Houston Independent School District

HISD Again A Finalist For Prestigious $1 Million Broad Prize

The Houston Independent School District is once again a finalist for the prestigious Broad Prize, which celebrates urban education and who's doing it right. It's the third time HISD has been a finalist for the award, which began in 2002. The district won the nationwide prize -- which comes with a n ... More >>

HISD Offers Free Dinners to Anyone Under 18, Whether Documented or Not

There are days when students in Houston Independent School District eat lunch at 11 a.m. Burgers, burritos, salads -- school lunches, worth eating for free, worth trading with friends if you want. And once lunch ends, the school day winds on, with classes and breaks and bells intermingling. The scho ... More >>

Charter-Friendly HISD Doesn't Like Sen. Dan Patrick's Charter School Bill

Sen. Dan Patrick's charter school bill has drawn the ire of the one school district that probably would have been the most favorably inclined to support it: Houston. The Houston Independent School District was charter friendly long before other school districts were, mainly due to the influence of ... More >>

HISD Releases Statement in Wake of Connecticut School Shooting

The devastating news that a gunman or gunmen terrorized an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut Friday morning killing reportedly as many as 20 people including children has left an entire country reeling. School shootings are rare even if they feel all too common, but one that involves element ... More >>

HISD Staff Goes Gangnam Style: This Is Not a Joke

Rocks Off saw something so disturbing today on the morning news, but it was early we were sure it couldn't possibly be real. It is. The Houston Independent School District has produced a video to promote early voting featuring teachers, faculty and other district staff -- including what must be th ... More >>

HISD Seeks Refund from California-Based Vendor for Pink Slime-Filled Hamburger Patties

In the aftermath of the somewhat frivolous "pink slime" scare, the Houston Independent School District wanted to make damn sure people knew it wasn't purchasing boneless lean beef trimmings (a.k.a. lean finely textured beef) for it school lunch programs. Or, at least, HISD thought it wasn't. HISD h ... More >>

HISD Wants You to Know There Is No Pink Slime In Its School Lunches

In the wake of the recent "pink slime" scandal, EOW has received press releases from various grocery stores and restaurant chains assuring us that no pink slime -- or boneless lean beef trimmings, in non-neologism speak -- is used in their food products or sold in their establishments. Pink slime h ... More >>

Delores Westmoreland: Former Kashmere High Dean, 1 Other Indicted for Tampering with Dropout Records

A Harris County grand jury today indicted two former administrators from the 2010 scandal at Key Middle School/Kashmere High School on felony offenses of "tampering with a governmental record." Dr. Delores Westmoreland, former dean of instruction at Kashmere, was indicted for three cases and fellow ... More >>

HISD Awards $35 Million to Schools for Student Achievements

The Houston Independent School District on Tuesday handed out awards to teachers for student high scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. The ASPIRE Award program is part of an ongoing effort to reward teachers for the success of their students. According to an HISD pres ... More >>

HISD Cancels After-School Activities Due to Rain, Flooding

The Houston Independent School District has cancelled all after-school events Wednesday due to heavy rain and flooding that has struck the area today. Administrators will decide at a later date whether to reschedule specific activities. An HISD release states: HISD schools will conduct dismissal a ... More >>

TEA Applies the Hammer to North Forest (And HISD): Historically Terrible District Should Be Taken Over by Houston, It Says (Updated with HISD Response)

Welcome to HISD.​The Texas Education Agency has finally had enough of the North Forest ISD, a lower-income school district with chronic problems demonstrating proficiency on standardized tests. Today the TEA took the unusual step of ordering it to close, and suggesting it be taken over by HIS ... More >>

Worthing High Shooting -- the HISD Reaction

HISD taking steps in wake of shooting​The Houston school district is not really commenting on last evening's gang-related fatal shooting at Worthing High School because "it is the focus of an HPD ongoing criminal investigation," spokesman Jason Spencer says. But it has issued a statement from ... More >>

Actually, HISD Already Did Spend General Funds on Apollo 20

Previous statements are inoperative​Friends of Hair Balls have been besieging us in the last couple of days, insisting that Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier misspoke when he testified before a Senate Committee on Education that the district has never used general funds to finance Apollo ... More >>

Arnold Viramontes, HISD's Splashy New Hire, Violated Nepotism Rules

HISD's new hire had a nepotism flap in Dallas​The Houston school district announced today it is hiring the Dallas ISD's chief of staff, Arnold Viramontes, to oversee its technology operations. Our sister blog Unfair Park has a post up analyzing why this is big news for DISD -- Viramontes has ... More >>

Casualties of War

Parents who bought into the TAKS hype dealt blow at HISD meeting.

