HISD students develop STEM, literacy skills at Camp Adventure

It was no ordinary birthday for rising fifth-grader Cameron, who celebrated turning eleven years old with a birthday song serenade from a group of teachers, students and Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan during Camp Adventure at HISD’s Atherton Elementary School.  

Cameron, along with hundreds of other students from around the district, is spending his summer break immersed in a flurry of STEAM activities at the camp, which is sponsored by The Children’s Museum of Houston and the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation.  

“I love Camp Adventure because we get to do a lot of fun science activities,” Cameron said. “We’ve already made a balloon rocket, a glider and guacamole.”  

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Michelle Wagner named new principal of Wisdom High School

Michelle Wagner has been selected as the new principal of Wisdom High School. After 17 years in education including 12 years at Spring Branch ISD, Wagner began her service with HISD at Wisdom in 2014 as an ELA teacher specialist and has most recently served as dean of instruction and associate principal. As a member of the instructional leadership team at Wisdom, Wagner helped develop and implement an effective double-blocked master schedule that includes in-school interventions and a specialized ESL program to meet the academic needs of the campus’ diverse multicultural ESL student population. She has a bachelor’s in Psychology from Texas A&M University and a master’s in Educational Administration from University of St. Thomas.

Luis Landa named new principal of Chavez High School

Luis Landa has been selected as the new principal at Chavez High School. Landa has spent his educational career at HISD, where he has served as a science teacher at McReynolds Middle School, a teacher specialist at Henry Middle School, assistant principal at Austin High School, and most recently principal at Sutton Elementary School. While serving at Sutton Elementary, Landa was responsible in the campus being consistently ranked in the top quarter of all schools in the district and state. Sutton was also recognized numerous times as a Gold Ribbon School by Children at Risk during his tenure. He holds a bachelor’s in Biology from University of Texas at San Antonio, a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from University of St. Thomas, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from University of Houston.

Ericka Austin named new principal of High School Ahead Academy

Ericka Austin has been selected as the new principal of High School Ahead Academy. Austin began her career supporting school improvement in Haiti designing outreach programs for students living in group homes, followed by a teaching career in Arlington, Texas. At HISD, she has served as a teacher specialist and a data-driven instructional specialist. Austin was a part of the leadership team at Marshall Elementary that successfully moved to a met standard rating. She has also held leadership roles at High School Ahead and Booker T. Washington High School. Austin earned her bachelor’s degree at University of Central Arkansas and a Master of Business Administration from University of Arkansas.

Alejandro Lopez named new principal of Clemente Martinez Elementary School

Alejandro Lopez has been named principal of Clemente Martinez Elementary School, where he assisted the campus in making double digit gains in mathematics across all grade levels and increased mastery and met performance on STAAR. His previous experience includes administrator at Reagan K8, where he also assisted in making double digit gains in mathematics for third- through eighth-grade. He has also served as an Apollo coordinator for Lawson Middle School, where he oversaw the biggest Apollo campus in the district with over 27 tutors. Lopez holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Houston-Downtown and a master’s in Educational Administration from Lamar University.

Maria Guerra named new principal of J.P. Henderson Elementary School

Maria Guerra has been selected as the new principal of J.P. Henderson Elementary School. Guerra began her career with HISD as a teacher assistant at J.P. Henderson and has also served as a teacher at Davila Elementary School before moving into a leadership role as a teacher specialist at Helms Elementary School. During her tenure at Helms, Guerra was instrumental in helping lead the campus out of Improvement Required (IR) to meet state accountability standards. Most recently, she returned to Davila as a teacher specialist and assistant principal. She holds a bachelor’s in Interdisciplinary Studies from University of Houston-Downtown and a master’s in Educational Administration from Lamar University.

HISD Board of Education approves budget to raise minimum wage to $14 an hour

With a vote of 5-1, HISD’s Board of Education passed the budget for the 2019-2020 school year that will increase the district’s minimum wage from $12 an hour to $14 an hour. 

Trustees proposed and adopted an amendment that included $17 million in department cuts but any staff reductions as a result would be offset by utilizing fund balance. 

The spending plan mandates that district employees will see no increase in health insurance premiums.

The budget approved provides teachers, full-time counselors, full-time nurses, full-time librarians and other educational professionals with raises ranging from 3.5 percent to 8 percent, depending on years of service in HISD.

Trustees also approved increasing bus drivers’ minimum wage to $18/an hour.

The board also approved an amendment to provide no raises for staff earning more than $75,000 per year.  Instead, these employees would receive a one-time bonus of $1000 and two extra vacation days.

HISD’s administrators had presented a balanced budget for consideration to the Board of Education that included raises for every district employee and no staff reductions.

Several other amendments were made by Trustees which administrators will be analyzing over the next several days to incorporate into the budget.

Astros, Chevron kick off ‘Wins for Kids’ initiative at Young ES

After a rainy start to the week the sun shone brightly on HISD students from Young Elementary School on Wednesday as they were treated to a visit from Houston Astros star outfielder Myles Straw and mascot Orbit to help kick off the “Wins for Kids” Initiative. 

Chevron and the Houston Astros Foundation have teamed up to launch the new program, which invests in local youth organizations. Throughout the 2019 season, they will each donate $500 for every Astros win to a local youth charity.

Young Elementary was chosen to be the initiative’s first recipient.

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