Abe Saavedra

HISD's Final Vote Closes Four Schools, Changes Teacher Evaluations

Bad news for four schools.​ "We're here for Stevenson," said the man standing outside the Hattie Mae White building Thursday night. He and his wife had worked to save the elementary during Superintendent Abe Saavedra's reign, but they weren't feeling so lucky tonight. The hard times the Hous ... More >>

HISD's Magnet Schools: Independent Reviewers Weigh In

Magnet School reviewers wondered if they were seeing the real thing​Magnet school principals resent unequal resources, are a little unsure of the independently contracted magnet school review process now going on and best practices aren't shared across the Houston ISD, according to a review of ... More >>

Hewlett-Packard Pays $16.25 Million To Settle HISD Bribe Case

Invent new ways to get contracts​Hewlett Packard has agreed to pay a $16.25 million fine to settle a case that involved improprer gift-giving to school-district employees in Houston and Dallas, the Associated Press is reporting. The allegations came in connection with the federal government's ... More >>

HISD Puts Magnets Under the Microscope

Terry Grier stirs up a hornet's nest​Houston ISD may move to a lottery-only system in applications to any of its 113 magnet school programs. "We're allowing principals to decide who gets in and who doesn't. We accuse some of our charters of skimming. Well frankly, we're doing some of the same thi ... More >>

HISD's E-Rate Report is Out, Some Mysteries Remain

Tickets, trips, gifts to HISD board members​It's debatable what's more amazing when reading over the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm's report on ethical violations in the so-called E-rate program by Houston ISD employees and their too-tempting IT vendors -- the stuff they can verify or the alleg ... More >>

Grier Hires An Aggie As His New Communications Chief

​Verifying rumors that have been floating around the district for days, the Houston Independent School District just announced that Superintendent Terry Grier is bringing in a Maryland administrator as his new chief communications officer. Aggie Alvez replaces William "Lee" Vela who was hired ... More >>

New HISD Board President Greg Meyers On Data And Messing With People's Kids And Taxes

Photo by Margaret Downing​Greg Meyers, the new president of the Houston Independent School District, believes that data, unclouded by emotion, will lead the urban district to the next higher level of teacher performance.The day after a draconian day at the office Thursday that began at 10 a.m. wit ... More >>

HISD's Gets On The Rankings Roller Coaster

​Oh, HISD. You didn't get to enjoy your "We Got Great Rankings!!" moment for long.Just a week after crowing about their improvement in the state's assessment of schools, the district got slammed by the feds for failing to make the grade in No Child Left Behind rankings.The dispute comes down to st ... More >>

HISD To Announce It's Done Better Than Ever In State Rankings

​HISD has broken its record for schools ranked as "exemplary" or "recognized," spokesman Norm Uhl says.Last year 57 percent of its 296 schools achieved that ranking; this year 70 percent of its schools have."This is one for the HISD history books and a highlight for me as I end my career at HISD," ... More >>

HISD's Saavedra Leaving In August, Paper Reports

Photo courtesy HISDIf it turns out to be true -- and since it's the weekend it's tough to tell -- full kudos to the Bellaire Examiner for this scoop -- HISD superintendent Abe Saavedra's last day on the job will be August 31..HISD board member Dianne Johnson told the paper that Saavedra has told the ... More >>

Saavedra Tells HISD When His Last Day Will Be, By E-Mail

Turns out, Houston ISD superintendent Abe Saavedra sent out an e-mail to district administrators last Friday, giving them his last day news. HISD spokesman Norm Uhl found out about it Friday afternoon and planned to release the news today, "but the Bellaire Examiner got a tip and scooped me. G ... More >>

White-Washing Those Black Rodeo Gala Tickets

Well, Warner Ervin, superintendent of the Houston Independent School District's south region, must be feeling pretty good today. He's the administrator being reluctantly investigated by the Texas Education Agency -- after a lot of urging from citizen and former HISD high school teacher Del Murphy -- ... More >>