HISD On Title IX Complaint: "Nothing To Be Upset About"

As soon as HISD knows what it's doing wrong, it'll be sure to fix the problem. ​The Houston Independent School District held a press conference this afternoon to attempt to respond to allegations that the district doesn't give girl athletes the same opportunities as boy athletes. Trouble is, the d ... More >>

Magnet Schools in HISD -- The Passion, The Powder Keg

A magnet lottery can strike fear into hearts​The word "lottery" is not just anathema to Southern Baptists. Toss it into a room filled with ardent supporters of the magnet program in the Houston Independent School District and you get a two-hour discussion about good programs (okay, toss the ... More >>

HISD Asks Annise Parker For a Break, Gets Clobbered by Prop 1 Fans (Updated With HISD Response)

HISD says no to flood-fighting fees​Houston ISD trustees think they've already given enough tax money in support of flood control/drainage issues and want no part of the Renew Houston Proposition 1 measure that would allow the City to collect even more money through drainage fees. So they voted 8- ... 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 >>

Book 'em, Danno

Constables go after HISD students' unreturned books

Only 15 Percent Of HISD 9th-Graders End Up With A College Degree

No college degree for 85 percent of HISD 9th-graders?​About 15 percent of Houston Independent School District ninth graders will get a college degree.That stark news was delivered at the board of trustees early morning workshop today to the six board members in attendance (Anna Eastman, Diana Davi ... More >>

In HISD There Are No Unsatisfactory Teachers; Surprise: We Live in Lake Woebegone

Only 3.4 percent of HISD teachers are "below expectations" or "unsatisfactory"​"Of the 11 HISD schools rated 'Academically Unacceptable' by the Texas Education Agency in 2008-9, only two rated any teacher unsatisfactory" in any category of their evaluations. -- Source: HISD Human ResourcesIt was a ... More >>

HISD Looks to Hire Teachers From California

​The Houston ISD is heading out to California (and later to Louisiana, Michigan and Florida!) to recruit teachers, its press office announced today.Specifically, it is looking for bilingual, secondary math and science teachers and cash-strapped California -- where reportedly more than 20,000 teach ... 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 >>

HISD's Customer-Service Survey: Some Highlights

​The Houston school district has released a new "customer satisfaction" survey, where parents and the general Houston population were asked to rate various aspects of the district.Officials are crowing because many of the ratings increased -- "The results of a new survey conducted earlier this yea ... 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 >>

Still Hiring – the Houston School District

HISD May Hike Cafeteria Prices

J.R. Harris Elementary Struck by Lightning. Other HISD Schools Have Water, Water, Everywhere.

Coming Up: Which Schools Are Horrible?

Little Gentlemen and Gentlewomen One and All

Perhaps An End to Bus Stops As We Know Them

HISD: A Good Call on the Westbury Tragedy

Guest Column: HISD's Ethnic Gap

Stats show how district policies help whites with educational opportunities

Letters

Olé Olé Olé Olé

The baseball fields at T.H. Rogers will share space with a track and soccer field after all

Money to Spin

Budget woes don't affect HISD's PR department

Backing Off

HISD cuts $2 million from CEP's lucrative deal and adds more controls.

Will the Taj Come Tumbling Down?

A prime piece of HISD land goes on sale

Best Do-It-Yourself Nature Park

The woods on 11th Street in Timbergrove Manor

Class Cops

After Columbine, has HISD gone overboard trying to make schools safer?

News Hostage

A Book Is a Book

Children, Prepare Your Desk Manuals!

Paige DMPs on the HISD bureaucracy

TAAS Probe Update

HISD fires, reprimands and probes

All Together Now

Civic, school and business leaders unite to try to pass a massive HISD bond election

(Pay)checks and (Im)balances

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

A Question of Competence

State Comptroller John Sharp has suggested that HISD needs to fire more incompetent teachers. But as the case of Beverly Goodie shows, it's not that simple. Just how do you tell who's incompetent? And what happens when you try?

Midtown Jamboree

Why let a few conflicts of interest get in the way of a grand redevelopment scheme?

Vindicated

A jury finds that "outsourcing" actually meant "reprisal"