Westbury HS student stars in inspirational short film with Jeremy Lin

Westbury HS sophomore Ko Lay Pla (right) performs a scene with basketball star Jeremy Lin for an inspirational short film set at Fondren MS.

Klo Lay Pla, a student at HISD’s Westbury High School, is working with National Basketball Association star Jeremy Lin to share a story of hope with the masses.

The 10th-grader shot scenes for an inspirational short film entitled “Lost for Words” recently with the Houston Rockets point guard at Fondren Middle School, which Pla previously attended.

The film tells the story of a 12-year-old Burmese refugee who overcomes language and cultural barriers with the help of a mentor, who works hard to communicate with him.

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HISD Board of Education elects Juliet Stipeche as president

District VIII representative will lead trustees for coming year

Members of the HISD Board of Education elected District VIII Trustee Juliet K. Stipeche as president at their February board meeting Monday.

Stipeche was first elected to the board to finish an unexpired term in 2010, then re-elected to a full term in 2011 to represent the East End district where she grew up. She has been serving as first vice president of the board this past year.

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Community meetings to share design concepts and site plans for 2012 bond schools

Attendees will have the chance to weigh in on the design development  

The Houston Independent School District is hosting another series of community meetings for the first 17 schools slated for construction in the 2012 bond program to give participants a chance to review designs and site plans.

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Oversight committee gets quarterly update on bond programs

The Bond Oversight Committee held its fourth quarter meeting on Friday and heard a detailed review of the past year for both the 2012 and 2007 bond programs, which continue to progress on budget and on schedule.

The meeting was rescheduled from Jan. 28, when inclement weather forced the district to close for the day.

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Want to know more about possible school closures? Attend a community meeting

HISD is proposing the closure or repurposing of five campuses at the end of the school year. The proposal includes Dodson, Nathaniel Q. Henderson and Port Houston elementary schools, Fleming Middle School, and Jones High School. Billy Reagan K-8 is set to be rezoned because of changing patterns in the school’s neighborhoods.

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Laptop distribution successful thanks to neighboring help

Distributing nearly 18,000 laptops to students at eight high schools over the last three weeks has been no easy task, but all-in-all, deployment of devices in the first phase of HISD’s PowerUp initiative is being called a success. The relative ease and absence of major problems is the result of hours of planning, teamwork across various departments, and even assistance from a neighboring school district.

“I think one of the reason things went smoothly was because our deployment plan was developed with the advice and best practices from Klein ISD,” said HISD Chief Technology Officer Lenny Schad. Klein has a one-to-one program similar to HISD’s, but on a much smaller scale. Over the past several years, the district, located in northern Harris County, has distributed laptops in incremental phases to students at half a dozen schools, adding one or two schools a year.

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Vendors, suppliers learn about district’s improved procurement process

More than 30 suppliers and vendors looking to do business with HISD learned how the district is improving its procurement process to create better opportunities for small businesses during a workshop held Tuesday.

“If we’re able to get the product we want, and you’re able to sell it, it’s a win-win for both of us,” said Gilberto Carles, the district’s general manger of procurement services. “If you’re not an awarded contractor, you need to understand why, so you can develop ways to take your company to the next level.”

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HISD investigates inappropriate social media activity

Houston Independent School District officials were notified the first week of February about social media activity that involved the HISD name.

We take incidents of this nature very seriously. The HISD police department is working with several agencies, including the Houston Police Department and Internet Crimes Against Children, to investigate this issue.

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HISD Transportation Department’s Training Recognized Among Nation’s Best in 2013

A photo gallery and a video featuring emergency rescue training and bus riding safety in the Houston Independent School District Transportation Department were recognized among the nation’s best in 2013, according to School Bus Fleet, the leading magazine for school bus transportation nationwide.

The emergency rescue training took place in August 2013 and featured mock emergency drills to prepare bus drivers and attendants for a variety of crisis situations. The drills simulated the effects of a fire on a school bus, an armed intruder on board and a wreck involving a train. All activities involved real school buses, trains, vehicles, fire, smoke, weapons and staged injuries. The training was conducted in partnership with the Houston Fire Department. The photographs of this event were selected by School Bus Fleet magazine as Editors’ Picks for Photo Gallery of the Year for 2013.

In honor of National School Bus Safety week in October 2013, the HISD Transportation Department created a music video that covered such topics as proper boarding procedures, how to sit on a bus and the importance of reporting bullying. Students from Peck Elementary School, Yates High School and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts were included in the video, along with district bus drivers and attendants. This video was included among both the most-viewed and most-liked stories by School Bus Fleet magazine readers for 2013. In addition, the video was also selected as Editors’ Picks for Videos of the Year for 2013. The videos were filmed by the district’s multimedia team.

“Both of these programs were incredibly fun and fully engaged our team and community,” said Nathan Graf, general manager for transportation. “Just being recognized for this work is reason for everyone here to be proud.”

Each day, about 925 HISD school buses travel 84,000 miles as they transport more than 32,000 students to and from school.

 

Lamar senior headed to Division I West Virginia U

Louis Thomas

A Lamar High School senior in the Houston Dynamo Academy has signed on to continue his studies and sports career in a Division I program. Louis Thomas has committed to going to West Virginia University.

Thomas was not able to play for his school’s team because of his participation in the United States Soccer Federation’s Development Academy, but he has been a starter in almost all of the games he played in his two years at the Houston Dynamo Academy.

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