HISD is hitting the highways around the city to promote the district’s Reconnect Safely, Return Strong reopening plan for the 2020-2021 school year.
Four billboards have been posted around town on some of Houston’s most heavily traveled roadways, including:
The Houston Independent School District will provide free breakfast and lunch to students for the 2020-2021 school year, but parents will still need to fill out a new socioeconomic form.
Because all HISD students qualify for free breakfast and lunch parents will not need to complete and return a free and reduced-price meal application. However, HISD is still required to collect and report the socioeconomic status of each student via a blue form that is then sent to the Texas Education Agency. This ensures campuses receive Title I funding.
Parents must complete and return one form to each school where they have a child enrolled. A form is not needed for pre-K students who have been qualified based on proof of income eligibility or homeless status.
Continue readingAs the afternoon sun bore down on NRG Park, HISD Nutrition Services staff stood under the shade of tents with misting fans and bottled water.
With the clock moving closer to 2 p.m., they busily prepared for the thousands of people queueing up in lines that snaked through the parking lot — all waiting for food.
Coordinated by Nutrition Services in partnership with the Houston Food Bank, the mass community food distribution was the first of three planned for this month at NRG.
Continue readingThe Houston Independent School District Board of Education approved a $54.6 million amendment to the 2020-2021 budget, which includes a $31 million purchase of devices and wireless hotspots to help close the digital divide and ensure students are equipped to Reconnect Safely and Return Strong when classes resume virtually on Sept. 8.
The district has provided 76,362 devices for students in need since the pandemic and plans to distribute 22,750 additional devices by next month. HISD has provided 6,628 hotspots for students in need and plans to distribute an additional 19,151 of the wireless devices by next month as well.
The added appropriations in the budget amendment will also fund additional special education positions, personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing signage, plexiglass dividers, and instructional supports.
Continue readingThe Houston Independent School District, in partnership with the Houston Food Bank, is hosting mass community food distributions on in August at NRG Stadium.
Nutrition Services staff are expected to distribute 5,000 food packages as well as 5,000 packages of student meals. The family food packages will have up to 60 pounds of food, while each student meals package will contain a week’s worth of breakfast and lunch meals.
Distribution is open from 2 to 7 p.m. on Aug. 14, Aug. 21, and Aug. 28 in the NRG yellow lot. Attendees must enter via the yellow lot main entrance off South Main Street. During the final distribution — on Aug. 28 only — families also will receive school supplies donated by T-Mobile, Reliant, and Kroger.
Continue readingHISD @ H.O.M.E. TV lessons will continue this fall, and teachers will be able to develop content to be broadcast across various platforms.
Starting on Aug. 10, area offices will distribute a survey to collect basic information from interested teachers, such as school, grade level, subject, and language. Teachers who complete the survey will receive a link to upload a 10-minute video lesson by Aug. 17.
A committee will use a rubric to assess the submissions and select 25 teachers to submit a weekly lesson during the fall semester for the grade level band and subject of their application submission. Selected teachers will be announced on Aug. 21 and will receive a stipend.
Continue readingNutrition Services received top honors for its school-based initiatives and ongoing community outreach in Food Management magazine’s 2020 Best Concept awards competition.
The department was named Editor’s Choice Best Concept Awards Best of Show for their efforts to feed families during the COVID-19 pandemic, expand salad bars to all campuses, and launch a food literacy program to help students understand the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.
The magazine also highlighted the department’s Good Food campaign, which calls for all students to have access to nutritious food that is flavorful, colorful, wholesome, and locally sourced, and recognized the team for successfully converting from third-party management to self-operating status.
Continue readingCars covered with colorful banners and balloons lined up to participate in the district’s annual Welcome Back event this week, which took on a different format from previous years due to COVID-19 precautions.
Each car held an HISD principal and was decorated to represent their respective campus. District leadership, including HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan, danced to the music played by the DJ on site.
“This is the kickoff to the 2020-2021 school year, the Year of Flexibility,” Lathan said. “We are excited to receive over 210,000 students back to HISD. My goal is for all HISD students to be within reach and able to obtain a quality education.”
Continue reading
Sam Houston MSTC Plumbing and Pipes Trades teacher Raul Ortega has been named one of 50 finalists from across the nation for the 2020 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence.
The award, which was started in 2017 by national tool retailer Harbor Freight Tools founder Eric Smidt, recognizes outstanding instruction in skilled trades in U.S. public high schools.
Ortega, a licensed plumber, is entering his ninth year at Sam Houston MSTC. Ortega’s hands-on classroom includes bathroom and kitchen simulators where students learn to install fixtures and piping systems using curriculum from the National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER). Students enrolled in the program also perform basic plumbing repairs for homeowners in the Sam Houston MSTC community and learn directly from local employers who visit Ortega’s classroom regularly to hire graduating seniors.
Continue readingThe Houston Independent School District will soon launch an online course designed to provide parents with the tools needed to support their child’s transition to the online classroom this fall.
The Parent Introduction to Virtual Learning online course will be available on Monday, Aug. 10 at HoustonISD.org/ParentCourse. It is designed to introduce virtual learning and provide guidance to parents on the HISD @ H.OM.E platform. The course should be completed no later than Friday, Sept. 4.
Continue reading