Houston Independent School District

North Forest ISD's Hopes To Avoid HISD Merger Vanishing Quickly

The likelihood of North Forest Independent School District being annexed into Houston Independent School District seems imminently probable, even though North Forest promises at least one more appeal of the decision. North Forest, which has been in disarray for almost two decades now, threw a Hail ... More >>

TEA Head: Final Decision On Charter Providers For Troubled North Forest ISD Rests With HISD

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams made it clear in his confirmation hearing this morning that the future of North Forest Independent School District would lie with Houston Independent School District if his decision for closure is upheld. The Texas Senate has to confirm Williams, ... More >>

MLK Day: What's Closed on Monday?

Monday is the Martin Luther King Jr. Day federal holiday and there are quite a few things closed. Here's a rundown of what we know is closed and/or open. If you know of any things we missed, please add them in the comments. Most banks. The United States Post Office -- no mail delivery, except Expr ... More >>

Will HISD Thumb Its Nose at Rick Perry & Go for the Race to the Top?

The deadline is looming for the next round of the Race to the Top, a program federal education department officials all but admit was drafted for Houston Independent School District after Texas refused to compete for federal grants. When Education Secretary Arne Duncan hinted such a district-based ... More >>

YES Prep Wins A $250,000 Broad Prize

Houston's YES Prep has picked up the Broad Foundation's first top prize for charter school management organizations, winning a cool $250,000 for the charter chain.   The inaugural award was announced at the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools Conference in Minneapolis this morning. The awar ... More >>

A Little Respect

Antonia Rivas did her job in HISD until she died. Now her children want some notice to be paid.

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.

Battle of the Bands

Kids march towards a better future.Fighting declining interest and funding woes, two HISD high schools offer kids an oom pah pah way to better futures

ACLU Can't Get Terry Grier To Listen To Its Complaints Against CEP

Big vote tonight​The Houston Independent School District's board is expected to vote later today to renew its contract with a controversial company that handles students with disciplinary problems. The ACLU of Texas isn't too happy about that.The ACLU wrote a letter to HISD superintendent Terry Gr ... More >>

Terry Grier Can't Find A Workable Alternative to CEP

Photo by Margaret DowningCEP survives another day, even under Grier​There will be trims. There will be millions of dollars in savings. There will be new initiatives and new monitoring, but the bottom line is: Community Education Partners will continue to operate its two alternative schools in Hou ... More >>

Dean Denies (Knowledge Of) TAKS Cheating At Key Middle School

​In today's latest revelations concerning the alleged standardized cheating, employee theft, and other massive problems at Key Middle School (and involving Kashmere High),  Dean of Instruction, Dolores Westmoreland insists she didn't know of any cheating going on involving the TAKS test at K ... More >>

HISD Mulls How to Best Save Its Schools, And Ex-Board President Larry Marshall Still Tries To Run Meetings

Photo by Margaret DowningHISD Superintendent Terry Grier​In a district where eight of its high schools and 11 of its middle schools don't even have a school counselor, the Houston Independent School District trustees got together for an agenda meeting early Thursday morning to talk "transformatio ... 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 >>

School's Out For Summer: Travis Elementary Closes For Rest of School Year

Photo courtesy of WikipediaTravis Elementary, the school where one kid after another was coming down with or thinking he was coming down with swine flu, was supposed to open next Tuesday to finish out the year in some sort of style. That's not going to happen now, Norm Uhl, spokesman for the Houst ... More >>

Obama Follows Yet Another Bush Policy: He Praises HISD

Photo courtesy White HouseThe Houston school district got a shout-out from President Obama this morning.In a major speech on education, Obama urged a raft of reforms "to finally make No Child Left Behind live up to its name."Among the reforms he urged districts to adopt: Houston's method of keeping ... More >>

No Bus Left Behind

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

County Attorney Candidate Vince Ryan Sues Linebarger Goggan

Saying he deserves a bigger piece of the pie, the former city councilman serves up cherry information to his current political opponent

Cover Story: College Immaterial

So Much for No Child Left Behind

School test scores rise as more low-scoring students drop out.

Where in the World Is Sheila Jackson-Lee?

Oh. My. Dog.

The Half a Million Dollar Question

Homeless in Suburbia

Michael Lyddon slept on this bench at night because he had nowhere else to go. According to elected officials in Fort Bend, though, he doesn't exist

Pass the Mike

History for Dummies

Neil Bush touts a school curriculum for guys like himself

Dumb and Dumber

Rod Paige does no better when he doesn't have an answer than when he does

Too Quiet

The City Hall press corps ain't what it used to be

Certifiably Crazy?

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

Hail to the Chiefs

Rod Paige searches for the perfect image, and CEP wiggles in even closer to the power source -- wherever it can find it

Spaced Out

Bellaire's solution to the student parking shortage: Ban every space

Headhunting, HISD-Style

The new HISD superintendent was just a phone call away

In Through the Out Door

A new law hastens a Brown official's departure

Letters

Investigate CEP, Santa Fe's Shame, Politics Makes Strange...

Spaced Out

Is legitimate safety or something more behind the push to curb Bellaire High parking?

Back to the Future

HISD discovers it can be hard to keep a TAAS-tarnished principal down

School Scam?

Did a teacher fabricate a student assault to collect disability?

Joining the Battle

The Insider

Political Goodfellows Editor: Gabe and Gary get new toys; Lee and Mario cry in their stockings

Term Limits: The Next Generation

A fractious bunch fills the city ballot, but the blood flies in District H

Landrush

The city of Houston is being carved into special taxing districts, promising windfalls for some, financial burdens for others

Lifting Principals, Spilling Guts

More adventures in HISD's wacky world of staff training

Model-Netics Hooks City Hall

Letters

Power to the Principal

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

Peer Pressure

At Anderson Elementary, students are packed into classrooms, hallways and portable buildings as educators struggle to manage a school with too many kids

The Unchanging Face of Milby

For more than 70 years, Milby High School has educated working class kids from the East End. In the early 1960s, I was one of them. I recently went back to Milby to see not what had changed, but what, if anything, remained.

A Taxing Situation

What are the penalties in Harris County's tax collection deal with Heard, Goggan?

Tell Them the Dog Did It!

Brace yourself --the FBI says the Tracker is a fraud

Restricted Access

Public access TV promises to become a little less public