Maintaining our momentum over the summer months

One of the most common misconceptions about public school districts is that all work ceases during the summer months—but members of Team HISD know that this is actually one of our busiest times of the year.

Even before the final bell rang for students on June 6, newly hired teachers were receiving training on data analysis, learning classroom management techniques, and observing veteran teachers in preparation for the coming school year (see related story here).

And for the next 11 weeks, custodians and plant managers will be cleaning buildings and repairing equipment; groundskeepers will be mending damaged fences and prepping ball fields; teachers (if they are not in the classrooms for summer school) will be completing professional development courses; and principals and other campus leaders will be assembling their faculty and staff.

This year, we are also working out some fairly complicated logistics for a number of new initiatives, all of which involve the concerted efforts of multiple departments.

First, there’s “Power Up” (formerly known as the 1:1 initiative), which will provide students at 11 high schools with laptops in the coming school year for use in their studies.

We’re also working to welcome students from North Forest into the HISD family. That means everything from analyzing student data to coordinating bus schedules to hiring faculty for seven more schools, which are scheduled to officially come under the HISD umbrella on July 1 (see related info. here).

And if that’s not enough, we are putting the finishing touches on three new schools built with money from the 2007 bond initiative, and aggressively moving forward on new schools that will be built with funds from the 2012 bond initiative (see related story here).

Those are just a few of the projects currently underway at HISD, and I can’t wait to see what the next year will hold for our students as a result. Our mission as a district is to provide every child with the same high-quality education no matter which campus they attend, and all of these efforts will put us one step closer to meeting that goal.