Tag Archives: HISD

November 2021 election results

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

At 9:45 PM last night, this is what we had: . People still voting at Weekly! We’ll release the EV results once all voters have been processed. Standby, watch the Astros, and we’ll catch you soon. — Isabel Longoria (@IsabelTX) … Continue reading →

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November 2021 final early voting totals

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

A busy final day, and a significant uptick in early votes over 2017. Friday was the last day to vote early in the 2021 school board and state constitutional amendment elections with early numbers showing an uptick in turnout in … Continue reading →

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8 day campaign finance reports: HISD

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t often go to the 8-day finance reports, mostly because there’s too little time to squeeze everything in, but HISD is the main story this year, so let’s have a look. The 30-day report summaries can be found here, … Continue reading →

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2021 Day Seven EV report: After the weekend

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s get right to it: These are the early voting totals for the 2021 election after Sunday: Mail ballots: 36,517 In person: 19,901 You can see the full Day Seven report here. The “voters by type” breakdown on the last … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of the HISD Trustee elections

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

There is an election, with candidates, and they all deserve a paragraph and maybe a quote if they’re lucky so you can sort it all out and know how to vote. Five seats on the Houston ISD Board of Education … Continue reading →

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Superintendent House’s listening tour

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I like what he’s been doing. During his first week as Houston ISD’s superintendent in July, Millard House II said he welcomed feedback from everyone, especially those who long have been left out of important discussions. He has been receiving … Continue reading →

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Early voting starts today for the 2021 election

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Time to strap on the pads and get yourself out to the polling places: . Early voting begins Monday, October 18th. Log on to http://harrisvotes.com to view your sample ballot and find the polling location closest to you. Make your … Continue reading →

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More on the Mac Walker ballot name situation

Posted on October 16, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good move by HISD. Houston ISD on Tuesday took responsibility for failing to include the nickname of a trustee candidate when it entered his name in a county elections office portal. Lee “Mac” Walker, vying for district 7, said last … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Incumbents go one for three

Posted on October 16, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

In HISD District VII, the Chron goes with a challenger, in this case Mac Walker. In unruly classrooms and school boards alike, you’ve got good kids, you’ve got troublemakers, and then you’ve got the good kids who, for some reason, … Continue reading →

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Interview with Joshua Rosales

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Every election I get at least one late response or contact from a candidate that I had not interviewed. This year I got a reply to my email to Joshua Rosales after the interview I did with Myrna Guidry had … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Garza Lindner and Vilaseca

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron goes against an incumbent in HISD District I. Trustee Elizabeth Santos, 39, is asking voters to keep her on the board representing Houston ISD District I. They shouldn’t. Santos’ connection to the district is deep. She grew up … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Deigaard and Guidry

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We are in the last week before early voting begins for the 2021 election, and that means it’s time for Chronicle endorsements. This would be waaaaaaaay late in a more normal year, but as we know there aren’t that many … Continue reading →

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30 day campaign finance reports: HISD

Posted on October 10, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

HISD and HCC elections are the main event this November, and as we approach the start of early voting, we can now look at the 30-day campaign finance reports for the candidates. Here’s what things look like in HISD. Elizabeth … Continue reading →

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What’s in a ballot name, 2021 edition

Posted on October 10, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This is unfortunate. A candidate for the Houston ISD Board of Education said Friday his name has been printed incorrectly on ballots and county elections officials said it is too late to change the name. Lee “Mac” Walker, running for … Continue reading →

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Interview with Greg Degeyter

Posted on October 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

There are two challengers running in HISD District VI, and today I present to you an interview with one of them, Greg Degeyter. Degeyter is an attorney who specializes in helping people get disability benefits, after having been a meteorlogist … Continue reading →

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Interview with Myrna Guidry

Posted on October 6, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

There’s one incumbent on the HISD Board of Trustees that you may be less familiar with, and that’s District IX incumbent Myrna Guidry, who was appointed to the Board in December of 2020 to replace Wanda Adams, who had been … Continue reading →

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Interview with Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca

Posted on October 4, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I will be finishing off interviews with HISD trustees this week, and then moving into the HCC races next week. We have two incumbents and one challenger to meet, and we begin with Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, the incumbent in … Continue reading →

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COVID continues to run amuck at the schools

Posted on October 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This is our reality. Students in Texas public schools are facing another year upturned by COVID-19 as the highly contagious delta variant spreads, mask mandates are inconsistent and children under 12 cannot yet be vaccinated against the virus. Less than … Continue reading →

