Tag Archives: HISD Board of Trustees

Personality matters

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Falkenberg, writing earlier this week about longtime teacher Jamie Simmon leaving HISD after 27 years to take a job with YES Prep: The decision, she says, has nothing to do with the daunting challenges of educating Lee’s largely at-risk, … Continue reading →

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CEP gets a good grade

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As reported by Hair Balls, the Texas A&M consultant that was brought in by HISD and Superintendent Terry Grier to evaluate Community Education Partners (CEP), its provider for the disciplinary alternate education program, has now issued his long-awaited report. You … Continue reading →

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HISD to keep CEP

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier has been pushing for months to get HISD out of its contract with Community Education Partners (CEP), its provider for the disciplinary alternate education program. He ran into opposition from HFT President Gayle Fallon, who has … Continue reading →

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No tech vendor contributions to HISD trustees

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

This seems straightforward enough. Houston school board members can no longer accept unlimited contributions from technology vendors after federal regulators alleged HISD violated competitive bidding and gift-giving rules. The new policy, which board members discussed Thursday, relates to the federal … Continue reading →

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Gallegos versus Grier

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

State Sen. Mario Gallegos is not a fan of HISD Superintendent Terry Grier. He has made this clear through two letters he has released. This one, from April 8, raises questions about Grier’s past record in other school districts, while … Continue reading →

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Stimulus fight

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, HISD is reducing its workforce, including teachers, due to budget shortfalls. The Houston Federation of Teachers says that this is happening while there are a lot of unspent stimulus funds. Houston Federation of Teachers leader Gayle Fallon … Continue reading →

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Everybody’s talking about Terry

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, that is. A few things I’ve noticed lately: From Rick Casey: For all his controversies in previous districts, Grier earned a reputation for improving the performance of all children, but especially of low-income and minority children. … Continue reading →

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Two trustees speak about CEP

Posted on April 3, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

This week, Carl Whitmarsh forwarded to his list a pair of articles written by HISD trustees on the subject of CEP and the changes that have been proposed by Superintendent Terry Grier. Since that has been such a contentious topic, … Continue reading →

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More on Grier’s alternative to CEP

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has a story about HISD Superintendent Terry Grier’s recent proposal to replace Community Education Partners (CEP) with a school swap program for some students with discipline issues. The transfer program, meant to give students a second chance in … Continue reading →

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Interview with Gayle Fallon

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As you know, I’ve been following the news in HISD lately, in particular the political struggle going on between new HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and the Houston Federation of Teachers, over things like the proposal to dump CEP as the … Continue reading →

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Grier pushing to dump CEP

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier has been pushing to get HISD away from using Community Education Partners (CEP) as a provider of alternate schools for kids with discipline issues. He has now made his recommendation to the Board … Continue reading →

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Longer school year for some?

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe, for some schools whose students lag behind, as a way to catch up. [HISD] is designing a pilot program to allow a handful of struggling schools to adopt an extended-year calendar starting this fall. The reform effort — estimated … Continue reading →

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HISD gives final approval to teacher dismissal plan

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier has gotten approval from the HISD Board of Trustees to implement a plan that would allow for the dismissal of teachers whose students don’t make enough progress on standardized tests. Data provided by HISD show that, … Continue reading →

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HISD to do school bus ads

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron’s Ericka Mellon writes: *Advertising could begin showing up on HISD school buses, assuming the board gives the green light, which it will. Only newly elected trustee Anna Eastman raised a slight concern at agenda review. “Our children are … Continue reading →

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HISD may race to the top

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Despite the earlier decision by Governor Perry to not let Texas compete for “Race to the Top” stimulus funds, school districts like HISD may get the chance to apply for them on their own. President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that … Continue reading →

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HISD moves ahead with its teacher dismissal plan

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. The school board on Thursday gave initial approval to a policy that allows the district to dismiss teachers whose students consistently perform below expectations on standardized tests. The change represents a move to make personnel decisions based … Continue reading →

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Evaluating teachers

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

This is sure to be contentious, but I think it’s the right direction. Teachers in Houston ISD could lose their jobs for failing to improve student test scores under a controversial proposal slated for a school board vote Thursday. HISD … Continue reading →

