As if the Houston ISD Board of Managers and Superintendent Mike Miles needed another slogan hurled at them, Thursday night’s monthly board meeting saw the rise of “I stand with the Northside 45” as several speakers slammed what they see as an outrageous punishment for students who last week protested Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
A total of 45 of the 100 Northside High students who participated in the HISD-approved rally were given three-day suspensions for not returning to their classes immediately when school officials deemed the walkout had run its course. In a district whose superintendent has repeatedly emphasized the importance of being in school every day no matter the bad weather or HVAC problems, several speakers challenged why kicking kids out of school for three days was a good idea.
Another point of contention Thursday night was parents concerned about the dual language program at Wharton Dual Language Academy. Several called for the dismissal of Principal Dr. Veronica Celedon saying that she fosters a toxic atmosphere that has caused several teachers and families to leave and its running their program into the ground.
However, many speakers had to wait until late in the night to have their say because the board has apparently discarded its previous practice of allowing public comment for non-agenda items to start by 7 p.m. Instead they first heard about the new Teacher Excellence System evaluations that will be used in the coming year — surprise: teachers don’t like all those drop-in spot checks while they’re teaching their classes — as well as a goal monitoring report and the latest student test score results.
Miles released middle of the year NWEA test results showing an increase in the percentage of students “projected to meet or exceed on STAAR” compared to the same time last year.
The non-profit Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress tests are administered at the beginning, middle and end of the school year. Miles has said they correlate closely to the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests and sees the latest results as, as he puts it, another data point confirming the continuing improvement in HISD students test scores.
The area where HISD students showed the largest growth was in science. The U.S. median score in all these categories for grades 3-8 is 50. HISD’s overall score in science was 64.8, Miles reported. He pointed out that these scores are in growth not proficiency levels and that students from non-New Education system schools still score higher on the standardized tests than NES schools that have been designated as needing more academic help.
Still amid all that good news about scores, some critics of the district question whether the results have been manipulated. Ruth Kravetz, a co-founder of Community Voices for Education, was once again one of those questioners Thursday night. “To inflate STAAR scores, you blocked 70 percent of NES ninth graders from taking biology last year and kept at least 17 percent of high-achieving NES eighth graders from taking algebra in eighth grade.
HISD board members and Miles heard a poignant plea from a Northside student Thursday night that they reconsider and reverse all the three-day suspensions handed out to 45 students participating in an immigration protest at the school last Friday.
Joshua Ramos asked them to remove the three-day suspensions from all the students’ records. Quoting President James Madison when he wrote the First Amendment about the rights of people for freedom of speech, Ramos said the vast majority of the students who were protesting were doing it in a peaceful manner with good intentions.
“On the 7th of February I was protesting for my family members, loved ones and friends. It is unjust to expel students from a school all because they were using freedom of speech.
“I would like for all of you to give power to the students and for the suspensions to get out of our record and to keep ICE out of our learning centers. Instead of investing money in ICE raids, the money should be invested into every school to make it into a better learning environment,” he said.
To new board president Ric Campo’s credit he did not shut off the student’s address when it ran over the one minute mark allotted each speaker and in fact asked that the mic be turned back on until Ramos was done.
Sarah Terrell, who last month was arrested after she refused to leave an HISD meeting after telling board members how disappointed she was in them, addressed the board by Zoom. She received a letter from the district Thursday morning saying she is barred from setting foot on any HISD properties until July 1 That includes any activities at her grandson’s HISD school. She is only allowed to communicate with the board by Zoom.
Referring as well to the Northside suspensions, she said: “You are threatened by activist grandmothers and students. You penalize us to silence us. We are no threat to you and we are not silenced.
“Your attorney’s letter sanctimoniously invokes the safety of students. You look ludicrous and petty.”
The board will meet again on February 27 at 3 p.m. to begin workshops on its next year’s budget.
In the meantime, here is the complete report of HISD’s middle of the year NWEA scores:
