Just because 117 principals were told right before Spring Break they hadn't met the most basic proficiency standards at their jobs in Houston ISD doesn't mean they are going to be fired, HISD Superintendent Mike Miles said at a suddenly called press conference Monday.
They have a whole second semester to work things out and do better on the second proficiency screening, he said at the press conference in which he frequently compared the principals' efforts to sports teams able to turn their losing seasons around at the midpoint by winning the rest of their games.
The list of 117 principals told they need to improve as well as 124 other principals who were told they'd already met the criteria was obtained and published online by the
Houston Chronicle and republished on the
Community Voices for Public Education website. On March 9, Miles complained that this was an unauthorized intrusion into personnel matters and
Chron editors removed it from their site, saying they'd been told some of the names on it were in error. (Miles declined to say what those errors were on Monday.)
But before the
Chron did so, enough people saw (and probably copied) the list. Surprised by the names of principals at some of the top schools in HISD who had not met the first level of proficiency, many parents were both amazed and infuriated. The resulting online discussions and an accompanying letter writing campaign appear to have awakened members of the public who'd previously been little concerned about the changes in HISD this school year.
Perhaps as a result, over this past weekend, several posts on CVPE called for Miles to leave the district (not new) and there were threats that if he's not gone, the public will not support an expected bond issue in the fall running in the billions of dollars (a call to not support a bond issue because who the superintendent is, that's new).
When asked at the press conference Monday if he would be willing to sacrifice himself and step down so that the bond issue would have a better job of passing, unsurprisingly the state-appointed Miles declined to do so and said he is going to stay the course and continue the job he was brought in to do. Although the bond issue is far from set, Miles said his priorities are, in order: security issues in the schools, heating and cooling systems in schools, renovations or complete replacement of some of the oldest schools in the district and replacing some of the outdated temporary buildings. He said he trusts that voters would put students first and vote for the expenditures for needed improvements, whatever they think of what he's doing.
For the screening, principals were judged on quality of instruction by an independent review team and student achievement at their schools. At the end of the year for their evaluations they will also be assessed on their action plan and how they did with special education.
The superintendent complained about how the 117 principals' performance was described by some media outlets and community forums.
"We never used words like for the second group 'They didn’t make the cut, they failed. They better shape up, They've been put on notice.' We never said that." The 117 were told they need to continue to make progress, he said. Seventy to 80 percent are going to be asked to return," he said.
Miles predicted that 10-20 percent of the 117 principals would end up not having their contracts renewed for the 2024-25 year. That means 80-90 percent of them, even those ones "who don't have a winning record" will be asked back, Miles said. Principals will continue to be assessed throughout this semester and a second screening will be done at the end of April, beginning of May. They will be notified after May 6, he said.
HISD has 274 principals total but not all were rated — some joined the district after November 1 and some were out on FMLA leave, he said.
(In another data point, Miles also announced that there will be 4,500 teacher positions at the New Education System schools (the superintendent's new program with timed tests throughout the school day) and that 5,494 HISD teachers had already applied for those slots at what will be 130 NES campuses. That number doesn't include the teachers from outside the district who may apply for those jobs, he said.)
In justifying his evaluation and screening system, Miles said any real evaluation system looks at the quality of instruction in order to raise the quality of instruction. "You can't just raise the bar, raise expectations without any data, without any information. And you can't hold people accountable without giving them that information." Employees deserve to know exactly where they stand, he said.
"The 117 schools, their principals are making good progress. That's what we told them. And they just need to continue. We need another semester. We need the second half of the season. Nobody said they're not going to make it,: he said. "The principals at these high-performing schools, odds are they're going to have a winning season."
Whether that assurance comforts any of the parents upset about the status of their principals right now, remains undetermined. But the school board meets again at 5 p.m. this Thursday, March 2 and with an expected long line of public speakers, chances are, we'll find out.
