Category Archives: HISD: Our Story

Superintendent, HISD staff kick off Harvey relief donation drive at Delmar Fieldhouse

Volunteers arrived early on Friday, Sept. 1 at Delmar Fieldhouse to receive donations from Houstonians and local organizations who want to help HISD students and families recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath.

Superintendent Richard Carranza joined HISD administrators, employees, teachers, and students in accepting and sorting donations into boxes lining the perimeter of Delmar.

“We have lots of HISD family here,” said Carranza. “We have lots of teachers, administrators, and support staff, but we also have community volunteers, having a great time and doing a good thing for our community. So come on down and join us as we help Houston recover.”

The district is collecting new, unused clothing, uniforms, pillows, blankets, shoes, undergarments, socks, deodorant, hand sanitizer, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other hygiene items, as well as new professional dress for impacted staff.

“Our goals is to provide the essentials — shoes, uniforms, undergarments, hygiene items, and even sleeping bags,” said Annvi Utter, officer of Student Support Services. “We are also very excited that HISD is going to be providing three meals a day to students. That will help with after-school programming and tutorials.”

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Many HISD teachers were on hand in the fieldhouse sorting donations. Continue reading

HISD to serve meals free of charge to students all year

HISD will serve meals free of charge to students all year, thanks to a combination of waivers and programs at the state and federal level.

HISD serves free breakfast in the classroom all year long, but support for the morning meal will also come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas Department of Agriculture until Sept. 30. The departments will also help HISD serve lunch free of charge to the one-third of HISD students not already covered by the Community Eligibility Program. Earlier this year, HISD certified 191 schools to participate in the Community Eligibility Program and receive free breakfast and lunch.

The district will work with both the USDA and TDA to gain additional guidance on extending their support beyond Sept. 30. Continue reading

Achieve 180 debuts with parade and community event in Sunnyside

Worthing feeder pattern schools join forces for ‘Southside Takeover’

HISD Superintendent Richard Carranza took to the streets of the Sunnyside community on Saturday, Aug. 19, for the first ever “Southside Takeover,” a back-to-school bash to kick-off the start of the 2017-2018 school year and the start of Achieve180.

“Achieve 180 is more than a plan or initiative,” said Carranza. “It’s a movement to better serve our historically underserved and academically challenged schools.”

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The “Southside Takeover” featured Carranza at the helm of a parade with students, staff, and parents from Worthing High School, along with various other campuses in the south area, and a resource fair for families with free immunizations, school supplies, backpacks, uniforms, food, and entertainment. Continue reading

New structure to strengthen student interventions

Campus-based Intervention Assistance Team liaison to train teachers during pre-service

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The HISD Office of Interventions is implementing a new initiative and new structure for the 2017-2018 school year aimed at directly helping campuses strengthen student interventions.

Part of the new initiative is the appointment of campus-based liaisons at all schools who will work directly with the district’s Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) managers to better serve students with tiered instruction. The IAT manager structure has also been reorganized to align with the regions of the seven chief school officers and a new position, Director of Interventions, has been created.   Continue reading