Tag Archives: HISD

Mostly good news for Apollo

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the story so far. A three-year, multimillion-dollar experiment to improve 20 struggling HISD schools yielded big gains in math and limited progress in reading, according to partial results of a study released Wednesday. Now, Superintendent Terry Grier and the … Continue reading →

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Demagnetized

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Some unhappy changes are about to occur at Houston schools. HISD officials unveiled a plan Thursday to cut funding and end bus rides next year for transfer students at 20 struggling magnet schools, tackling a politically tough topic that has … Continue reading →

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Where things stand going into early voting

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A few impressions of the state of the races as we head into early voting. Mayor – The thing that I will be looking for as initial results get posted at 7 PM on November 5 is how the gaggle … Continue reading →

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HISD board approves 3-cent tax increase

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It was a close vote. Property owners in the Houston Independent School District will see their tax bills rise after trustees Thursday narrowly approved the first tax rate increase for operations in a dozen years. The board voted 4-3 to … Continue reading →

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30 Day fundraising reports are coming in

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

For the Mayor’s race at least, they’re a lot like the July reports. Even as top mayoral challenger Ben Hall ramped up his campaign in recent months, launching several television ads, Mayor Annise Parker continued to outpace him in fundraising, … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: HISD

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Clearly, this is an early endorsements year for the Chronicle, as they follow up their HCC recommendations with their endorsements in the contested HISD Trustee races. District 1: Anna Eastman, the board president, has been a thoughtful leader and a … Continue reading →

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Interview with Wanda Adams

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, longtime District IX Trustee Larry Marshall decided not to run for re-election this year. Three candidates are running to succeed him, one of whom is term-limited City Council Member Wanda Adams. Adams is serving her third term … Continue reading →

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HISD race overviews

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron takes a look at the three contested HISD races. The District 9 race in south Houston sees the return of W. Clyde Lemon, an attorney who held the seat for two years until Marshall ousted him in the … Continue reading →

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Interview with Anne Sung

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Challenging Harvin Moore in HISD district VII is Anne Sung. Sung would be somewhat of a rarity among trustees in that she has actual classroom teaching experience – seven years in the Rio Grande Valley with Teach For America, as … Continue reading →

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Interview with Harvin Moore

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Harvin Moore has been the HISD Trustee in District 7 since 2003. A former national bank examiner for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Moore is now the senior vice president for finance and operations at a local aerospace company. … Continue reading →

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Interview with Hugo Mojica

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Opposing Anna Eastman in HISD District I is Hugo Mojica. The Executive Director of the Greater Northside Chamber of Commerce, Mojica is a longtime community activist, serving on numerous volunteer groups for Davis High School and on Parents for Public … Continue reading →

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Interview with Anna Eastman

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I still have some Houston elections to cover here, but for this week we turn our attention to the HISD Trustee races. I have five interviews to bring you for these races, beginning with my Trustee in District I, Anna … Continue reading →

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HISD candidate sues to get back on the ballot

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I missed this when it first happened. Anthony Madry, a former administrator in the Houston Independent School District, filed a petition with the 14th Court of Appeals this week after HISD rejected his application to run for the school board. … Continue reading →

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How city candidates have voted in past primaries

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is great to see. The Harris County Democratic Party does not endorse candidates in the non-partisan City of Houston elections; however, in an effort to keep you informed as to which candidates are Democrats and which are not, we … Continue reading →

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A new day in North Forest

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I’m really really rooting for this to work out well. [Maria] Cortez used to teach at Burbank Elementary in the Houston Independent School District but agreed to follow her principal to a tough new assignment – and to transfer her … Continue reading →

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The 2013 lineup

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

So many candidates. More than 60 candidates have filed to run for city of Houston elective office this fall, many of them rushing in before the 5 p.m. Monday deadline. […] Atop the ballot, [Mayor Annise] Parker is challenged by … Continue reading →

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What would Ben Hall do for schools?

