HISD names key leaders

Houlihan and Hardman take over human resources, school support

Dr. Andrew Houlihan comments during the opening day of the Houston ISD Summer Leadership Institute at Reliant Center, June 17, 2014. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)

Dr. Andrew Houlihan

HISD recently announced two major appointments  to its leadership team. Dr. Andrew Houlihan will move into the role of chief human resources officer, a position that was vacated when Dr. Rodney Watson was named superintendent of Spring ISD. Chief High Schools Officer Dr. Shonda Huery Hardman will step into Houlihan’s current position of chief school support officer. The appointments go into effect immediately. Continue reading →

Combat the ‘summer slide’ with Think Through Math’s free online competition

Parents looking for another way to combat the dreaded “summer slide” need look no further. Think Through Math (TTM) is offering its “Texas Math—Everybody’s Doing It!” (.pdf) competition for the second year in a row.

Students in grades 3–8 can sharpen their math skills this summer by participating in the free online contest through Aug. 8—and if enough do so, HISD will retain its title as the top district in Texas. The district first took the crown in last year’s competition, with almost three times as many points as the second-place finisher.

Participating students can also win individual prizes. Each day, three will be chosen at random to receive a “Daily Dive” award—an Amazon e-gift card for passing at least two math lessons. Continue reading →

Dynamic keynote speaker praises HISD for its focus on literacy

Dr. Susan Szachowicz knows a thing or two about turning around troubled schools. The retired educator was still a teacher at her alma mater, Brockton High School, in 1999, when the campus was dubbed a “cesspool” by local media as one of the worst-performing schools in Massachusetts.

“Our failure rate was 75 percent in math and 44 percent in English language arts,” said the lifelong Brockton resident. “There was a real culture of low expectations.”

But by maintaining a relentless focus on literacy for the past 15 years, teachers and administrators have completely transformed the campus into a place of “high standards, high expectations, and no excuses.” It is now referred to as “a jewel of the city,” and is routinely cited as a prime example of a successful turnaround school. Continue reading →

New federal guidelines require healthier snacks in schools by July 1

HISD students will notice fewer candy bars, potato chips, and soda sold on their campuses when the new school year begins.

Under new federal guidelines established last year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Smart Snacks in School” nutrition standards, the rules now regulate all foods sold outside the school meals program on campus and at any time during the school day.

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HISD recognized for advancing digital content and curriculum

The Houston Independent School District’s efforts to embrace and advance digital content and curriculum have been recognized by the Center for Digital Education, a national research and advisory institute specializing in K-12 technology trends, policy, and funding. HISD will be honored, along with other school districts from across the nation, Monday evening at the Center’s Digital Content and Curriculum Achievement Awards which take place during the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2014 conference in Atlanta. Continue reading →

HIPPY families recognized for preschoolers’ year of learning

The Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program concluded last week with four meetings at schools across the district to congratulate parents on completing the year-long program. More than 1,800 parents and children from 50-plus school communities attended the four events to receive certificates of completion, and went home with literacy materials and activities to keep the kids learning throughout the summer.

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Teachers refine and share culminating projects at Linked Learning summer institute

Teachers at eight HISD high schools are preparing their coursework for the upcoming year a bit differently than they have in the past. Campus teams from Chavez, Eastwood Academy, Furr, Lee, Milby, Reagan, Sterling, and Westside are refining plans to teach core subjects through project-based learning — a part of the district’s commitment to the Linked Learning approach. These campus teams shared their plans at the Linked Learning Summer Institute during June.
Continue reading →

Hidden talents show determination, diversity of HISD’s bilingual instructors

What do a national judo champion and a member of an up-and-coming European band have in common? They’re both bilingual teachers in HISD!

The district has been hiring highly qualified bilingual teachers from Spain to fill critical shortage areas in HISD through a partnership with that country’s Ministry of Education since 1997—and Blanco “Miguel” Lopez (Law ES) and Juan Luis Alonso-Benito (Coop ES) are two of them. Continue reading →

HISD Transportation to host job fair this weekend

The Houston Independent School District will be hosting a transportation job fair on Saturday, June 28. The fair will take place at the Northwest Transportation Facility (6351 Pinemont Drive, 77092) from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

HISD will be conducting in-person interviews for the following positions:

  • School Bus Drivers ($15.40/hourly)
  • Transportation Attendants ($9.76/hourly)

Continue reading →

Plan to redraw HISD trustee districts will be subject for four hearings, starting July 1

The Houston Independent School District will launch a series of four community meetings next week to hear feedback about a draft plan to redraw trustee districts.

The first meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, at Shadydale Elementary School, 5905 Tidwell 77028.

With the annexation of North Forest ISD in 2013, 56,000 more people were added to HISD, necessitating the redrawing of all nine trustees’ areas to comply with federal election law mandating that population be distributed evenly throughout the entire school district.

Trustees voted at their last regular meeting to send a draft plan to the community. Three additional meetings will be held in July: Continue reading →