Category Archives: Wraparound services

Assistant principal’s challenging youth helps him mentor students in disciplinary program

When you meet Tristan Love, assistant principal at HISD’s Secondary DAEP campus, you first notice how polite and smartly dressed he is – wearing a light gray suit, pink bowtie, and polished shoes. He has a sparkle in his eye and a smile for everyone. It’s a far cry from his former life as a gang member.

Love’s politeness and respect extend to his students at the school, who are among the most behaviorally challenged students in HISD. They all have been sent to Secondary DAEP from their home campuses, many of them gang members. But this doesn’t faze Love. He’s living proof that coming from poverty, a broken home, being a gang member, and living a life of violence doesn’t mean you can’t have a bright future.

“I tell my students, my job is to serve you,” Love said. “If I hadn’t run into the caring adults I did when I was younger, I don’t really know where I’d be.” Continue reading →

Project Prom this weekend to help students in need receive free formal attire

The Houston Independent School District Student Assistance Department will provide free dresses, tuxedos, shoes, and accessories to hundreds of homeless and at-risk high school seniors planning to go to prom.

The third annual Project Prom event will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 7, at Pin Oak Middle School (4601 Glenmont St. Bellaire, 77401). Students will be able to select formal attire from a wide selection of dresses and menswear.

The event also will include college and career resources; health services, including meningitis shots, which are required for all incoming Texas college students; free food; and giveaways.

Superintendent updates collaborative on HISD wraparound services efforts

The trauma of Hurricane Harvey continues to affect students in HISD and across the Houston area, HISD Superintendent Richard Carranza told a behavioral health collaborative on Friday.

Representatives from more than 20 school districts gathered at the Center for School Behavioral Health collaborative luncheon at the United Way for an update on what HISD is doing to meet the mental health needs of students and teachers in the wake of the hurricane.

HISD Superintendent Carranza spoke about how critically important social and emotional services are to ensure that students are ready to learn. Continue reading →

Personal stories exemplify how HISD is rebuilding, reimagining education

‘We could be anywhere, and we would still be Robinson’

If anyone could find a silver lining amid the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey, it’s Robinson Elementary School Principal Paige Fernandez-Hohos. After being flooded with more than a foot of water, Robinson was relocated and students split between two adjacent campuses. Though not ideal, the situation made Fernandez-Hohos determined to give students a sense of normalcy. Vacant rooms and hallways sprung to life with decorations. Auditorium and gym spaces were transformed into cozy classrooms to accommodate more students. Fernandez-Hohos trekked back and forth between the two campuses. If she started the day welcoming students at one school, she ended it saying goodbye to students at the other. It was important, she said, that every class see her every day. Robinson students returned to their home campus in January, but Fernandez-Hohos said the storm taught her a valuable lesson about the spirit of her school: “When everything else is stripped away, all you’re left with is the bond between teachers and students. We could be anywhere, and we would still be Robinson.”

Continue reading →

Wraparound services at center of new districtwide initiative

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Campus specialists to coordinate non-academic supports for students

Wisdom High’s School’s new Wraparound Resource Specialist Wagma Isaqzoy has only officially been on the job for a few weeks, but her efforts are already making a lasting impact on students.

Recently, with the help of the nonprofit group Be the Peace Be the Hope and the support of Wisdom High School’s ESL Department, Isaqzoy organized a three-day workshop for 200 of the school’s newcomer students. The workshop focused on the unique social and emotional needs of being new to the United States and culminated with a celebration event on campus Dec 11. At the event, students received a Citizenship Month certificate from the Houston Mayor’s Office of New Americas. Continue reading →

Achieve 180 campuses providing literacy and wraparound supports for students

Leaders from Dogan ES and Henry MS provide progress update to board

Students at Patrick Henry Middle School are getting intense support and specialized interventions to improve their literacy skills as part of the district’s Achieve 180 initiative. The campus has added a literacy specialist, is utilizing a universal screener to determine student reading levels, and is providing literacy report cards for every student.

“We will be having meetings for all of our parents to go over the report cards so they can understand what level their child is at,” said Principal Kenneth Brantley. “Plus we are going to provide them with free resources and things they can do at home to directly support their child in reading and writing.” Continue reading →

HISD to host Dream Summit for students on Dec. 9

Event to help students apply for college, financial aid

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The HISD Office of College and Career Readiness and Multilingual Programs departments will be hosting the third-annual Dream Summit to assist students with the college application and financial aid processes on Saturday, Dec. 9, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St., Houston 77092.

High school students and their families are encouraged to attend the free event. Students should contact their campus college-access coordinator, counselor, or college-success adviser regarding transportation. Five seniors will have a chance to win $500 scholarships for college.

The event aims to help HISD DREAMers, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients, visa holders, permanent residents, refugees, and asylum grantees, along with their families. Students will have the opportunity to speak with district representatives who will help them learn more about financial aid requirements and guide them through the application process.  Continue reading →

HISD to open nine meal centers

The Houston Independent School District will be supporting relief efforts in communities across Houston by providing meals to families and individuals affected by the recent floods. Starting on Saturday, Sept. 2, HISD’s Nutrition Services will be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner free of charge at nine sites in the Houston area. The meals will be available on a first-come, first-served basis to all community members. Continue reading →

Superintendent outlines priorities at ‘Welcome Back’ event

Achieve 180, wraparound services, and restorative justice practices are priorities for 2017-2018 school year

Superintendent Richard Carranza outlined HISD’s top priorities for the 2017-2018 school year to school and district leaders at the annual “Welcome Back” back event on August 11.

Nearly 1,200 principals, deans, assistant principals, and district leaders packed Delmar Fieldhouse to hear Carranza’s message, which celebrated the successes of the previous year and outlined goals, initiatives, and challenges for the coming year.