As local public health conditions improve, HISD moves COVID-19 Gauge from red to orange

As local public health conditions continue to improve based on data, the Houston Independent School District will be moving its COVID Gauge from red to orange, a measure that allows students to return to classrooms and employees to return full-time to district workspaces.

The decision to shift from red to orange was based on the 14-Day Average Harris County COVID-19 positivity rate in conjunction with the implementation of enhanced safety protocols and guidance from public health and education officials.

Data shows that the 14-day average in Harris County has been under 7 percent for more than two weeks. Per the HISD COVID Gauge, the move to orange requires the average to be between 4 and 7 percent.  

Continue reading →

Transportation finalizing new routes for returning students; parents to be notified next week

Transportation Services is finalizing bus routes for eligible riders who have indicated to the district they plan to return for in-person learning and preparing to notify parents of assigned routes next week.

School bus service will be limited when in-person instruction resumes on Oct. 19 due to physical distancing and its impact on bus capacity. Under the HISD Communicable Disease Plan, buses will run at half capacity with just 26 students.

To accommodate the reduced capacity, bus service will be limited to special education, homeless, elementary, and specialty school students. Service also may be provided for some students in middle school as well as those who live along high-risk routes if resources are available.

Continue reading →

HISD transitioning to twice-weekly curbside meal pickup, launching weekly community food distributions

As the district prepares to resume in-person learning this month, Nutrition Services is transitioning from daily to twice-weekly curbside pickup for student meals and launching two Neighborhood Supersites as part of a weekly community food distribution initiative.

The move to twice-weekly campus-based curbside pickup begins Monday, Oct. 12 thanks to a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It allows families to pick up several days’ worth of meals at each pickup — three on Mondays and four on Thursdays.

Neighborhood Supersites are designed to provide standing times and locations where the community can pick up 32 pounds of groceries — including produce, dairy, and meat — for their families, as well as a week’s worth of student meals.

Continue reading →

HISD Board approves $41 million budget amendment

$2.3 million in grants for mental health, afterschool supports also approved

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education voted 8-0 with one abstention to approve a $41 million budget amendment to fund additional supports for special education, pay for personal protective equipment (PPE), enhanced cleaning services and supplies, and computer devices and hotspots.

The extra funding for special education amounts to $17 million and has been under consideration since August of 2020. The funding will pay primarily for assigning speech-language pathologists to campuses where students in need have been identified and allow for expansion of the number of existing Intensive Intervention Teams. The funding will also pay for the addition of mental health specialists to address students’ emotional and behavioral challenges. The district will also use the additional funding to increase the number of occupational and physical therapists and assistive technology specialists.

The board also adopted by a vote of 9-0 the district’s 2020 tax rate of $1.1331 per $100 of taxable property value to allow the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector to begin the preparation of 2020 tax bills.

Continue reading →

Attend a virtual parent information session on Gifted and Talented programs

HISD’s Gifted and Talented department is offering virtual parent-information sessions on Gifted and Talented, often referred to as simply G/T, for parents who would like to learn more about HISD’s G/T programs.  

HISD provides two program options for Gifted and Talented (G/T) students Vanguard Magnet and Vanguard Neighborhood programs. The Vanguard Neighborhood programs are designed to meet the needs of G/T students at the school to which they are zoned, and the Vanguard Magnet program provides an environment where G/T students can work with their peers at a Vanguard Magnet School. 

All HISD K-12 schools offer programs designed to meet the needs of G/T students. Both programs provide a differentiated curriculum by modifying the depth, complexity, and pacing of the general school program.  

Continue reading →

Bellaire HS student named national ’Young Hero’

A Bellaire High School senior was recently named a winner of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes for her work connecting those who may go hungry with those who can supply free, nutritious food.

Annie Zhu is one of only 15 winners of the prestigious award that recognizes inspiring, public-spirited young people from diverse backgrounds who live in North America.  

Zhu is the co-founder of Fresh Hub, which collects food from Houston-area grocery stores and bakeries and then distributes it to Houston neighborhoods that have been deemed food deserts. To date, Fresh Hub has collected 10,000 pounds of food and distributed it to more than 1,400 people.

Continue reading →

HISD to hold Virtual Multilingual Parent Leadership Conference on Oct. 24

The Houston Independent School District’s Office of Multilingual Education will hold its annual 4th Annual Virtual Parent Leadership Conference for parents to learn supports and strategies that will help students to be successful while learning from home.  

The conference will be held virtually from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, October 24. The conference is designed for parents and guardians of HISD students.  

This year’s conference will feature a variety of workshops on how parents can work with their children at home. The conference will feature recognized speakers who will inform and inspire parents of English Learners to become advocates for their children’s education. Sessions will be offered in English and Spanish. Translation will be available.

Continue reading →

D.A.R.E. program returns to district with HISD PD training program

The Houston Independent School District announced the return of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program to select HISD schools at a press conference on Monday.

“I am so very excited about D.A.R.E. returning to HISD,” Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said. “We are determined to ensure that all students not only receive a quality education but that they come to school not under the influence and prepared to receive that quality education.”

In partnership with state Rep. Jarvis Johnson, D.A.R.E. America, the HISD Police Department, and the Houston Police Department, the program will initially train 35 HISD PD officers and seven HPD officers on teaching evidence-based prevention education curricula to students.

Continue reading →

HISD crossing guards help students maintain physical distancing at Digital Learning Centers

As an HISD crossing guard, Mary Campbell has always placed a strong focus on student safety as she carefully ushered students across busy streets. This fall, her mission is no different – but her job is.

Campbell is one of 72 school crossing guards tasked with helping students maintain physical distancing at HISD’s 36 Digital Learning Centers, which provide students without technology a place to complete virtual lessons during HISD’s online-only first six weeks of school.

With the help of physical distancing floor markers, Campbell keeps each student six feet apart and leads them down the hall to breakfast.

Continue reading →