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Hello, Houston,
Hope everyone had a restful and delicious Thanksgiving weekend, and hasn't found reentry into civil society too jarring. Me? I volunteered to help hold down the fort here at the paper on Thanksgiving, but I won't lie that I was a little grumpy about going to the parade in the chilly rain to write our annual report. Seeing the genuine enthusiasm that grown men and women had for balloons the size of office buildings warmed my frozen heart, though, and it turned out to be a pretty nice time.
Students went back to school on Monday and are gearing up for the home stretch before the winter holidays. We've got a whole slate of stories we're trying to get done in that time that will hopefully add to our collective understanding of what the school district looks like under this new administration. In the meantime, here's some stories from this week and last that will keep you current on all things Houston ISD.
This week's must reads:
- There's been so much upheaval at HISD that sometimes it can be hard to keep track of how exactly the state-appointed superintendent, Mike Miles, has changed the district. So my colleague Anna Bauman put together a handy recap that does just that.
- I had the pleasure of speaking about HISD with mayoral candidates Sheila Jackson Lee and John Whitmire, who woke me up with an early morning call, could tell I had been sleeping and (thankfully) told me he'd call back in an hour after I had some coffee. As mayor, neither would have direct control over the school district, but that doesn't mean they'd be powerless to influence the state of public education. Read what each of them had to say about how they would approach a relationship with Miles and use their office to help HISD children.
Is there something happening you think we should be covering? Let us know here or by replying directly to this email.
 | Anna Bauman, Education Reporter |
A look inside HISD's expanded dual-language programs
There's been a lot of concern these past couple of months about where emergent bilingual students fit into Mike Miles' plans and its a valid question, given how sudden and total many of these changes have been.
It took us a while but we were able to get access to two elementary schools, one of them NES-aligned and the other a non-NES school, to see if Miles kept to his word about preserving and expanding dual-language programs, which aim to teach students half their content in English and the other half in their native language. It's widely regarded as the most effective way of teaching students who aren't yet fluent in English, and parents of kids in those programs have been understandably protective of them.
This was a tricky story to write because there are 80 dual-language schools at HISD and experiences are likely distinct across many of them — especially this first year under a new administration. I felt I needed to see these programs in action to fully understand them, and while I didn't want to make sweeping generalizations based on two schools, it did help me understand what this kind of education should look like. It also provided me with a frame of reference for what I was hearing from people at other schools, some of whom say the district has not remained faithful to the model.
What I saw personally was kids at all grade levels taking some of their classes in English and some in Spanish, though I can't attest to whether every kid got 50/50 instruction since I wasn't there all day. But I was heartened to see classroom decorations and learning materials in both English and Spanish, and I loved the system at Patterson Elementary in which students who are stronger in one language are paired with students who are stronger in the other when its time to buddy up.
I did my best to stay out of the way during classroom observations, but in one particularly tender moment, a pre-kindergartner at Gregg Elementary got out of his seat, walked straight up to me and gave me a big hug, then walked back to his desk without uttering a single word. He must have sensed I felt uncomfortable disrupting class.
The last thing I'll say is that as a native, but imperfect, Spanish speaker, I found myself thinking during these tours how much this kind of education would have benefited me growing up in Chicago. Watching students toggle back and forth between English and Spanish, I marveled at the ability of kids' brains to process language and reflected on how frustrated I still get when I can't find the word for something in Spanish, or stumble over a conjugation.
Parents are right to guard these programs fiercely, and it's something we'll continue to keep an eye on as the year progresses. Read about the first couple months here.
What Else Happened This Week
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The Calendar Ahead
• Now through Dec. 7: Magnet school tours start at 9 a.m. Thursdays for elementary schools and 1 p.m. for secondary schools. Check with the specific campus before you arrive.
• Dec. 7: Board of Managers workshop at 5 p.m. at Hattie Mae White, 4400 W. 18th Street
• Dec. 14: Board of Managers regular meeting at 5 p.m. at Hattie Mae White, 4400 W. 18th St.
• Dec. 22-Jan. 5: Winter break
Shoutout
Art Car Donations: Some Houston ISD campuses will be gearing up for the Art Car Parade with vehicles donated through a new partnership between Visionary Art and Team Gillman, a major Houston Art Car Parade's sponsor. Ten vehicles a year will be donated to HISD schools, according to a late November announcement. The beneficiaries for the April 13, 2024, parade include Westbury High School, Red Elementary, Ortiz Middle School, Young Women's College Preparatory Academy, Milby High School, Bellaire High School, Tanglewood Middle School, Sam Houston Math, Science & Technology Center High School and Madison High School.
"Working together with your fellow students to build an art car over the course of five months has a transformative power," long-time Art Car artist and educator Rebecca Bass said in a prepared statement. "These projects build camaraderie and self-esteem, teach about teamwork and responsibility, and allow individuals to express their personal creativity through such a unique artistic medium - not to mention the joy that comes from hundreds of thousands of spectators cheering them on during the parade."
Know a teacher, staff or student who deserves a shoutout? Let us know here or by replying to this email.
Meet The Team
Photo by: Susan Barber
Our HISD coverage is fueled by reporting from Anna Bauman, Megan Menchaca, Sam González Kelly and Anastasia Goodwin. Assistant City Editor Jennifer Radcliffe also helps contribute to this newsletter.
You can reach out to any of them by emailing them at their firstname.lastname@houstonchronicle.com, filling out this survey or by replying directly to this email.
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