HISD Director of Athletics named 2018 National Sport and Security Professional of the Year

HISD Director of Athletics Marmion Dambrino

HISD Director of Athletics Marmion Dambrino has been selected to receive the 2018 National Sport and Security Professional of the Year Award, presented by the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi.

The award recognizes a member of management in the field who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in addressing safety and security issues over the past year.

The honor is selected by each respective sport league, association, or advisory committee, and will be presented on Wednesday, July 11, during the 2018 National Sports Safety and Security Conference & Exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky.

HISD updates standardized school start times for the 2018-19 school year

The Houston Independent School District announces revisions to standardized start/dismissal times for the 2018-19 school year in order to improve our delivery of reliable and affordable transportation to our students.

The updated times include two notable changes:

  • PK-8 and K-8 schools will now be grouped with middle schools, rather than elementary schools to have a later start/dismissal time of 8:30 a.m.-3:50 p.m.
  • Ten minutes will be added to each day for high schools and 6-12 campuses to account for eight optional early release days for final exams. Their start/dismissal time will be 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Beginning next fall, the district will operate with the following standardized start/dismissal times: Continue reading →

HISD Board of Education passes resolution calling for action on school safety

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education during its regular April meeting voted to approve a resolution calling for federal action related to school shootings.

Trustees voted 8 to 0 to approve the resolution that acknowledges the Board of Education stands with the students of Broward County Public Schools, and students across the country including HISD in demanding effective and comprehensive action from the federal government to protect schoolchildren. The resolution includes a call for Congress to appropriate adequate new funds to allow the nation’s school districts to plan and coordinate school security efforts with law enforcement officials and make changes to buildings that may be necessary to protect students, teachers, and staff. Continue reading →

HISD PD dispatcher stays calm under pressure to help ensure safety

HISD PD dispatcher Raycinda Buxton

Sitting behind four large computer screens with a headset attached to her left ear, Raycinda Buxton spends her days responding to other people’s emergencies.

On any given day, the HISD Police Department dispatcher is answering 911 calls, dispatching officers, monitoring alarms and video surveillance — often all at the same time.    Continue reading →

HISD Board of Education to consider resolution calling for action on school safety

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education on Thursday will consider a resolution calling for federal action related to school shootings.

The board’s regular monthly meeting begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2018, in the Manuel Rodríguez Jr. Board Auditorium of the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St. Click here to view the full agenda.

Trustees are expected to consider a resolution acknowledging the Board stands with the students of Broward County Public Schools and students across the country, including HISD, in demanding effective and comprehensive action from the federal government to protect schoolchildren. Continue reading →

HISD elementary school students to perform at Shakespeare Festival

Wearing theatrical costumes and practicing their best Old English accents, approximately 100 elementary theater students from five HISD schools on Saturday will perform kid-friendly adaptations of select plays by William Shakespeare during HISD’s first-ever Shakespeare Festival for Elementary Schools.

This free event, which will be held at Tanglewood Middle School (5215 San Felipe St., Houston, 77056) from 2 to 4:30 p.m., coincides with Shakespeare’s birth and death month. It is a culmination of theater coursework for Crespo, Patterson, Poe, Herod and Sinclair elementary school students during the 2017-18 spring semester.   Continue reading →

#HISDStrong Toolkit launches as a tool to engage Houston community post-Harvey

As we all know, Hurricane Harvey had a devastating impact on our communities. Houston’s students, parents, teachers, and staff were impacted in one way or another, and the effect on classroom performance has yet to be determined. We’ve worked hard to fill the gaps and make the 2017-2018 school year as normal as possible, but many factors are simply out of our control.

This is the first week of STAAR testing statewide. The Texas Education Agency has not informed school districts of the cut scores or “goal post” of student achievement in the new accountability system. In addition, we learned this week that the TEA will announce in June how they will respond to Harvey-affected school districts for accountability purposes.

We need your help asking TEA for a one-year pause on accountability ratings and sanctions post-Harvey for all districts in the governor’s disaster-declared areas.

We have created the #HISDStrong Toolkit for you to contact the governor and TEA officials, along with key state leaders. We hope you utilize this toolkit to reach out to state leaders via email, regular mail, or Twitter. It is a guide to help you and others effectively ask our state leaders for a one-year pause in state accountability and reprieve from state sanctions.

We are not afraid of accountability. But our children deserve relief as our communities still recover from one of the worst floods in American history. In addition, the state did a one-year pause after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike.

We cannot successfully impact the policy decisions of our elected and appointed leaders without the support of our communities. They need to hear from you.  Your voice moves the needle.

We are #HoustonStrong and #HISDStrong because of your support. There is no greater tool for effecting change than the unified voice of a community.

For a digital version of the toolkit, visit HoustonISD.org/HISDStrong.

For a downloadable version of the toolkit, click here.

 

HISD COO Brian Busby named one of Houston’s top 40 under 40

HISD Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby

Houston Independent School District Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby has been named as one of the Houston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 for 2018.

The list honors young professionals in Houston who have become key leaders in their respective industries and in the community. Judges selected the honorees based on leadership, community involvement, and the ability to overcome challenges.

“I am truly honored to be selected by the Houston Business Journal as one of their 40 Under 40,” Busby said. “The work I do each day in my career and my community is my passion. To be honored for it is indescribable.”

Continue reading →

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 →