At the HISD Table

How many times have the Angels been to the World Series?

Here is what the Chron E-Board said about HISD and the failing schools:

In a rushed and desperate last minute move to avoid state sanctions, Houston Independent School District trustees are considering a deal to turn over the operation of 10 improvement-required schools to a charter school network.

Trustees should vote no.

Help from charters is an idea worthy of consideration, but this specific arrangement smacks of an insider deal. Elected representatives must demand more sunshine and scrutiny before going forward.

Here is the entire E-Board take: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/HISD-should-vote-no-on-charter-takeover-12860916.php.

Here is what the Chron said happened last night at the School Board meeting:

Houston ISD board members adjourned late Tuesday without voting on a controversial measure to give up control over 10 low-performing schools after the meeting turned physical and police escorted members of the public — nearly all of whom opposed the plan — out of the room.

Chanting “no more sellouts” and shouting at trustees, most of the roughly 100 community members in attendance watched angrily as officers began physically pulling disruptive residents out of the room. The skirmish came after HISD Board of Trustees President Rhonda Skillern-Jones declared a recess in the middle of the meeting and ordered the room cleared due to repeated public outbursts.

If trustees choose to meet again, they likely will not return until Saturday at the earliest. Trustees typically  provide at least 72 hours advance notice of any public board meeting. The vote had been expected to be narrow, with several trustees already voicing support or opposition for the proposal.

The uproar reflects the heated nature of HISD’s proposal to allow Energized For STEM Academy Inc., which already runs four in-district charter schools, to take over operations of the 10 campuses for five years. Without the agreement, HISD would likely face forced campus closures or a state takeover of the district’s locally elected school board due to its failure to improve academics at the schools.

HISD Interim Police Chief Paul Cordova said one person was arrested on a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge, one person was arrested on a charge of interfering with duties of a public servant and one person was detained but not arrested.

Jenny Espeseth, who said she has children in first and fifth grades in HISD, was dragged out of the board room by her arms and pulled into a hallway side room. She said police told her they intended to file a report, then released her.

Here is the entire Chron article: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Skirmish-at-shool-board-meeting-leads-to-ejections-12862150.php.

Sorry. We can’t have school board meeting that look like this.

Commentary is thinking the H-Town Mayor got a report on last night’s meeting and will step in.

How about the teachers? In case folks have forgotten, the Houston Federation of Teacher were pretty big players in last year’s school board election, like they dropped a ton of dough into many of the winning campaigns. Have they been at the table? If not, they should be. Like it or not, it just makes sense.

Normally, Commentary would want the H-Town business community leadership or Greater Houston Partnership at the table, but I haven’t been impressed with their leadership on public education issues the past few years. After all, they sit on their hands and don’t say squat when the state’s GOP leadership continues to slash public education funding. They don’t have much credibility in my book.  They should just sit this one out.

Let’s get the right folks at the HISD table soon and try to get this thing headed in a better direction.  We don’t need anymore meetings like the one last night.  It doesn’t look good and it might lead to a state takeover of HISD.

The Angels have gone to the World Series once of course in 2002 and won it all in seven against the Giants.

There were a lot of folks at Dollar Dog Night last night but the team came up short against the Angels.  Ouch!