Good.
In a major reversal, Houston ISD’s state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles said early Friday that the district’s principal proficiency screener ratings will not be used “in any adverse employment decisions” for campus administrators for the current academic year.
As part of its mid-year proficiency screenings, HISD notified about half of its principals earlier this month that they had not yet met the requirements to guarantee their jobs next year and would have to achieve proficiency under a second screening if they want to guarantee their spot during the next academic year.
[…]
While the district’s principal screening was not on the public agenda of the monthly meeting of the HISD Board of Managers, that did not stop parents, teachers and students from giving one-minute speeches for about three hours,
After hearing from the community, the HISD Board of Managers spent about four hours in closed session before returning to the meeting room at about 2:15 a.m. Friday. Miles then read a brief statement saying he would not use the controversial proficiency screener ratings to evaluate principals or make “adverse employment decisions” this academic year.
However, Miles said the district would continue to use instructional data, student achievement data, written evaluations of performance, and any other appropriate and relevant information in decisions affecting someone’s contract status.
The dozens of parents who defended their school principal’s performance and urged the board to halt the implementation of the screening had left by the time the decision was announced.
“My principal cares and inspires all of us to care. Our school was like this before you came to our district and I hope that it can withstand your policies,” said Brynn Cabe, a seventh grader at an HISD magnet school. “The success of all of our schools depends on you taking a more understanding approach with your job. … Don’t punish high-achieving principals with some inconsistent rubric.”
See here and here for the background. It’s not clear what caused the reversal – who even knows with this guy – but it’s the outcome I wanted, perhaps brought about due to pressure from HISD parents, so I’m not going to question it too closely. One of the principals who was apparently on the “shape up or else” list was the principal at Hogg Middle School, where both my daughters went. (Hogg got a B on the unofficial accountability ratings for this past year.) I know this because I’m still on some email lists for the Hogg PTA, and the parents were rallying in support of their principal. Turns out that parents who like their kids’ schools get upset when they feel their schools are being threatened. Who knew? Well, FAFO and all that. We’ll see if he left himself some weasel room or if this is the end of it. The Press has more.
UPDATE: From the Houston Landing:
The Houston Landing asked HISD and board president Audrey Momanaee, who is an attorney, whether the district reversed course on the principal proficiency screening this year because the plans could have violated the law. Neither immediately responded to requests for comment.
Last Saturday, community members sent a legal memo to HISD’s board of managers and Texas Education Agency leadership, alleging the principal rating measure violates state law because it was not approved by the board and was not in place when the school year began.
On Monday, Miles dismissed those points as “misconceptions,” drawing a distinction between the proficiency screening tool and the board-approved formal evaluation process for principals.
However, attorney Christopher Tritico argued that if the district planned to use the proficiency screening to make employment decisions, it would have to go through formal approval measures outlined in state law and local policy.
Tritico successfully litigated a similar case for the Houston Federation of Teachers last August, arguing Miles’ new teacher evaluation scheme had not gone through the proper legal processes. The lawsuit ultimately blocked Miles from implementing his planned teacher appraisal tool this school year.
“He’s doing the exact same thing that he already lost a lawsuit over,” Tritico told the Landing on Monday. “If (principals) are going to be fired if they don’t pass the proficiency, then that is the evaluation process, and you can call it whatever you want.”
This sounds plausible to me, and very much in character for Miles. Insert shrug emoji here.