It was a quieter but still contentious Houston ISD school board meeting Thursday night complete with a litany of complaints about staffing, special ed and principal evaluations aimed at the board and Superintendent Mike Miles delivered by public speakers. There were cries of “Don’t Fire the Teachers” and “You are doing harm” when the Board of Managers adjourned into executive session to fire some unnamed teachers and principals.
In the latest theater of the absurd, when Miles addressed the board several members of the audience whipped out orange rubber noses. Specially ordered online, they were clearly a Pinocchio reference to the superintendent’s truth-telling abilities.. For his part, Miles ignored the back of the room efforts (easier to do than the buzzing alarms critics previously set off to protest the timed portions of the new curriculum) and plowed forward, describing everything as positive.
With little discussion, the board passed the new principal evaluation program by a 7-0 vote. Board members Angela Lemond Flowers and Paula Mendoza were absent for that vote, with Mendoza showing up later in the meeting. Principals will be judged on: “Student achievement outcomes, principal performance, a school climate and culture survey and a school action plan.” Principals will be paid based on how they are evaluated. At least for the first year, part of that evaluation will be an assessment of the end-of-year academic growth of special ed students.
The result of this evaluation could mean a wide pay gap between principals judged to be doing the best at their job and those assessed much lower on the scale. Of course, as seen repeatedly in recent weeks, those at the lowest point on the scale will probably be looking for new jobs.
A frequent comment from the public speakers ran along the lines of: “I want to share the voice of a parent/teacher who’s afraid of retribution.” One unnamed parent’s story relayed by speaker J. Alison Chapin was that an assistant principal came into her child’s pre-K class, interrupting the kids’ designated 15 minute nap time and pulled the mats out from under them, saying they should be more active.
Daniel Santos, vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers who makes frequent appearances before the board, said “The hostile state takeover was never about supporting our schools. It’s was about dismantling them.”
A recurring complaint was that parents and teachers have not been allowed input about the sweeping changes marching through the district. Miles once again enumerated all the meetings he’s held talking to educators as well as community meetings with the public.
In a press conference after the public meeting, Miles was asked about the absence of teachers on the District of Innovation Committee charged with recommending the waivers the district will be asking the state for if granted DOI status — things like number of school days, length of school days, class size. Saying that the Board of Managers had selected the DOI members, Miles said there were teachers on the District Advisory Committee that will be receiving the DOI recommendations so teachers would have input there.
Staffing continues to be an issue. At the start of the year, Miles had said there were no staff openings at his 28 New Education System Schools and very few elsewhere in the district. Under his plan students would not face one substitute teacher after another but a classroom teaching assistant would step in in a teacher was gone.
According to one unnamed NES-Aligned teacher as relayed by speaker Allison Newport, what this looks like is: “On paper we are overstaffed; the reality is we are understaffed. we do not have long term substitutes as a results we often have to put one class into another teacher’s room. This week we had to put three classes into one teacher’s classroom. Sometimes we have to grab anyone and have them watch over our students. one time we had a janitor supervising a special education classroom when no other staff was available. These disruptions are a huge disturbance to our students and staff who are unaware of student’s special needs especially negatively affects our special education kids.”
One of the key components that Miles had promised to go with his NES program that teachers in it could just concentrate on a day’s worth of teaching without having to make copies or grade papers and that the lesson plans they used would come from the central office. It has already been reported that there have been a significant number of errors in those lesson plans, leading Miles to divert some teachers to spend half days vetting what the central office workers produce.
Sarah Rivlin, speaking on behalf of an NES teacher said “I was optimistic about the changes that were coming. I believed Mr. Miles but he has lied. Teachers were told that someone would be hired so we didn’t have to copy or grade papers and not have to do clerical work. It’s been six weeks; we’re still waiting for that support. Teachers were told we will internalize one subject. I was hired to teach one subject, then given another and then another. Seriously, one hour of planning is not enough to internalize three subjects, fix curriculum issue, make copies, grade papers and call parents without the support you promised.”
Speakers Ruth Kravetz and Traci Latson both spoke in opposition to the terminations and reassignments of HISD teachers, Kravetz saying it was an intimidation technique. Speaking on behalf of an NES teacher, Kravetz reported that teacher said she was no longer able to spend extra small group sessions with students who didn’t understand a concept.
Latson said teachers were being punished “for making a conscious decision not to harm students.” She called the NES curriculum a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t acknowledge that not all students learn the same way. “Teachers should not be terminated for exercising their instructional autonomy rights,” adding that teachers also should not be fired for asking questions about the NES model.
Asked at the press conference how students who are behind are being helped in his new curriculum, Miles cited the extra 35 minutes of direct instruction help they get immediately in English and math classes. He referred to what he sees as the dangers of teachers who never move on. There’s also an extended time period built in for review on Fridays, although Miles said that with all the other changes in the district “we haven’t pushed that out yet.”
The next board workshop is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday October 19.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
