HISD offering enrollment registration event for pre-K, kindergarten

With pre-K applications currently open and Kindergarten enrollment underway for the 2021-2022 school year, Houston Independent School District is offering one-on-one support for parents seeking assistance.

To help families one-on-one, HISD is offering a Pre-K and K registration day on Saturday, June 5, 2021, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Families can get assistance one of three ways.

  • In person: Walking into any HISD elementary school or Early Childhood Center with all required documents
  • Phone: Calling the HISD hotline at 713-556-6734
  • Virtual: Pre-registering at HoustonISD.org/PrekindergartenFair
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50 Cent, HISD announce new student entrepreneur program

With a post on social media –complete with the Astrodome in the background and an Astros hat atop his head—50 Cent announced earlier this month that he was moving to Houston. The reason? His caption simply read “I’ll explain later.”

That reason, it turns out, was in part to support students in the Houston Independent School District.

The rapper-turned-businessman, born Curtis Jackson but known better as 50 Cent, announced at a press conference that he would be launching the inaugural G-Star program at a trio of HISD high schools.

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Share your feedback on how HISD should utilize relief funds

In March 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act, also known as the ARP Act, was signed into law. The bill dedicated $122 billion for K-12 schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Education Relief (ESSER) III funds. As a result, HISD is eligible to apply for ESSER III grant funds under the ARP Act.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has released the entitlements for HISD under the ARP Act, ESSER III grant funds. These are additional funds to HISD and are to be used to address the impact COVID-19 has had – and continues to have – on elementary and secondary schools.

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Mitchell Elementary students delight in virtual grand opening watch party

A long red carpet adorned with gold stars and flanked by large striped boxes overflowing with white and yellow balloons posing as popcorn helped set the stage for a celebration at Mitchell Elementary School.

Eager students grabbed bags of popcorn and gathered for classroom watch parties, loudly counting down the seconds until the premiere of the new school’s virtual grand opening.

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HISD schools earn high marks in annual rankings by U.S. News & World Report

U.S. World News & World Report released its 2021 Best Public High School rankings, and several Houston Independent School District schools made the list.

Four HISD schools are among the top 100 schools in the country: Carnegie Vanguard High School ranks at number 42, DeBakey High School for Health Professions at number 46, Challenge Early College High School at number 89, and Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy at number 97.

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Outstanding high school seniors surprised with Superintendent Scholars Awards

It was a whirlwind tour of several high school campuses, as Interim Superintendent Dr. Grenita Lathan surprised seniors with the Superintendent Scholars Awards.

This was the third year of the awards, which were underwritten by Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages and the Houston ISD Foundation. Handpicked by Lathan, the 11 students were selected from HISD seniors nominated by their principals or leadership teams.

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Nine HISD students win national Scholastic Art and Writing gold medals

A record nine Houston Independent School District students from six campuses won prestigious national gold medals in the 2020 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

This is the first time HISD has had nine national gold medal winners in a single year. The winners competed against more than 80,000 students who submitted nearly 230,000 works of art and writing to the Scholastic Awards. Only 2,000 entries received national medals.

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Braeburn ES teacher named May Teacher of the Month

Braeburn Elementary School teacher Sandy Trejo was not expecting the sights and sounds that greeted her when she stepped outside of the school on Tuesday.

As students waved handmade signs of congratulations, a mini parade of brightly decorated cars snaked through the parking lot, blaring their horns to honor the first-grade ESL teacher as the district’s Teacher of the Month for May.

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HISD announces 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year finalists, Beginning Teacher of the Year winners

Twelve educators have been named as HISD’s 2020-2021 Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year finalists, and two teachers have been named the Beginning Teachers of the Year.

The two Teacher of the Year winners will go on to represent the district in Region IV. The 12 finalists were selected from all 280 schools based on performance data and other criteria.

At the elementary level, the six Teacher of the Year finalists are:

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May 12 is National School Nurse Day

The Houston Independent School District is honoring the hard work and dedication of school nurses as part of National School Nurse Day on Wednesday, May 12.

Since 1972, this day has been an opportunity to recognize these important members of our school communities. But this year, the importance of our school nurses has been made even more apparent amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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