The Houston Independent School District will kick off its third year of Parent University on Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. with the first of six virtual workshops.
The workshops will connect parents and children to resources offered by the district to create successful academic careers as well as safe and healthy environments at home and at school.
Continue readingA total of 20 Houston Independent School District students from six high schools have been selected as winners of National Merit Scholarships this year with the final four recipients named this week.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) annually selects winners in three categories: awards funded by corporations-recipients were named in April, awards funded by NMSC-recipients were named in May, and awards sponsored by institutions of higher learning-the first group of recipients were named in June. The final four HISD scholarship winners are in the second and final group of recipients who won awards funded by colleges and universities.
Continue readingHISD families now have until July 31 to complete the application necessary to receive the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT), a one-time benefit for families who lost access to free or reduced-price meals due to school closures.
The application is available online at yourtexasbenefits.com/Learn/PEBT.
The $1 billion benefit program was approved by the United States Department of Agriculture to help eligible families buy food during the COVID-19 pandemic. The one-time benefit of up to $285 will be issued on an EBT card, which can be used as a debit card to assist families in buying food from any retailer that accepts the Texas Lone Star Card.
Continue readingTwo HISD students earned study abroad scholarships after delivering inspiring speeches during the district’s inaugural virtual HISD Global Issues Summit and speech competition.
Ritika Gupta, an eighth-grader at Lanier Middle School gave a passionate speech about gender equality, and Nusaibah Arif, a junior at Sharpstown International High School, showcased Houston’s diversity by delivering her speech in Bengali about the Bengali Language Movement. These two students will receive a full scholarship to study abroad – when global travel safely resumes – from HISD Abroad partners, The Puranik Foundation and Amigos de las Américas.
The two HISD students had their voices amplified by UNICEF USA, who announced the winners and included their speeches in an article published on the UNICEF USA website.
Continue readingConstruction at Bellaire High School is now more than 50 percent complete, with the new school expected to be ready for students this time next year.
Crews have installed the roof structure for the new building, which includes wings for academics, fine arts, and physical education. The academic wing is now closed in and air-conditioned, with construction crews currently working on the finishing touches, including tiling and flooring.
Crews also are working on overhead construction in the auditorium high ceilings, digging out the pool and diving well, and construction of the interior walls in the athletics area. Air conditioning is expected to be flowing through the entire building by the end of July.
Continue readingAlthough the Houston Independent School District is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, construction work has continued on several 2012 Bond realignment projects across the district.
Realignment projects are new, board-approved projects that were not part of the original scope of work but are funded by surplus bond funds. The projects include natatoriums at Milby, Washington, and Yates high schools, Westbury High School’s fine arts wing, and Sharpstown International School’s dining canopy.
Milby’s natatorium is 98 percent complete. Construction Services is coordinating with HISD Technology and HISD Security Maintenance for remaining minor work. The pool will be ready for the 2020-2021 school year.
Continue readingFollowing a statewide call on Tuesday between school district superintendents and Commissioner of Education Mike Morath, I wanted to provide an update on plans for the 2020-2021 school year – which remain to be finalized.
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the situation remains fluid as we try to determine next steps on what the school year will look like. During his presentation, the commissioner emphasized that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is working with Gov. Greg Abbott’s medical advisors to establish public health guidance for school districts. While preliminary information has been provided by TEA, final guidance will not be available until mid-July.
Continue readingIn response to the unique challenges presented by COVID-19, the Houston Independent School District hired nearly 100 interns to tutor students remotely this summer.
HISD quickly pivoted its traditional Summer Student Leadership Program, in which students are hired for in-person internships in a variety of departments, to providing high-quality academic instruction virtually.
The district is committed to ensuring that students have access to competitive summer employment opportunities. This comes at a time when companies across the country are rescinding previously slated student job and internship offers. Despite the circumstances, HISD students can gain paid real-world work experience, develop their soft skills, and become more competitive applicants for colleges, scholarships, and jobs.
Continue readingNearly 2,000 district and school-based employees gathered online for HISD’s first-ever all virtual Professional Learning Series (PLS), three days of professional development, team building, and preparation for the upcoming 2020-21 school year.
The theme of this year’s event, which took place June 15-17, was “Virtual Learning and Beyond: Bridging Gaps with Strong Systems.” A major focus of the series included preparing for a virtual school system, as well as management best practices and guidance for schools and teachers on how to support students engaged in online learning.
“We are embracing the virtual learning space across HISD, and PLS this summer is no exception,” Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said during the recorded general session. “It is our goal that our leaders rejuvenate, renew and reimagine the possibilities for the upcoming school year.”
Continue readingWhen Bellaire High School Senior Madison Olds thinks back on the past three months, she does so with a sense of bittersweet nostalgia.
She thinks about the missed basketball, baseball, and soccer games where, as a cheerleader, she didn’t get to cheer her teams on to victory. She thinks about the missed trips to Chick-Fil-A for lunch with her friends.
She thinks about missing her senior luncheon, joining with her cap-and-gown-clad classmates for their senior class picture, and graduation practice — all part of an annual Senior Week that she had been looking forward to since she was a freshman.
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