Madison HS prepares for start of construction on new school

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Madison High School Principal Orlando Reyna hosted a community meeting on Thursday to review final designs and reveal an overview of construction plans for the school’s new $82.7 million building, which crews will start to build in the coming weeks.

About 25 stakeholders turned out to hear from the project manager, the architect, and the contractor, and ask them questions. Continue reading →

Houston ISD Foundation to honor distinguished alumni

Journalist Roland Martin and BP Vice President of Operations Aleida Rios to be celebrated during annual State of the Schools address

A Peabody Award-winning journalist and a top leader of a Fortune 500 oil and gas company will be honored as distinguished alumni of the Houston Independent School District at the district’s annual State of the Schools Luncheon in February.
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HISD monitoring weather conditions overnight

Houston Independent School District officials are monitoring the region’s weather and road conditions overnight to ensure the safety of students and staff.

As of this time, all HISD schools and offices are planning to resume normal operations on Thursday. With the threat of heavy rainfall still in Houston’s forecast, HISD intends to notify parents, staff and the news media of any school closures or delays by 5:30 a.m. on Thursday.

For additional updates, please visit www.houstonisd.org, or call the HISD Inclement Weather Hotline at 713-556-9595. You also can follow the district on Twitter and Facebook: twitter.com/houstonisd and facebook.com/houstonisd.

New literacy initiatives put more books into the hands of HISD students 

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Two new literacy initiatives – a literacy bus and “My Home Library”– were unveiled by HISD on Tuesday, Jan. 17 with the goal of closing the literacy gap for economically disadvantage children in the district.

The Astros Foundation, Philips 66, and HISD are partnering to send the “Literacy Bus” on the road to distribute age-appropriate books to children in grades K-5 at various city-owned baseball and softball parks renovated by the Astros Foundation as part of its Community Leaders Program. These parks are located within HISD boundaries and serve more than 1,200 Houston-area children each year. The Literacy Bus is a mobile interactive bus that will encourage family reading in Houston-area communities.

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Three libraries premiere new and improved features

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Three new and improved libraries were unveiled on Wednesday at Attucks Middle School, Cullen Middle School, and Yates High School.

The three libraries were updated through funding as well as donations facilitated by District IV Trustee Jolanda Jones, including a special collection at Cullen Middle School from the NAACP of Houston featuring publications about African-American scientists and inventors that focus on STEM-related subjects. The Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation also donated 1,200 to both Attucks and Cullen middle schools, which will be delivered next week.

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Some HISD after-school activities canceled Wednesday due to flooding

District to continue to monitor weather conditions throughout the night

Several Houston Independent School District after-school activities scheduled for today — Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017 — have been canceled due to limited staff, flooding and dangerous road conditions.

The cancellation effects all after-school activities and athletic events except for high school varsity girls and boys basketball games. High school varsity girls and boys basketball games scheduled for today will go on as planned.

High school soccer games have been rescheduled to Thursday, Jan. 19 at this time. Middle school basketball games have been moved to Friday, Jan. 20.

All HISD schools will dismiss today at their regular time. Students who were unable to attend school due to weather will be given an excused absence.

HISD officials will continue to monitor weather conditions throughout the night. For additional updates, please visit www.houstonisd.org, or call the HISD Inclement Weather Hotline at 713-267-1704. You also can follow the district on Twitter and Facebook: twitter.com/houstonisd and facebook.com/houstonisd.

HISD offers ‘We Khan Do It’ challenge to all district schools 

Thousands of HISD high school students will take the SAT during the school day on April 5, and now there is one more reason for them to start preparing early for the important college-admission test.

HISD is kicking off a challenge among the district’s schools that will reward them for having the most students using Khan Academy to prepare for the SAT.

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COO and Procurement staff discuss upcoming opportunities to do business with HISD

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HISD’s Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby joined procurement staff on Friday to hold an outreach event for small businesses interested in doing minor maintenance and repair work for the district.

Busby welcomed the group of about 100 and discussed his focus on expanding opportunities for small and minority- and women-owned businesses.

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Crespo ES student wins annual Martin Luther King Jr. Oratory Competition

Fourth-grader wins $1,000 prize for original speech inspired by civil rights leader

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Crespo Elementary School fourth-grader Nhedrick Jabier flexed his muscles, threw a few punches, and neatly fixed his bow tie as he channeled the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali while presenting his winning speech on what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have thought about Ali’s contributions to society. Continue reading →

HISD moves away from high-stakes testing in student grade-level promotion decisions

Board also approves 2017-2018 calendar that gives students and staff a full week off for Thanksgiving

The Houston ISD Board of Education voted Thursday to join with other school districts that only use students’ scores on high-stakes standardized tests for grade-level promotion decisions when doing so is required by Texas law. The decision is effective immediately for the 2016-2017 school year and beyond.

Texas law requires students to pass the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in math and reading in grades five and eight. The state also mandates that high school students pass STAAR end-of-course exams. Because this is state law, HISD students will still be required to pass these STAAR exams.

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