Category Archives: Middle Schools

HISD seeks community input on plan to increase class time

HISD has scheduled 10 public meetings to gather community input on a plan to add 19 minutes to the average student’s school day by coordinating the bell schedule among the district’s 279 schools.

If approved, the extra 19 minutes of daily instructional time would be equal to an extra seven full days of school by the end of the school year. In addition, the plan would save HISD $1.2 million as the district seeks to address a $34 million deficit caused by the Texas Legislature’s decision last year to cut public funding.

Under this plan, every HISD school would have an instructional day that is 7 ½ hours long.  Currently, HISD schools have about 20 different start and end times.  Under the option presented, schools would operate on the following bell schedule:

  • Approximately half of all elementary schools would operate from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Approximately half of all elementary schools would operate from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • All middle schools would operate from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
  • All high schools would operate from 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

The cost savings in this plan would come from a much more efficient school bus operation that would allow many buses to drive more routes than is currently possible.  However before a final decision is made, HISD will be gathering input at a series of community meetings held in locations throughout the district. Principals are also being asked to meet with their communities to gather additional input. 

The public meetings are scheduled for the following dates and locations:

  • April 3 (Tuesday) – 6-7 p.m.  
    • Austin HS (1700 Dumble)
    • Bellaire HS (5100 Maple Street)
    • Chavez HS (8501 Howard)
  • April 4 (Wednesday) – 6-7 p.m.  
    • Lamar  HS (3325 Westheimer)
    • Sharpstown HS (7504 Bissonnet)
    • Waltrip HS – (1900 West 34th )
  • April 9 (Monday) – Noon-1 p.m.
    • Hattie Mae Educational Support Center (4400 W. 18th Street)
  • April 10 (Tuesday) – 6-7 p.m.
    • Wheatley HS (4801 Providence)
    • Worthing HS (9215 Scott)
    • Yates HS (3703 Sampson)

HISD has created an online survey for parents, students, and community members to provide feedback for the proposal. The survey also includes an open comment section. It can be found on the website http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HISDTimeSurvey.

HISD administration plans to analyze all of this feedback before making a formal proposal for the Board of Education’s consideration by May 17.  A detailed description of the plan can be found on the district’s website www.houstonisd.org.

HISD Hosts National Education Leaders for League of Innovative Schools Gathering

The Houston Independent School District hosted some of the country’s most innovative education leaders on Monday, March 19 for the second meeting of the League of Innovative Schools.

The League is an alliance of school districts committed to working with entrepreneurs, researchers, thought leaders and leading education companies to dramatically increase student achievement.  The League was launched in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education and Digital Promise, the new national center created by Congress to advance breakthroughs in education with technology.  The purpose of this initiative is to spur innovation in education and prepare all students to thrive in a 21st century economy.

HISD is one of 35 school districts across the country chosen to join this initiative.

Monday’s meeting explored the League’s role in transforming the education technology market.  Some of the League’s key initiatives include: accelerating the innovation cycle with real-time evaluations of education technologies, scaling innovation and sharing best practices on how to effectively use technology, and improving the K-12 marketplace by informing consumers and aggregating demand.

Among the speakers were Brad Allan, program manager from Harvard Education Innovation Laboratory; Jonathan Guryan, associate professor of human development and social policy and economics at Northwestern University; and Zoran Popovic, director of the Center for Game Science.

Johnston MS students win video contest celebrating “Five Ways Ed Pays” – see top entries

Johnston Middle School student Charli McBean is already actively looking at what colleges she wants to attend once she graduates. So when the College Board announced an HISD video contest celebrating the benefits of higher education, the teenager was quick to round up some of her fellow classmates and enter.

Click image to play Johnston's winning video.

“We all worked together as a group and we sat there and brainstormed and brainstormed until we finally came up with an idea,” McBean said. The end result is a music video that celebrates the “Five Ways Ed Pays” – better health, greater wealth, closer family, more security, and stronger community.

McBean and her Johnston teammates Zoe Caballero, Alicia Bozeman, and Anthony Okoro were recently honored for their creative efforts at the February HISD Board of Education meeting. Their winning video was shown to a packed crowd and all the students received new iPads from the College Board.

Also receiving iPads and iPods for their winning videos were two other student teams from Johnston and a team from Furr High School.

First place video produced by Johnston Middle School students Zoe Caballero, Alicia Bozeman, Charli McBean, and Anthony Okoro.

Second place video produced by Johnston Middle School students Josenique Gerard, Caroline Cweren, and Danielle Thompson.

Third place video produced by Furr High School students Alma Garcia, Jeffery Burgess, and Carlos Gerardo.

Fourth place video produced by Johnston Middle School students by Janet Asante, Tena Lewis, Payton Campbell, and Erin Parkin.

Two HISD Schools Win Chance to Test Projects in Space

Two HISD student science projects are cleared for lift off. Johnston Middle School and Parker Elementary School students will have their microgravity experiments included in Mission One to the International Space Station through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.

More than 1,000 students submitted proposals and 12 U.S. school communities were given the chance to compete. Johnston and Parker students recently learned that they were among a handful of winning schools whose projects will fly aboard a Soyuz rocket in the spring of 2013.

“The students are just ecstatic,” said Parker science teacher Rebecca Mitchell. “It’s a dream come true. They feel like they can do anything, that any dream can be realized.”

Johnston eighth-grader Emily H. Soice led her school’s winning project. Soice’s experiment explores whether a bioscaffold infused with the TGFB3 protein grows and forms cells faster in microgravity than in normal gravity. Bioscaffold is an artificial structure that can be implanted in the body to serve as a base where tissue can grow.

Soice’s research could lay the groundwork for the growth of replacement tissue, joints, and even organs.

At Parker Elementary School, fifth-grade students Maxx Denning, Michael Prince, and Aaron Stuart will test to see if liquid Vitamin C can preserve bone density in microgravity, which could be helpful to astronauts who stay in space over a long period of time.

Mitchell said the students worked after school, during their lunch break, and even on weekends to create their winning proposal. The students will conduct their Vitamin C experiment using a chicken bone.

“We are splitting a wishbone,” Max said. “Part of it will fly in space and part of it will stay here. It will float in a solution that includes Vitamin C for six weeks.”

Researchers, biologists, physicists and many others from institutions including Baylor College of Medicine, NASA, Rice University, University of Houston and Texas Southern University provided support for the project.

For more information, please visit www.ssep.ncesse.org.