Category Archives: School days

Help Hogg Middle School find its next principal

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Hogg Middle School serves my neighborhood. They are in the process of searching for a new principal. The following is a note from HISD to interested parties about a meeting tomorrow related to this: Dear Hogg Middle School Community, As … Continue reading →

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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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Not everyone was impressed by that CEP report

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, a Texas A&M researcher released a report that evaluated the effectiveness of Community Education Partners (CEP), the provider HISD uses for its disciplinary alternate education program. The evaluation was very positive for CEP, saying it did a good … 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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What people who (mostly) don’t have kids in the schools think about the schools

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

In addition to their horse race survey, the UT/Texas Trib poll asked some questions about the state of public education in Texas. There’s a lot in the poll, ranging from confidence levels in the public schools (not so good) to … 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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Who’s homeschooling?

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Are there a lot more home-schooled high school students, or are they just conveniently mislabeled dropouts? You decide. More than 22,620 Texas secondary students who stopped showing up for class in 2008 were excluded from the state’s dropout statistics because … 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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Lawsuit over grading policies

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

A number of school districts, mostly in the Houston area, have a policy of not giving kids a grade lower than 50 in any grading period. The idea is that by setting a floor on grades, it gives kids the … Continue reading →

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Where does your school rank?

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

How good is your neighborhood school? Not just in terms of its Texas Education Agency’s rating, but in comparison to other schools? Here’s a way to find out. The greater Houston area is home to some of the best — … Continue reading →

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Who’s using electronic textbooks?

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

According to this DMN story, the electronic textbook revolution hasn’t exactly taken hold just yet, at least not in the Metroplex. The [Texas Education Agency] has budgeted more than $800 million for textbooks in 2010-11, but it’s not clear how … Continue reading →

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Wrapup from “Houston Have Your Say: Education Crisis”

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I thought last night’s broadcast of Houston Have Your Say: Education Crisis went very well. You can see rebroadcasts of the show on Thursday, April 22, at 1:00 am; Friday, April 23, at 8:00 pm; and Sunday, April 25, at … Continue reading →

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Join the chat for Houston Have Your Say

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I’m here at the KUHT studios for Houston Have Your Say: Education Crisis. There’s a Cover It Live chat available, so head over and let us know what you have to say about it. There’s a lot of brainpower among … Continue reading →

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The coming train wreck

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Two local school superintendents – HD Chambers from the Stafford Municipal School District and Louis Stoerner from the Alief Independent School District – wrote an op-ed for the Chron about the financial catastrophe that school districts are facing. With a … Continue reading →

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“The school-to-prison pipeline”

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Read this. When it comes to discipline, Aldine ISD doesn’t mess around. The large suburban district expelled more students last year — 525 — than any other district in Texas, despite being a fraction of the size of large urban … Continue reading →

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Houston, Have Your Say on education

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve had a lot to say about public education and related issues lately, from school finance to HISD and so forth. This coming Tuesday, Houston PBS station KUHT will have another episode of Houston Have Your Say to discuss the … 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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Fort Bend ISD layoffs

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Unfortunately, I expect we’ll hear more stories like this in the coming months. On Thursday, many teachers in the Fort Bend Independent School District got the letter they had dreaded. It was notification from Rhonda McWilliams, the district’s chief human … 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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Interview with HISD Superintendent Terry Grier

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

On Monday I published an interview with HFT President Gayle Fallon in which we covered a number of topics relating to HISD, many of which are a source of contention between the HFT and HISD Superintendent Terry Grier. Yesterday, I … Continue reading →

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More on K12RadioHouston

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron writes about HISD’s plan for an Internet radio station. While the station will be professionally run, students will have a role in producing content. Music will dominate the waves, but school performances, athletic events and news announcements will … 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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Electronic textbook update

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Last year, the Lege passed a law that allowed school districts to provide electronic textbooks instead of the traditional kind as a way to save money. The bidding process to provide these texts is now going on. With Texas budgeted … Continue reading →

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HISD disciplinary data

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, I noted some differences of fact between HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and HFT President Gayle Fallon over the cost and use of alternate school CEP, which Grier wants to dump. Fallon left a comment in that post, and … Continue reading →

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Fact check on Aisle 5, please

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier has proposed ending HISD’s relationship with Community Education Partners (CEP), which provides alternate schools for kids with discipline problems. Following that, the Chron editorialized in favor of Grier’s stance. Grier contends that CEP … Continue reading →

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HISD Radio

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

This, from the inbox, sounds very cool: K12RADIOHOUSTON: HISD’s NEW SCHOOL OF THOUGHT The nation’s first custom radio station created for a major school district (Houston, Texas) No radio tower or transmitter necessary! The Houston Independent School District (HISD) begins … 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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