The Office of Strategy & Innovation is excited to announce HISD’s third annual College & Career Readiness Month (CCR Month) in October.
CCR Month is a fun and creative way to engage students and introduce them to a variety of college and career options. This year’s theme is “Take Control: Explore. Design. Launch Your Future!” Each week of the month will highlight a specific CCR theme, including:
Continue readingOctober is National Principals Month and the Houston Independent School District is encouraging all students, parents, staff, and community members to honor and thank district principals.
The American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA), the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) have partnered to celebrate these education leaders.
HISD students, parents, staff, and community members can download the district’s custom e-cards at HoustonISD.org/PrincipalsMonth to post them on social media and show their appreciation.
Continue readingSpecial Education records which have been collected by the Houston Independent School District (HISD) related to the identification, evaluation, educational placement, or the provision of Special Education in the district, must be maintained under state and federal laws for a period of five years after Special Education services have ended for the student. Special Education services end when the student is no longer eligible for services, graduates, completes his or her educational program at age 22, or moves from the district.
Continue readingThousands of students will soon start building their at-home library thanks to a new district partnership that will bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library “Book a Month” program to families in eight HISD ZIP codes.
“I am excited to get books for my son because he just started preschool, and we are all about education in our family,” HISD parent Fiona Deshotel said during the program’s kick-off event at Sherman Elementary School. “This is so important because it helps the community, as well as the kids that go to this school.”
In partnership with Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, Books Between Kids, PNC Bank, St. James Family Life Center, and the Waltrip Family Foundation, more than 5,000 children will be enrolled in the book-gifting program that will provide young Houstonians access to books by mailing a book directly to their home each month until they turn 5.
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The official filing period for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, opens October 1 for students planning on attending college in the fall of 2021.
Filling out the FAFSA is the first step toward getting many different types of financial aid for school and finishing the FAFSA early is the best way to maximize college-award packages.
When applying for student aid, timing matters. Each year, the Office of Federal Student Aid offers more than $120 billion through grants, loans, and work-study funds to help students pay for higher education. Priority for this money will be given to students who apply before the priority consideration deadline.
Continue readingThe Houston Independent School District is preparing for students and staff to return to classrooms and office workspaces over the coming weeks.
The district’s top priority during this phase of returning to in-person work is the health and safety of students and staff. HISD is partnering with Axiom Medical to support employees. Axiom Medical has nurses on staff available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, as well as a chief medical officer. The Axiom Medical health screening app will help employees determine whether it is safe for them to come into work.
Effective Monday, September 28, all employees must use Axiom Medical’s Checkin2work (CI2W) app to log in and complete a daily self-attestation before arriving at work. The daily self-attestation consists of answering COVID-19-related questions. Employees without internet access should call HISD’s Health and Medical Services at (713) 556-7280 to complete the daily self-attestation.
Continue readingVirtual Community Meeting 2 (ENGLISH ONLY)
Thursday, Oct. 15, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Zoom Meeting Link: https://bit.ly/2SkKKiL
Passcode: hYT3qT
The HISD Board of Education will host two community meetings ahead of a vote to set new district goals for student outcomes. All meetings are virtual and open to the public.
Trustees are scheduled to vote on the goals during a special meeting on Thursday, Oct. 22.
“Our mission as the Board of Education is to educate the whole child so that every student in HISD graduates with the tools to reach their full potential,” HISD Board President Sue Deigaard said. “As we discuss and consider new goals for student outcomes in our district, we want to better understand the views of our communities, which is why public participation in these community meetings is important to us.”
Continue readingAs HISD prepares for a return to in-person instruction on Oct. 19, the district has launched a COVID-19 dashboard to keep the community informed about the impact of the pandemic.
Designed to ensure transparency, the online dashboard will track the number of confirmed COVID-19 on-campus student and staff cases. It will go live at 1 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 28.
“As we navigate this pandemic together, we want to ensure that we are transparent as we provide crucial updates,” HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan said. “This new dashboard will give our staff members and families the information they need in an accessible and easy-to-use way to make informed decisions.”
Continue readingHISD is partnering with Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, Books Between Kids, PNC Bank, St. James Family Life Center and the Waltrip Family Foundation to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to up to 5,000 children in Houston.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that provides free books to children from birth to age 5 in participating communities within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Ireland. Dolly Parton launched Imagination Library in 1995 to foster a love of reading among her home county’s preschool children. Today, the program gifts over a million books to children around the world each month.
Part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the “Book a Month” program will provide young Houstonians access to books by mailing a book directly to their home each month until the child turns 5. Families who either reside or attend a school in the following zip codes can sign up to participate in the program: 77009, 77011, 77012, 77017, 77020, 77022, 77029 and 77087. The first book each child will receive via mail will be Dolly Parton’s favorite—The Little Engine That Could.
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High school juniors from across HISD are invited to join NASA in exploring the moon to Mars through its High School Aerospace Scholars program.
NASA wants today’s students to become the engineers, scientists, researchers and innovators of tomorrow. High School Aerospace Scholars offers a one-of-a-kind experience for Texas high school students to explore the possibilities of a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related major or career.
The experience begins this fall with an online interactive course on NASA activities related to space exploration, Earth science, technology, mathematics and aeronautics. Students complete design challenges including 3D drawings, science quizzes, discussion posts, technology writings and monthly webinars with NASA scientists and engineers.
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