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Interview with Mac Walker

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

One more interview this week, still in District VII, with Mac Walker. Walker is a native Houstonian and graduate of Sharpstown High School as the first member of his family to reach that milestone. He went on to get an … Continue reading →

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Interview with Dwight Jefferson

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Back again to District VII and a visit with Dwight Jefferson, whom we met in 2015 when he ran for Houston City Controller. Jefferson is a graduate of UT Law School after having been co-captain of the football team as … Continue reading →

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Interview with Maria Benzon

Posted on September 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We move over to District V today for a conversation with Dr. Maria Benzon. Benzon is a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School who got bachelors and masters degrees at UT and a PhD in Educational Psychology at UH. … Continue reading →

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Interview with Bridget Wade

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I ran interviews two weeks ago with incumbent HISD trustees Sue Deigaard and Anne Sung. This week I will be running interviews with three of the candidates who are running against them – my schedule for publishing interviews is necessarily … Continue reading →

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Looking for the missing students

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

More important than usual this year. The state’s largest school district recorded a first-day enrollment of 172,091 students, a significant decrease compared with previous years. It is not uncommon for enrollment to lag, even to its lowest point of the … Continue reading →

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Interview with Matias Kopinsky

Posted on September 23, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We wrap up our tour of HISD District I this week with Matias Kopinsky. Kopinsky is the son of Argentine immigrants who grew up speaking Spanish. He attended Herod Elementary, Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School, and Bellaire High … Continue reading →

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Interview with Janette Garza Lindner

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with HISD District I, and today’s candidate is Janette Garza Lindner. A native of Brownsville, Garza Lindner has lived in Houston for 20 years. She is a UT graduate with a degree in Management Information Systems, and has … Continue reading →

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Interview with Elizabeth Santos

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This week we will meet the three candidates in HISD District I, which happens to be my district. Elizabeth Santos is the incumbent, having been elected in 2017 after Anna Eastman decided to not run again. Santos is a lifelong … Continue reading →

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Interview with Anne Sung

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with HISD candidate interviews, moving over to District VII for a visit with incumbent Anne Sung. I almost wrote “first-term incumbent”, but Sung won a special election in 2016 to succeed Harvin Moore, and was then re-elected for … Continue reading →

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Interview with Sue Deigaard

Posted on September 13, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Hey, remember how there are elections this fall? It’s true! Not for the city of Houston, but for HISD and HCC, and you know what that means – candidate interviews. As you may imagine, there are a few topics of … Continue reading →

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A bit of good news in the wastewater

Posted on September 12, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll take it where I can get it. Community spread of coronavirus is on the decline from its recent summertime high, but experts warn that Labor Day gatherings and kids’ return to classrooms could bring a rash of new infections … Continue reading →

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We really need a mask mandate at every school district

Posted on September 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Or we can just accept a lot more hospitalized kids. Easy choice if you ask me. The number of Texas children hospitalized with COVID-19 hit an all-time high over the weekend, with 345 on Saturday and 307 on Sunday, the … Continue reading →

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A rough start to the school year

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

For some districts more than others. Angleton and Livingston ISDs announced this week they temporarily were shutting down their schools, the first Houston-area districts to halt all in-person learning amid rising numbers of COVID-19 cases among students and staff, but … Continue reading →

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What about City Council and redistricting?

Posted on August 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest: . NEW: Except for #DistrictD, all the #CouncilDistricts held by minorities need to add people to equalize population in #Houston’s #political jurisdictions. #redistricting @MarcCommentary @jcortina @PabloMPinto @houtopia @ReneeCrossTX @UHPoliticalSci @MarkPJonesTX @bjrottinghaus — hectordeleon (@hdl_perspective) 9:54 PM – 21 … Continue reading →

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More injunctions against the mask mandate bans

Posted on August 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Keep ’em coming. Concluding that Gov. Greg Abbott exceeded his authority by banning mask mandates in Texas, an Austin judge ruled Friday that school districts in Travis County can enforce face coverings as a COVID-19 precaution. State District Judge Catherine … Continue reading →

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HISD starts its year

Posted on August 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good luck, kids. You too, parents. For the second straight year, Houston ISD is set to welcome back nearly 200,000 students in the midst of a pandemic. The similarities between last year and Monday’s reopening end there, however. HISD entered … Continue reading →

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