Never give up, never surrender. North Forest ISD has spent more than $595,000 appealing the state’s order to shut down, newly obtained records show, and the school district is continuing the court fight as its July closure date nears. Despite the district’s ongoing appeal before an Austin court, the Texas Education Agency has ordered North [...]
Posts Tagged ‘North Forest’
TEA drops the hammer on North Forest again
Pretty much as expected. North Forest ISD announced Monday that the Texas Education Agency had upheld the decision to close the school district and annex it to Houston ISD this summer. The ruling, however, does not end the school district’s fight to remain open. North Forest attorney Chris Tritico pledged to once again appeal the [...]
HISD and KIPP debate North Forest’s future
HISD SUperintendent Terry Grier and KIPP co-founder Mike Feinberg meet with the Chronicle to discuss their vision for North Forest ISD. Under either scenario, students could face longer school hours to help them catch up academically, and some employees may have to change positions or lose their jobs if they don’t perform well. Grier said [...]
North Forest still fighting closure
I don’t know how successful they’ll be, nor do I know if I should wish them luck. Texas Education Agency officials on Friday made their final case for closing North Forest ISD, while district leaders countered that the school system has improved but is being held to an unfair standard. The TEA’s chief deputy commissioner, [...]
Not so fast on the North Forest charter plan
Not everyone is convinced that the plan to allow a consortium of charter schools to take over North Forest ISD is a good idea. In interviews Monday, state Rep. Senfronia Thompson and Sens. Rodney Ellis and John Whitmire, all Democrats, voiced reservations about the last-ditch attempt to prevent the annexation of North Forest to Houston [...]
Charters apply to take over North Forest ISD
Fine by me. In a potentially groundbreaking move, three of Houston’s top-performing charter schools are making a pitch to run the long-troubled North Forest school district. The charter groups — KIPP, YES Prep and Harmony — are asking Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams to approve their plan, instead of having the Houston Independent School District [...]
Aiming to attract magnets
HISD has applied for a $12 million federal grant to create as many as eight new magnet schools. HISD’s application, which is due to the U.S. Department of Education on March 1, would create science, technology, engineering and math programs at Ryan Middle, M.C. Williams Middle, Kashmere High, Furr High and the South Early College [...]
North Forest ISD fighting closure
This was to be expected. About 60 attended a meeting Saturday in response to TEA Commissioner of Education Michael Williams’ recommendation on Thursday to dissolve NFISD due to poor academic performance and low high school completion rates, among other issues. Leaders of the 6,900-student northeast Houston district said they will fight the decision all the [...]
TEA orders North Forest ISD shut down
This could be the end for North Forest ISD. Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams recommended that the district of 6,900 students be annexed into the mammoth Houston ISD effective July 1. His statement came just two days after the district said it would seek a partnership with Texas A&M University to assume day-to-day operations of [...]
Precinct analysis: HISD and HCC
I was reasonably confident that the HISD bond referendum would be successful, mostly because there wasn’t any real opposition from officials or constituencies that would normally be expected to support it. It had a much smoother path than the 2007 referendum, which still managed to pass, so it wasn’t hard to see this one making [...]
North Forest gets a reprieve
For a year. The long-troubled North Forest school district will remain intact for at least another year as Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott granted it a rare reprieve Friday from having to close in July. Scott said he would give the northeast Houston district a year to improve. He said he had seen some academic [...]
HISD to take over North Forest ISD
This is going to be a challenge, assuming it does go forward. The North Forest Independent School District is nearing the end of its appeals to stay open, paving the way for Houston ISD to take over. State education commissioner Robert Scott notified the North Forest administration in a letter released Friday that he was [...]
HCC redistricting
Turns out that the HCC Trustees have done some work on redistricting for themselves. Their meeting agenda for May 19 lists “Resolution Accepting Draft Plans for Redistricting of HCCS Board of Trustees Districts and Confirming Public Hearings” as the fourth item under the Consent Agenda. You can see a copy of the draft plans here. [...]
Endorsement eatch: For HCC annexations
Missed this from Wednesday. In this fall’s elections, voters in the Spring Branch and North Forest Independent School Districts are being asked to approve annexation of their respective districts into the Houston Community College System. We believe the larger region has a stake in these elections and strongly encourage voters in both areas to cast [...]