HISD Board of Education Trustee Manuel Rodriguez, Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos and Principal Jeannie Castano and a host of parents and community volunteers were on hand at the official dedication of Robert C. Patterson Literature Magnet Elementary School on May 18. The new Patterson campus is certified LEED Silver(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and uses 19% less energy than a non-LEED campus, and 37% less water.
See photos from the dedication ceremony below:
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Former Washington Redskins player and Jones High School alumnus Darrell Green visited his alma mater on Wednesday, April 16. The Football Hall of Fame inductee addressed a packed auditorium of students and stressed the importance of staying in school and pursuing college after graduation. “Anything is possible,” said Green. “The opportunities are there if you pursue them. Make sure you utilize all the resources you have available to you including your teachers, your friends, your family, and the community around this school that wants nothing else but to see you succeed.”
While visiting the school, Green was presented with a plaque by the Pro-Football Hall of Fame and Allstate as part of a special program called “Hometown Hall of Famers.” The program honors the hometown roots of the National Football League’s greatest players. The plaque will remain on permanent display at Jones High School.
HISD’s new Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center, scheduled to open this Fall, will offer a two-way dual language program to its kindergarten class in an effort to develop full bilingualism and bi-literacy for all students.
The two-way dual language program is both an additive bilingual program for Spanish-speaking students and a foreign language immersion program for English-speaking students in which a combination of native Spanish speakers and native English speakers are taught together in the two-way classrooms.
The Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center has been designed to be a learning, innovative environment that will address the global marketplace and the need for a multilingual workforce in the 21st century.
The center will implement this program in one of the kindergarten classes during the 2012-2013 academic year and add one grade per year until there is a complete two-way dual language program in grades K-8.
HISD currently offers the two-way dual language program at seven elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and one K-8 academy. During the next academic year, HISD will be adding it to four more elementary schools and the new Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center (4842 Anderson Road).
Many of the schools offering the two-way dual language program are still accepting applications for the 2012-2013 academic year. For more information, contact the Multilingual Department at 713-556-6961.
All Houston ISD employees would receive pay increases ranging from 1.75 percent to 2.25 percent in 2012-2013 under a budget proposal presented to the Board of Education for consideration today.
HISD’s non-teaching staff last received a pay raise in 2009-2010, and some, but not all, teachers received a raise in 2010-2011. No employees received raises this school year. Superintendent Terry Grier asked the board to consider the pay increases in an effort to remain competitive with surrounding Houston-area school districts that have already proposed doing so.
The teacher pay issue is especially critical as HISD seeks to compete with other school districts who are attempting to fill teaching vacancies caused by resignations and retirements. Each year, HISD loses about 1,000 teachers through attrition. Under the proposal, teachers with 10 years or less of experience would receive a 2.25 percent pay raise, which would increase beginning teacher pay in HISD from $44,987 to $46,000. Teachers with more than 10 years of experience would receive a 1.75 percent pay raise.
Other employee groups would receive the following salary increases under the compensation proposal:
• School bus operators, hourly food services employees, and salaried departmental employees on the lower end of the pay scale: 2.25 percent
• Substitute teachers, hourly employees, principals, assistant principals, and deans: 2 percent
• Professional employees and upper-level administrators: 1.75 percent
HISD began the budgeting process facing a $43.6 million shortfall caused primarily by the Texas Legislature’s decision last year to reduce public education funding by $5.3 billion. HISD is among many Texas school districts that have filed a lawsuit seeking to force the state to fund schools at the constitutionally-mandated level.
The budget proposal includes maintaining HISD’s current tax rate, which is the lowest among all Harris County school districts.
The district would pay for the $20 million compensation proposal in part with $8.9 million from the district’s savings account, which currently stands at about $257 million. About $17 million of the shortfall would be covered by reducing the amount of general fund money that is normally transferred to HISD’s debt service fund to help repay loans. This reduction is a one-time option that will not be available in future years.
HISD has also identified several areas of potential savings for the upcoming school year. These include:
• $3.5 million in reduced employee healthcare costs through increased efficiencies that should not impact quality of service.
• $1.7 million less in special funding for six unique schools.
• $2.5 million in non-campus departmental cuts, primarily through eliminating positions and layoffs. Last year, HISD eliminated 221 non-campus positions.
Changes in Distribution of Funds for Low-Income Students
HISD was notified this month that the federal government will now require districts to send federal money intended to supplement the cost of educating children from low-income families to the neighborhood schools in those children’s attendance zones. In past years, HISD has allocated that money, called Title I funds, to the schools that qualifying children actually attend, even if those schools are not in those children’s neighborhoods.
As a result of this change, some HISD schools will receive less Title I money than they would have in the past, while other schools will receive more money. In general, schools that accept large numbers of transfer students from low-income families will lose funding, while schools in low-income neighborhoods that have lost students to other schools will receive additional funds. The most money any single school would lose is about $180,000.
The Board of Education is expected to adopt the 2012-2013 budget at a public meeting in June.
HISD District III Trustee Manuel Rodriguez will join students, staff and community members for the official dedication ceremony of the new Patterson Elementary School (5302 Allendale) on Friday, May 18 at 9 a.m.
“The neighborhood deserves a new school and the dedication has been long time coming,” Rodriguez said. “We know that the school staff is there to provide an excellent education for the children of the neighborhood.”
State Senator Mario Gallegos is among the elected officials expected to attend Friday’s event.
The new Patterson facility is built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and is projected to have an annual 37 percent reduction in water use and a 19 percent reduction in energy use. This campus also has two high-capacity rainwater collection cisterns that are used for landscape irrigation. The district has committed to build all new construction projects to LEED standards.
