The pattern couldn’t be clearer.
Texas officials again tapped a Houston schools administrator to helm a state takeover, this time for Beaumont ISD.
Sandi Massey is the new state-appointed superintendent of Beaumont ISD as the district has struggled with years of poor academic performance. Massey comes from the nearby Houston ISD, where she was the chief of schools during a takeover that has been controversial among parents but lauded among state leaders.
“I know what it takes to transform a district,” Massey said at a press conference Wednesday. “I am ready to do it here in Beaumont and make this city the best instruction you’ve ever seen.”
Massey is the third Houston schools official tapped in recent weeks to help shepherd a state takeover.
Texas Education Agency commissioner Mike Morath appointed Ena Meyers, who was a Houston ISD chief, as superintendent of Lake Worth ISD last week. And Peter Licata, on his first day on the job as the state-appointed superintendent of Fort Worth ISD, hired another Houston ISD chief Daniel Soliz as his deputy.
See here for the background. The takeovers will continue until we run out of Mike Miles clones, I guess. Beaumont ISD has issues, no question – it had been taken over once before because of financial mismanagement – I just remain unconvinced that this is the One Secret Trick to fixing everything. Indeed, later in the story there’s this:
Beaumont school trustees — whose authority is replaced by a board of managers named Morath also named on Wednesday — had partnered with the charter network Third Future Schools in 2023 in an effort to avoid a takeover and help its struggling campuses. Third Future is the brainchild of Mike Miles, the state-appointed superintendent in Houston, and previously employed Massey before she joined HISD.
But, ultimately, the partnership wasn’t enough for Beaumont.
I would like to know more about this, please. Like, if Mike Miles couldn’t fix them before, why do we think he can fix them now?