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Children across Houston can expect a longer school year and a shorter list of teachers and staff when they report to their campuses Monday morning for the start of the 2024-25 academic year.
Some Houston ISD students might also encounter tall grass and air-conditioning units that struggle to combat the August heat.
Superintendent Mike Miles, speaking Thursday about keeping HVAC systems in working order during the hotter months, said district administrators "plan for it to be a problem every day." Replacing faulty units is part of a $4.4 billion bond proposal that HISD's state-appointed board of managers decided to place on the November ballot.
Miles also acknowledged the district is behind on landscaping, which he attributed to recent wet weather and more pressing maintenance issues, after several community members complained about overgrown grass during Thursday's board meeting and said school staffers and even parents were taking care of it themselves.
"School starts Monday, and our yards look horrible," resident Carmen Nuncio told Miles and the board. "I'm suggesting that maybe we could pitch in some money and buy you a lawnmower, so maybe you can go help us cut the yard."
Miles, who said community volunteerism is welcome and generally commonplace at schools, is leading Texas' largest district into its second year of a state takeover. His New Education System (NES), which utilizes premade lesson plans and places greater emphasis on discipline, instructional oversight and testing-based performance metrics, is expanding from 85 schools last year to 130 campuses this year.
Back to class
The superintendent has credited his reforms, and many educators' buy-in, for HISD's improvements last year in standardized testing. Miles also said last week the district elevated its forthcoming accountability ratings from the Texas Education Agency – which will release its official campus and districtwide grades this Thursday – noting that HISD will have nearly twice as many A- and B-rated schools compared to the previous year and will decrease its number of D and F campuses from 121 to 41.
Teachers from NES schools celebrated the improvements at last week's convocation. Afterward, some said they were looking forward to continued progress.
"Coming from our environment, those students needed some structure like this, to be stern for them," said Coretta Dill, a learning coach at Forest Brook Middle School. "It has changed them, and it changed their grades, and they're excited to come back next week."
The state intervention and related reforms also have been met with criticism while contributing to widespread staff turnover. HISD eliminated more than 1,400 central office positions for efficiency and economic reasons, according to Miles, who also said 1,400 employees left the district during the last calendar year because of "performance issues."
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More than 4,000 employees departed HISD in June alone, with more than 2,400 of those being teachers, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Miles said the district is starting this school year with 10,640 teachers, a decrease of 748 compared to the start of last school year, which he attributed partly to declining student enrollment. HISD had 47 teacher vacancies as of Thursday, Miles said, and is starting the year with 850 uncertified teachers.
Miles said many of those employees have served as teacher apprentices and are working to become certified, adding that students should not be negatively impacted. But Nadia Pervez, the mother of a Lanier Middle School student, said she fears they will be.
"I think it's a bad idea in general. The certification process exists for a reason," she said. "I'm worried that with an increasing number of uncertified teachers, they're going to have a harder time meeting the needs in the district, particularly in classrooms where the students are at different levels."
Ready or not
Among other changes this year, HISD is starting school more than two weeks earlier than it did last year, while still concluding classes in early June. HISD opted to become a "District of Innovation," which exempts it from a state requirement to start school no earlier than the fourth Monday in August.
The district also eliminated 85 bus routes, and bus stops for the 3,000 or so students who rely on HISD transportation to get to magnet schools outside of their local neighborhoods will be within 3 miles of their homes after previously being within 2 miles. The changes aim to cut costs while also reducing travel times for those students, according to the district.
HISD said in July that students and their families would receive their bus routes before the end of the month. But Pervez said Friday that she and some other Lanier parents had not yet received their route information, calling it a "real logistical nightmare right now."
Maria Calzada, another HISD parent, also expressed trepidation about the start of a new school year after a tumultuous first year under state-appointed leadership.
"I am exhausted thinking about the fact that I'm going to have to do this again this year," Calzada told the board Thursday. "I'm going to have to be vigilant, watching for what weird stuff is going to happen."
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Mold inside aging campuses has been another concern among HISD community members. Miles said Love Elementary and Kashmere Gardens Elementary both underwent mold remediation last week but were ready to welcome students.
District personnel also have spent the summer fixing storm-damaged campuses and removing debris after several schools were impacted by the derecho windstorm in mid-May and Hurricane Beryl in early July. The latter weather event downed trees at 50 campuses and caused roof or structural damage at 60 schools.
Miles said Thursday that all 274 campuses in HISD were expected to be ready by Monday – although some may still have HVAC problems and overgrown grass, he acknowledged.
"Every day counts for our kids," Miles said. "So we'll do everything we can to keep the schools open."
