS and bought art supplies all along the way. I did a lot of sketching and watercolors. At one point, I was in Salzburg and I was out of money, so I wrapped a shirt around my head and told some tourists I was from Tobago, and sold them two artworks. It was a major rush. Later, I was at the University of Houston working part-time as a travel agent, and on the side, I was hand-painting clothing and had a lot of commissions and consignments. I think that was the first time I remember knowing that the commerce side of art was possible.

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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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