A personal mission, Superintendent prioritizes support for students with dyslexia

October is a busy month at HISD, but one certain initiative is very near and dear to me. October is Dyslexia Month. Growing up with dyslexia and having a speech impediment, I received support that gave me confidence to grow as a student, and as an individual, and helped me become the person I am today. I’m forever grateful to those educators who gave me the necessary support, so it is important we celebrate the educators who are doing the same in HISD. We have many events and activities planned.

I know firsthand that if a child has the kind of support that they need and deserve, and the equity is distributed in the manner it should be, all our students can be successful.

It is also National Principals Month, and I loved reading all the thank you messages to our great principals on social media. The community was also able to honor their principals with e-cards, too. I enjoyed learning about J.P. Henderson principal Maria Guerra and her journey from a front-desk receptionist to principal of the school.

I’ve been out in the community, along with our Trustees, for the Listen & Learn town halls. I’ve enjoyed hearing the feedback, concerns, ideas, and questions from various HISD communities. We have partnered with Good Reason Houston to help us formulate our strategic plan based on the data and feedback. Due to popular demand, there will be three additional Listen & Learn town hall meetings this month.

Hip-hop star 50 Cent’s G-Unity Business Lab partnership with HISD is off to a great start. We launched the event at Wheatley High School, and 50 Cent performed an impromptu version of “In Da Club” for Mayor Sylvester Turner’s birthday. We have 75 students from three campuses taking part in this young entrepreneurship after-school program.

On social media, #OrangeOutHISD was a success to help cheer on the Houston Astros in the ALDS. It was great to see all the campuses sport Astros gear and team colors, as we “root, root, root” for the home team, and hope another World Series comes back to Houston.

As Dyslexia Month comes to an end, I’d like to continue to encourage all our outstanding educators to help those with dyslexia because you never know—one of those students could just grow up to be the next superintendent of HISD.