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Ben Hall made his official filing for Mayor on Wednesday, and had a campaign rally after ward. This story is about that and about a new video his campaign released, and it contains three ways in which Hall says he … Continue reading →

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Election page updates

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

If you take a look at my 2013 Election page, you will see that I have added information about HISD and HCC races. I don’t have information about all candidates, mostly because I don’t think I’ve heard of everyone yet, … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: GLBT Caucus and HSYD

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We are entering the part of the election cycle where groups are making their endorsements. One of the first out of the box is the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, which held its endorsement meeting on Saturday night. Here’s their press … Continue reading →

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The new accountability standards

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the TEA press release about the school accountability ratings for 2013, which came out on Thursday. The Texas Education Agency today released the 2013 state accountability system ratings for more than 1,200 school districts and charters, and more than … Continue reading →

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School superintendents for Early To Rise

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the press release: (Houston, TX) Today Harris County Superintendents participated in a press conference for the Early to Rise campaign, which is seeking to create a dedicated funding stream to improve the quality of early childhood education through a … Continue reading →

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July campaign finance reports, HISD and HCC

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Ericka Mellon did me the favor of the heavy lifting for HISD Trustees. Campaign finance reports filed this week show at least two non-incumbents are entering races for the Houston school board this November, while contributions for most trustees generally … Continue reading →

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Show them the data

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. A major donor to HISD’s key school reform effort is putting its remaining $3 million check on hold amid concerns that detailed research about the success of the program is lacking. The president of the Houston Endowment, Ann Stern, … Continue reading →

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HISD inspects North Forest schools

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not pretty. The HISD leaders tried not to scowl as they walked into classrooms with broken glass, flooded floors, outdated chalkboards, graffiti on walls, gum on desks and the smell of mildew. The head of food service swept cockroaches … Continue reading →

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What does the DOMA decision mean for Texas?

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, the day after the disappointing SCOTUS ruling on the Voting Rights Act, we got a much more heartening ruling on DOMA, declaring it to be unconstitutional. However, not all of DOMA was struck down. In a landmark Supreme … Continue reading →

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Clock strikes midnight for North Forest

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This was a tough blow for NFISD. North Forest school officials lost one of their final court battles Wednesday, making the district’s state-ordered merger into HISD five days from now increasingly likely. U.S. District Judge David Hittner rejected the last-ditch … Continue reading →

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RIP, Section 5

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

By now you are well aware that SCOTUS has dealt a blow to the Voting Rights Act. They actually left Section 5, which is what requires certain parts of the country (including Texas) to get preclearance on voting-related changes, intact, … Continue reading →

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HISD budgets for teacher pay raise and more Apollo

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Whether that will mean a tax hike, and if so how much, remains undetermined. Houston ISD employees will see a 2 percent pay raise and many schools will receive more money to help struggling students under the budget that trustees … Continue reading →

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HISD contemplates tax hike

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not as much as they once thought they would raise them, since enough money was restored by the Legislature to stave off the need to raise taxes for that purpose. Superintendent Terry Grier’s budget proposal, released Monday, would increase … Continue reading →

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HISD moving forward with North Forest annexation

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Despite some legal uncertainty, they pretty much have to keep moving forward. The Houston Independent School District moved forward Wednesday with its takeover of the beleaguered North Forest school system even as state education officials prepare for a Thursday hearing … Continue reading →

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Midyear 2013 election update

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Back in January, I took an early look at the 2013 elections in Houston. At the request of the folks at the Burnt Orange Report, who also printed my initial overview, here’s an update on the races in the city … Continue reading →

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TEA insists North Forest closure moving ahead

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

TEA Commissioner Michael Williams says don’t listen to the noise, North Forest ISD will be assimilated into HISD as planned on July 1. Williams said the Texas Education Agency, which he oversees, has followed state law and has the necessary … Continue reading →

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Justice Department engaged in North Forest closure

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A possible ray of hope for supporters of North Forest ISD, which is still hoping to survive past July 1 when the TEA’s order for it to be subsumed into HISD takes effect. The chief of the Justice Department’s voting … Continue reading →

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Laptops for fewer, at least for now

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

HISD’s proposed laptops for all proposal has been scaled back from an 18 school pilot to a ten school pilot in response to concerns that they weren’t quite ready yet for anything bigger than that. Lenny Schad, chief technology officer … Continue reading →

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