Thursday was a tough day for many employees in Houston ISD, including those in wraparound services, as they were told they won't have jobs after the end of this school year.
Federal ESSER funds awarded to school districts during the height of COVID have funded these positions and are due to run out this year. HISD administrators say they can't afford to absorb these positions in the district's budget. Thursday was the day they delivered the much anticipated news officially that those positions would be cut.
The HISD administration, in a released statement said it was not commenting on the number of employees or positions involved in the RIF — Reduction in Force.
But HISD did acknowledge that wraparound positions were critically affected, adding that instead, going forward: "HISD will coordinate wraparound supports at the Division and District level next school year. Under this structure, campuses will continue to provide emergency supports, while the Divisions and Sunrise Centers will manage comprehensive supports for our students and their families."
And added that cuts like this are being done "to keep cuts as far away from kids and classrooms as possible and is continuing to invest in our teachers and leaders. We have a responsibility to deliver excellent instruction for every student, every day they are in school. In addition, we must avoid the fiscal cliff predicted by previous administrations and set HISD up to be financially healthy for the long term.
Months in the offing, and given Superintendent Mike Miles' oft-made statements about the difficulty of the district's finances it inherited, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to those affected.
Still, it had to be devastating news as one HISD administrator acknowledged in her delivery to 170 wraparound specialists in on a Thursday Teams call. A recording of her presentation was later placed on an HISD teachers website.
"Unfortunately your role will be impacted due to the budget constraints," said Phuong Tieu, Executive Director over Student Supports. "Please know that it has nothing to do with the scope of the work, the work of wraparound or the position. It has to do with the budget situations that the district is experiencing.
"I know this is a real difficult time, a really difficult situation for each of you to be a part of and if you need to take the rest of the day off to process, please let your coordinators and directors know. This decision, the reduction in force was not made lightly. Other teams have been impacted in addition to ours and please rest assured that we have done everything we can to preserve the work of wraparound."
Then she went on to say the district will continue to support these employees, and although the HISD administration is saying HISD will support affected employees who are pursuing open positions in other departments, that's not how she put it.
"If you need any help with resume writing, if you need any reference support, please let us know." She also urged them to continue supporting the students them work with saying that was really important.
According to its website, HISD lists the wrapround services it provides which includes "assistance with food, clothing, shelter, and hygiene products" as well as "Tutoring, mentoring." It is also responsible for workshops and training session "designed to empower families to support their children's education and access community resources." They also have special programs dealing with "emergent bilinguals, pregnant and parenting students, and students with incarcerated parents."
This is how HISD proposes to meet the needs of all its students and their families going forward:
