The number of reported discipline cases as of March in Houston ISD has significantly decreased, except for a small uptick in expulsions (34 to 37), Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles reported Wednesday night. But gun possession cases went from 18 to 42 for a 133.33 percent increase — something that Miles said that will be countered, in part, the district’s ongoing expansion of weapons detection systems in the schools.
Compared to the same time period in 2024, incidents labeled assault/contact with teacher decreased by more than 28 percent (237 in 2024 down to 170 in 2025) cursing at teachers went from 814 cases reported to 686, bullying from 101 to 91 and cell phone violations from 441 to 259. The number of discipline cases reported overall were down more than 20 percent.
Maybe it was the upcoming Easter weekend with Friday off school or the fact that the board wasn’t meeting as usual on a Thursday, but the Wednesday night monthly meeting of Houston ISD’s Board of Managers was more sparsely attended than usual.
Complaints from the floor remained about the same as parents and students continued to criticize Miles’s New Education System with its frequent testing, as well as what they consider bloated salaries for his high-level administrators and spending $3 million on an HISD NOW TV system and its daily reports that they say nobody’s watching.
Addressing the daily timed testing at the district’s 130 NES schools, Helms Elementary parent Brooke Longoria said: “The over-testing destroys children’s love of learning. And it’s not going to get us the test scores we want because you can’t keep hyping kids up for a test. They’re going to stop listening. They’re going to stop trying. That’s just kids. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you reconsider some of these policies.”
Miles appeared to be operating under his own time limits in reporting to the board Wednesday with Board President Ric Campo reminding him along the way about what seemed to be a cap put on how long he could speak.
Sarah Terrell, barred for six months from attending in person after being thrown out of the January board meeting for objecting to the district’s plans to sell a number of its properties, called in on Zoom. She insisted Miles doesn’t know what to do about his budget and that he’s using money that should go into a capital projects account to instead fund operations. Referring to the proposed sale of a number of HISD properties, Terrell said “He’s selling real estate to pay the light bill.”
None of that appeared to bother the Board of Managers who voted 8-0 (Adam Rivon was absent) to approve the sale of Brookline Facility, 3901 Telephone Road to Chi-Thanh Nguyen; Chatham Facility, 8110 Bertwood, to Houston Habitat for Humanity, Inc.; Kirby and Orem Acreage to Alliance Residential Company; North Forest Acreage to Four Windy Hill Investments; South Area Office, 4040 W. Fuqua, to Community of Faith Foundation, Inc.; and Terrell Facility, 4610 E. Crosstimbers, to Houston Habitat for Humanity, Inc.
Community Voices For Public Education co-founder Ruth Kravetz complained about the diminishing number of wraparound services specialists at the schools and said more were expected to lose their jobs on Thursday. This would come at the same time as HISD is expanding its Sunrise centers with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department at the Marian Community Center, 11101 South Gessner. Critics say the wraparound services should be at the schools where they are immediately accessible to students and their families rather than a few separate locations across the district.
Turnaround plans for three HISD schools were approved. These include High School Ahead Academy Middle School, Liberty High School and Middle College High School. A plan for the campuses, each of which has been rated unacceptable for two consecutive years, will be submitted to the Texas Education Agency.
