Gayle Fallon

Gayle Fallon Named to Competitiveness Council, Whatever That Means

Changing of the HISD Guard

Positions open as top Paige deputies depart on the Northbound Train

Learning How to Survive (at) CEP

HISD and a paid trustee get entangled in the spreading empire of a private firm touting safe alternative schools for troubled kids. So why are some students and parents so scared?

TAKS Test Made Slightly Less Non-Sensical, Teachers Say

HISD and a paid trustee get entangled in the spreading empire of a private firm touting safe alternative schools for troubled kids. So why are some students and parents so scared?

At HISD, The Human Resources Department Is Now The "Department Of Human Talent" Department

The HISD board is having perhaps the most boring workshop ever this morning -- talking about Human Resources.Thank God Houston Chronicle education writer Ericka Mellon is there to blog it.She reports a momentous change in HISD policy: The Human Resources Department will henceforth be known as the De ... More >>

Anatomy of an Intervention

HISD has a plan for reforming problem schools. But when it reached Bastian Elementary, not everything went smoothly.

Gayle Force

A vigorous advocate for teachers and the bane of HISD administrators, confrontational union boss Gayle Fallon wields a growing power over the direction of Houston's public schools

(Pay)checks and (Im)balances

Fat starting salaries! Hefty raises! HISD says its administrators deserve them.

Model-Netics Hooks City Hall

Fat starting salaries! Hefty raises! HISD says its administrators deserve them.

The Fix Is In

Are educators cheating on TAAS? Is anyone going to stop them?

The Librarian Who Wouldn't Be Quiet

Are educators cheating on TAAS? Is anyone going to stop them?

Children, Prepare Your Desk Manuals!

Paige DMPs on the HISD bureaucracy

Letters to the Editor

Paige DMPs on the HISD bureaucracy

HISD's $2 Million Man

A shadowy California consultant rakes in school district cash

Power to the Principal

At Madison High, Principal Warner Ervin's word is law. Teachers say that's the problem.

Lifting Principals, Spilling Guts

More adventures in HISD's wacky world of staff training

Certifiably Crazy?

Unbending state and HISD policies are pushing away a much-praised teacher

Padding the School Policies?

A lawsuit accuses HISD insurance consultants of conning the district

Mind Reading

Is Yvette Lacobie really a terrorist? Did legislators really mean to kick kids out for a butter knife? Is zero tolerance really stupid? (No, maybe and yes.)

Money to Spin

Budget woes don't affect HISD's PR department

Saving Babies

Plus: The Terminators, Pollution Coverage, Democratic Dishes

Anatomy of an Attempted Whitewash

A popular HISD principal gets eased out the back door -- almost

Moving Out of State

A "Learning How to Survive (at) CEP" sidebar

Letters

Shining Example, KTRU Blues, Not So Nice

Going Public

Everybody knows that HISD is supposed to be second-rate. So why are private school kids defecting back to the district that nobody wanted?

Making (Up) the Grade

This HISD program teaches a big lesson: Don't question what the district touts

School's Out Forever

"Unschoolers" like Holly Furgason don't believe in public education. They don't even believe in teachers. They believe in the ability of their children to teach themselves. Will the law catch up with them?

The Insider

"Unschoolers" like Holly Furgason don't believe in public education. They don't even believe in teachers. They believe in the ability of their children to teach themselves. Will the law catch up with them?

The Curriculum Question

Businessman John Privett thought he had a solution to the problems of some of Houston's troubled schools. The parents wanted to try it. The teachers wanted to try it. But HISD administrators said no.

HISD About To Hire Its Superintendent, And Some Critics Emerge

​We have word from HISD spokesman Norm Uhl that the district might officially name the new superintendent at 2 o'clock. If the choice is Terry Grier, as it's been reported, some people are already unhappy. (Update: It is.) "I'm very disappointed in the board," State Sen. Mario Gallegos, who serves ... More >>

Dueling LULAC Press Conferences Over CEP, HISD's Alternative School For Troubled Students

Photos by Margaret DowningMary Almendarez, first vice president for LULAC Council 402, leads off the press conference Monday, in support of terminating the Houston ISD's contract with Community Education Partners.​It was one of those great, if little noticed moments in Houston history, as separate ... More >>

Fast-Tracking Ch-ch-ch-anges at HISD

Photo by Margaret Downing​David Bowie could have been singing in the background as HISD Superintendent Terry Grier demonstrated this morning why he's gained a reputation as a top administrator who doesn't wait around long before trying to institute changes.He reiterated at a Tuesday morning media ... More >>

Local Teachers' Union President Calls "Bullshit" On The HISD Superintendent, The New York Times And The Washington Post

