Welcome to Houston, Millard House II. I hope the state lets you stay.
Houston ISD trustees unanimously voted Friday to name Millard House II as their lone superintendent finalist, tapping the leader of Tennessee’s Clarksville-Montgomery County School System to guide the district past a tumultuous period of instability.
House will arrive in Houston after spending four years as superintendent of Clarksville-Montgomery, a public school district home to about 37,000 students near the Tennessee-Kentucky border. House previously worked as chief operating officer of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina, deputy superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma and as a school leadership consultant.
With the board’s nine members standing behind him at district headquarters, House announced his arrival Friday afternoon by focusing on his ability to lead, innovate and unite. He acknowledged the looming threat of state intervention in HISD, which could cut his tenure short, but said he remains focused on the opportunities for growth in the district.
“There are great people here in HISD,” House said. “I think we have the tools in our toolbelt to move beyond some of the drama, the issues that have plagued the school system. We’re really looking forward to building the capacity, building the united front.”
See here for the background, and here for the email sent by the Board to parents. HISD is a much bigger district than what House has worked with before, but that’s true of almost anywhere else. He seems to have good experience, and I appreciate the fact that he’s willing to come here despite the risk of the state booting him out in the near future. As far as that goes, we’ll have to see what the Supreme Court does, and whether the Lege will pass that Dutton bill. However long your stay in Houston is, Superintendent House, I wish you the best of luck.
I wonder what kind of golden parachute this guy will get? He’ll get installed (anointed), work for a few months, maybe a year, before the state finally takes over, and he’ll just fade away with a big bag full of loot that should have been spent on educating the kids. Deja vu. And I don’t even see the point. It seems with the HISD board, the only thing that matters is the race of the top guy, so they already have a black, and now they’re replacing Grenita with another black. Why? What’s the point? The Mexican wing of the HISD board must be apoplectic.
At least I’ve already got the new super’s nickname ready….Milhouse. Tricky Dick and the Simpsons have shown us the way.
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