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Runoff precinct analysis, HISD I

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

To wrap up my series of precinct analyses from the 2009 Houston runoffs, we turn now to the HISD Trustee race in District I. I’ve added a sheet to the Google spreadsheet I put together for the District Council analysis … Continue reading →

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HISD Trustee runoff overview

Posted on December 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron story on the two runoffs for HISD Trustee. It echoes a theme from that Examiner story we saw yesterday. The outcome of the races could reshape several board debates — particularly over wages for construction workers, efforts … Continue reading →

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Meet the HISD Parent Visionaries

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve mentioned the group HISD Parent Visionaries a couple of times in this space. Here’s an article about them from the Examiner. Parent Visionaries was spawned after HISD’s former superintendent, Dr. Abelardo Saavedra, voiced an interest in eliminating or reducing … Continue reading →

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Trustee Marshall endorsed by former opponents

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In the runoff for HISD Trustee in District IX, incumbent Trustee Larry Marshall received the endorsement of the third and fourth-place finishers, George Davis and Michael Williams. I find that a little odd, since one presumes when they ran to … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Toyota endorses Eastman in HISD I

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In the aftermath of the election, I had wondered whether candidates who didn’t make the runoff would be endorsing one of those who did. We all know about the Mayor’s race and the Controller’s race by now, but I was … Continue reading →

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Grier starts the fight against dropouts

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

New HISD Superintendent Terry Grier hits the ground running. As his first major initiative as Houston ISD chief, Grier is launching a credit-recovery program similar to ones he headed up in San Diego and Greensboro, N.C. Houston ISD’s new program … Continue reading →

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You can still register for the runoff

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I suspect that just about everyone reading this blog is a registered voter, but if you aren’t, or you know someone who isn’t, you get a second chance for the runoff. Harris County Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez reminds citizens they … Continue reading →

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HISD candidate spending

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

After all I’ve done detailing how city candidates are spending their campaign money, I’d love to be able to tell how how candidates for HISD Trustee are spending theirs. I’d love to, but unfortunately I can’t, because that information isn’t … Continue reading →

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Tuesday mail call

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

After several politics-free days, my mailbox was overflowing with campaign literature today. Two pieces from the Houston Turnout Project, one that generically advocated early voting and one that advocated for Annise Parker, using language that I daresay we’ll all find … Continue reading →

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HISD Trustee IX overview

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

One more Chron overview of an HISD Trustee race, this one in District IX where three candidates are challenging incumbent and Board President Larry Marshall. During the last several months, Marshall has had a tumultuous stint as board president. The … Continue reading →

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HISD Trustee District V profile

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has another HISD Trustee race profile, this one for the open District V seat. A retired school administrator and an energy company executive are vying to fill the school board seat held by Dianne Johnson, who is stepping … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: HISD Trustee

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron finishes up their work for this election by making its endorsements in the HISD Trustee races. For HISD Trustee in District I, an open seat, we recommend Anna Eastman. As the president of the Travis Elementary PTA, Eastman … Continue reading →

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Interview with Adrian Collins

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I said I was finished with interviews. Turns out that wasn’t quite the case, and so today we have a conversation with Adrian Collins, who is running for HISD Trustee in District IX against incumbent Larry Marshall. Collins … Continue reading →

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The HISD Trustee candidates speak

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

These are short videos – I think Art Rascon’s intros of the candidates take as much time as they get to speak for themselves – but if you’ve not met the HISD Trustee candidates or listened to any of my … Continue reading →

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Corrections, clarifications, and conundrums

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This is a followup to my post from this morning about the 30 days out reports. I’m sure there will be more of this stuff to come, from plenty of folks, but this is what I’ve got as of now. … Continue reading →

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City fundraising reports, 30 days out

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Today is the deadline to file the 30-days-out campaign finance report. You can look up your favorite candidate here, but I can tell you that more than half of them aren’t up as of when I publish this. I’ve updated … Continue reading →

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Interview with Ray Reiner

Posted on October 2, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And we’ll wrap up the HISD candidate interviews with Ray Reiner, who is also running for the open District V seat. Reiner is retired after a 40-year career in HISD, where he wore many hats, including three stints as a … Continue reading →

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