Service Excellence team hosts first quarterly WOW! card drawing

If you recently received a WOW! card for Service Excellence, you may be a winner of a prize!

HISD’s Business Operations department and Service Excellence team hosted the first quarterly WOW! drawing at Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on Wednesday, recognizing employees for going above and beyond in customer service.

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Students win prizes in video contest for demonstrating web savvy

Harvard ES fifth-grader Callie Bream took home a gift card for $150 as the inaugural first-place prize winner of a new monthly video contest sponsored by HISD Education Technology and the Future of Privacy Forum.

Harvard ES fifth-grader Callie Bream took home a gift card for $150 as the inaugural first-place prize winner of a new monthly video contest.

Keeping email accounts secure with strong passwords is an important aspect of responsible digital citizenship, and students from two HISD schools have demonstrated their mastery of this concept by winning the top prizes in a video production contest co-sponsored by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and HISD’s Educational Technology team.

Harvard Elementary School students won four of the five prizes available (first and second, as well as two honorable mentions), while a student from Eastwood Academy took home the third-place prize.

The competition was created as a part of Digital Awareness Month in October to increase students’ web savvy while also giving them an opportunity for creative expression. Continue reading →

Notice of Destruction of Special Education Records

Special 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 a given 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 reading →

HISD holiday schedule for Thanksgiving

The Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center and all HISD schools and district offices will be open on Monday, Nov. 23, and Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015.

All HISD offices and campuses will be closed from Wednesday, Nov. 25, through Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Normal school and business operations will resume on Monday, Nov. 30, 2015.

HISD wishes you a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Westbury HS faculty and staff demonstrating how much ‘relationships matter’

Westbury High School has rebranded its truancy office to better reflect its mission, and already the “Student Success Center” is living up to its new name.

Designed to help students graduate by accentuating the positive aspects of the team’s efforts, the rebranding was launched this fall in conjunction with other campus initiatives, including “Relationships Matter: Every Student Needs a Champion.” That schoolwide awareness campaign spotlights teachers who have made powerful connections with students and who have created classroom environments in which those young people thrive.

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“A lot of times, students don’t want to tell you their problems,” explained teacher Robert Lyle, who prevented student Adrian Hernandez from dropping out by helping him land a job in his chosen career field. “It’s digging deeper with each student that you have that relationship built with to find out what really matters to them.” Continue reading →

Construction set to start soon for new Energy Institute HS

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Energy Institute High School students, staff, and community members on Tuesday attended the second community meeting to hear about progress on a new $37 million school for the nation’s first energy studies high school.

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New HISD buses to be equipped with three-point seatbelts

Measure follows new guidance from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

All new school buses purchased by the Houston Independent School District will include three-point seatbelts, effective immediately.

The HISD Transportation Department made the recommendation last week, just days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provided new guidance on the issue, updating their position to suggest that students should have access to three-point seatbelts.

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HISD construction projects moving forward

All but one project expected to be under construction contract by the end of 2016.

Houston Independent School District construction projects are continuing to move forward with Sharpstown High School slated to soon become the 16th bond project with active construction underway.

The HISD Board of Education voted Thursday to hire a new contractor for Sharpstown, unanimously agreeing to let district administrators negotiate and finalize a construction contract worth up to $46 million with ICI Construction.

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Starting next fall, college-bound athletes must ‘earn 2.3 or take a knee’

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has changed its initial eligibility requirements to play Division I and II sports, and college-bound high-school athletes will need to take note so they don’t end up on the sidelines warming the bench.

“The biggest change is to the minimum grade point average (GPA) requirement for core courses, which will increase from 2.0 to 2.3 as of the fall of 2016,” said HISD Director of Athletics Marmion Dambrino. “That means students who are on the edge in those areas will really have to buckle down to be eligible to participate in athletics programs or receive athletic scholarships as freshmen in college.” Continue reading →