“It’s much more than a new building. It’s a source of pride for this close-knit community,” said Principal Jeannie Castano. “Our new library is amazing, and makes it so much easier to teach the connection between everyday life and literature.”
The $805 million bond referendum approved by voters in 2007 made the project possible. The new school includes:
For more information about other school construction projects district wide, visit www.hisdprojects.org
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HISD’s Burbank Middle School placed second in the USA/Canada School of the Year Contest sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Education.
Burbank is now nationally recognized as one of the premier dual language middle schools in North America. The USA School of the Year contest highlights instructional excellence in both English and Spanish language programming.
As the second place winner, the school will receive a $2,500 award, a library of Spanish language books and a scholarship for one of Burbank’s dual language teachers to study in Spain this summer.
Burbank Middle School participates in the prestigious International Spanish Academy Program with seven other HISD schools providing dual language students with a wide range of enrichment programming.
Seven schools in the Houston Independent School District will receive 10,000 books because of a generous donation from Neuhaus Education Center. The announcement was made today at the 3 Men Movers Warehouse on the Southwest Freeway. Neuhaus Education Center received the books as part of the H-E-B Read 3 campaign.
This afternoon, 3 Men Movers will deliver the books to Bonham Elementary, Garcia Elementary, Whidby Elementary, Gregory-Lincoln Elementary, Kashmere Gardens Elementary, High School Ahead Academy, and Worthing High School.
Several campuses plan to use the books to enhance their library collections, while others will use the books to supplement classroom libraries. One school will also give some of the books to students to encourage summer reading.
“This generous donation of books will enhance the literacy of hundreds of HISD students”, said Dr. Alicia Thomas, HISD Deputy Chief Academic Officer. “One of the greatest gifts you can give a child is to teach them at an early age the importance of reading every day.”
Since 1980, Neuhaus Education Center (NEC) has been dedicated to the prevention of reading failure and provides teachers professional development in research-based methods of literacy instruction. Nearly 7,000 HISD teachers have received training at NEC on literacy intervention strategies. Principals and teacher development specialists have also attended the professional development sessions.
The H-E-B Read 3 campaign was the brainchild of H-E-B CEO and Chairman, Charles Butt, a strong advocate for public education. H-E-B launched the Read 3 program as part of its continued efforts to strengthen education in Houston and throughout the state.
H-E-B Read 3 is committed to helping parents shape a child’s mind by encouraging them to read to their children three times a week. H-E-B’s goal is to collect 1 million books for children in need.
Seniors from Houston Academy for International Studies met former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
Every month, schools across the district hold special events and celebrations, or honor employees, students and alumni. Here’s a snapshot of what happened at HISD during the months of April-May:
Who: The May 2012 edition of HISD Up Close hosted by HISD Board President Michael Lunceford gives viewers a tour of the Oral Language and Literacy Lab at the Gabriela Mistral Early Childhood Center. The lab, which is a partnership with Rice University’s School Literacy and Culture Project, is having success at teaching English to non-native speakers. The show also features an interview with fellow Board Trustee Anna Eastman who brings along two principals from her district to talk about some of the exciting things happening at District I schools. Assistant Superintendent of School Support, Martha Salazar-Zamora, also joins the board president to talk about some of the many services HISD offers to students and parents.
What: Monthly HISD UP Close television hosted by Board President Michael Lunceford.
When: Throughout the month of May at www.houstonisd.org and on HISD-TV (Comcast channel 18 and AT&T U-verse channel 99) on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sunday at 8:30 p.m.
Why: HISD Board President Michael Lunceford is committed to showcasing some of the amazing things happening at HISD schools across the district, in addition to highlighting district initiatives and accomplishments. His monthly show will regularly feature a tour of an HISD school or project, an interview with one of his colleagues on the HISD Board of Education, and a segment showcasing the academic accomplishments of HISD students and the dedication of HISD staff.
In the center, Downey Bridgwater, Comerica’s Houston market president, and Vanessa Reed, Comerica’s South Texas Community Reinvestment manager, load one of dozens of chairs into a moving van. They are flanked by Veronica Ruiz (left), manager of HISD’s Warehouse Furniture Operations, and Nicole Ware Smith (right), senior manager of HISD’s Warehouse Operations.
Comerica Bank today announced a donation valued at approximately $40,000 of work stations, chairs, file cabinets and other office equipment and supplies to the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to be dispersed to classrooms across the city.
The office equipment and supplies, surplus from Comerica’s recent Houston market headquarters relocation to Brookhollow Central, will be stored temporarily at a HISD facility where teachers and school officials then can come and select items to use in their classrooms and school offices.
“Comerica is committed to enhancing the communities we serve, and we hope this donation makes an immediate, positive impact on in-need schools all across Houston,” said Downey Bridgwater, Comerica’s Houston Market President. “We are pleased that HISD can put this surplus office equipment to good use to enhance the learning environment for both students and teachers. It’s especially important for businesses like ours to support our schools with our time and our resources.”
HISD’s Nicole Ware Smith, Senior Manager of Warehouse Operations, said, “Our schools are very excited about Comerica’s furniture and equipment donations. We are always looking for opportunities to obtain used furniture that’s in good serviceable condition because some of our schools have special needs. These are schools that are new, schools that have been damaged or ones that have recently undergone construction. This furniture and equipment will go a long way in helping improve conditions for student instruction.
“The donated furniture and equipment will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis. So, I know teachers will be lined up once word gets out that it’s available,” Smith added.