That Roberts Elementary Teacher Is Reinstated; Kids Learn Lesson About Protesting

As promised last week, the Houston school district is trying to fast-track reinstatement for some teachers caught up in the drug-dog sweeps that caused such a kerfluffle.The district announced today that Mindy Herrick, the Roberts Elementary teacher whose arrest sparked protests from parents and stu ... More >>

Roberts Elementary Teacher, Nabbed In Drug Sweep, May Get Fast-Track Reinstatement

Big props to the Chronicle's Ericka Mellon for, again, live-blogging a lengthy and often-tedious HISd board meeting. Since the district can't seem to wrap its arms around 20th-Century technology to broadcast these things, it's really an invaluable service.And from it we learned that board presid ... More >>

The Drug Sweeps Are Ending At HISD (For One Reason Or Another)

The Houston school district is coming under heavy fire for its "no-tolerance" drug-dog searches of school parking lots, mostly because they nabbed a popular West U teacher who is very likely to be proven innocent.West U residents, when they get up in arms, tend to get results. HISD superintendent Ab ... More >>

Fort Worth's School Superintendent Has A Bigger Salary Than Houston's

Houston, you have been dissed by Fort Worth. Fort Worth.That cowtown up north has gone all big-time, paying its school superintendent the highest salary in the state. Abe Saavedra here in Houston has been relegated to the poverty line.Fort Worth ISD superintendent Melody Johnson received a 1.4 perce ... More >>

Carnegie Tech's Triumph Is Complete, For Now

The capitulation is complete -- the parents of the "Carnegeeks" have proven they're not to be fucked with.HISD superintendent Abe Saavedra had threatened them with a pretty dire plan -- combine the school (which is magnet for the very smart and not physically imposing) with Worthing High, a tough, r ... More >>

Mack, Turkeys and Beaver's

What a Turkey

We Try To Help HISD's Druggie Teachers, But Get Rebuffed

HISD teachers, you have been warned: the drug-sniffing dog is coming for you. Superintendent Abe Saavedra told reporters the dog will be visiting every campus to check the employee parking lots.Of course, publicity about the string of teacher-drug arrests hasn't stopped teachers from bringing drugs ... More >>

Carnegie Parents Can Breathe A Sigh Of Relief -- For Now

Houston Press editor Margaret Downing wrote this week about the  continuing turmoil in HISD over plans to consolidate schools, including the high-profile proposal to merge brainiac magnet Carnegie Vanguard with low-income Worthing High.Carnegie parents have been up in arms ever since superinten ... More >>

Backlash Upon Backlash at HISD

The uproar you hear is screaming parents

HISD Gets A New Media Guru

HISD No Longer Looking To Kill All Busing To Magnets

Saavedra Is Safe For Now, Spokesman Says

Hispanics Warn HISD Board Not To Fire Saavedra

Press Secretary Search Goes On at HISD; District Creates New Position on Top of One Held by Terry Abbott

HISD's Terry Abbott: The Top Five Moments

This Just In: Texas Education Commissioner Orders Sam Houston High School Closed

Warehousing Minority Kids in Atlanta and Houston

Opt In, Opt Out

HISD continues to send students to CEP. Whether they go there, stay there or return successfully to their home school is anyone's guess.

Such Nice Kids

Immigration protests put HISD in a bind

Letters to the Editor

Letters

Don't Worry, Be Happy

HISD parents want information about possible changes in the GT/Vanguard program. The administration calls any fears baseless.

Take My Wife, Please

TABC nabs a sheriff's spouse in a sting

Frontier Justice

Maybe you shouldn't go all Charles Bronson on someone

Book Learnin'

Another year of textbook follies

Eating It Up

Are HISD and Aramark cooking the books to feast on federal breakfast subsidies?

On the Case

Our new TV series is ready to roll

Seventh-Inning Stretch

HISD's Stripling stalls while opposing sides clamor for a decision about the T.H. Rogers playground