​ Caught on her cell phone today, Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said that many people are distorting what Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a Tuesday eight-page speech about overhauling teacher evaluations.The speech wa ... More >>

Divisive or Not, HISD Board Approves New Way to Target Failing Teachers

​This is the tale of two teachers. Each of them inherit fifth-graders who test out at the start of the school year, on average, at third grade, fifth month. The kids are from the same neighborhood. They have identical demographics: roughly the same number come from single-parent homes, live in ... 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 Investigating Charges Of TAKS Cheating At Key Middle School

The Houston ISD is investigating current and former employees at Key Middle School for alleged cheating on the TAKS test at Key. Some of those former employees ended up at Kashmere High School which the district is also investigating in regard to unathorized removal of computer equipment ... More >>

Teachers Will Have To Re-Apply For Their Jobs At HISD Schools Seeking Extended-Year Schedules

Photo by Margaret Downing​Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier is pitching extending the school year to his principals, waiting to see who is going to sign up for the cause. Because the one thing he wants to stress to everyone, he said (taking the pre-emptive action approach) is that it will not ... More >>

Debate Over HISD's Plan To Fire Teachers Goes National

Houston school superintendent Terry Grier's plan to fire teachers whom he deems unacceptable got some national news time Sunday.ABC News looked at the issue in a piece titled -- wait for it -- "Houston, We Have A School Problem." (Fresh!!)It was a pretty straightforward look at things, with Grier ... More >>

Unions Take to the Barricades For Old Teachers

Photo by Margaret Downing​Both the local AFL-CIO chapter and the Houston Federation of Teachers are urging a huge turnout at Thursday night's Houston ISD board meeting to protest planned layoffs of teachers and other district employees in an attempt to stop what one union leader calls "this insane ... More >>

HISD Says Get the Facts and We Did -- From HISD!

Hair Balls has obtained copies of a power point presentation given to principals of the Houston Independent School District in June that appears to bear out earlier reports that principals were being asked to cover a shortage of $19 million in federal funds. In a slide entitled "Title 1, Part A;" i ... More >>

HISD Trustees Go For Guinness World Record in the Long-Winded Meetings Category

HISD: Lots of talk, no action​If Houston ISD trustees really want to fulfill their promise of transparency, they need to start getting to the point a lot quicker in their meetings -- so that when they have something important to debate, more people are still there to hear it.Last night's meeting w ... More >>

Bad Teachers Consigned to the Flames in Fiery Manifesto Signed by Terry Grier

Terry Grier goes national ​In a story already online and due to come out in the Sunday print edition of the Washington Post, our own Terry Grier joins other superintendents in blaming teachers (well, the bad ones) for the poor state of our schools and children.He also pushes charters and endorses ... More >>

Oh Brother Grier, Where Art Thou?

Photo by Margaret DowningTerry Grier: Wheatley parents complain about his absence​Thursday's Houston ISD school board meeting was packed and a significant portion of the crowd included those who wanted to talk about the recent removal of Wheatley High School assistant principal Sandra James Wa ... More >>

HISD Reinstates Asst. Principal at Wheatley High

Will Terry Grier be sporting one of these?​In an amazing turnaround, Houston ISD has reinstated Sandra Walker as the assistant principal at Wheatley High School. HISD spokesman Jason Spencer said a letter from HISD Chief High School Officer Aaron Spence went out to Wheatley parents today sayi ... More >>

It's Nut-Cutting Time at HISD

The axman cometh​There was no talk of raising taxes as Houston ISD trustees reviewed a list of proposed reductions to the district's budget next year and prepared to approve the first step in a notification process calling for fewer teachers by fall 2011. Cuts to schools alone came in at $65 m ... More >>

HISD Cuts Millions, May Not Be Enough

Margaret DowningBig, skeptical crowd at HISD budget-cuts meeting​Last night was an elected official's nightmare. Not only did Houston ISD trustees vote to significantly reduce funding for the district's kids and schools, to clear the way to cut hundreds of teachers' jobs, and to potentially cl ... More >>

Efficiencies

HISD students see vocational programs discarded, along with some of their dreams.

It's 'Big Girl, Big Boy Time,' HISD's Paula Harris Says

HISDPaula Harris gets tough with fellow board members.​In a lengthy and sometimes tense board meeting that brought Houston ISD trustee Juliet Stipeche to tears, trustee Carol Mims Galloway to call for a tax increase and announce that all was not hunky dory with the board, and board President P ... More >>

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 >>

Bottom Lines

It took years for Veronica Bass to figure out she was overpaying her union dues. Getting her money back looks like it may take just as long.