HOUSTON – Thursday was an emotional evening at the Houston Independent School District’s board meeting.
Parents expressed emotional frustration over what many said was a beloved librarian fired at Harvard Elementary in The Heights.
The district and its superintendent took the opportunity to celebrate STAAR Testing results that it recently received for high school students.
“Biology improved by 23 points in two years, Algebra by 17, English I by 5, English II by 8, and U.S. History by four,” said HISD Superintendent Mike Miles.
For Miles, unveiling the results in front of four new board members was the proof that he and his team were anxious to showcase to highlight a turnaround now entering its third year.
“This has never been done in Texas,” said Miles at one point.
The district is also touting STAAR results for third through eighth grade in math. The percentage points show that HISD outperformed the state in three of six categories and tied in another. However, reading, while improved, still lagged behind the state in the three through eighth grade levels according to numbers presented by the district.
HISD student Eliana Gottlieb was not impressed with the claims being made by Miles as well as the district’s emphasis on the performance by students on a test, “They are not learning in ways that benefit children. The way we are doing it, it’s not going to be good for when they are forty, it’s not going to benefit them in learning how to take a STAAR test,” said Eliana Gottlieb.
Thursday was the 14th board meeting where Gottlieb has spoken. Her biggest criticism, as conveyed to us, “The district is mismanaging their money,” said Gottlieb.
We have heard the same from parents following a 2 Investigates series of reports into the district allocating up to $2 million of taxpayers’ dollars last year to hire a strategic communications and political firm for support of the massive $4 billion bond initiative. Our investigation has led to ongoing investigations by the Texas Education Agency and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Thursday evening, Miles and his board heard about it again from parents, who, like Gottlieb, are concerned as to how HISD is spending public funds.
“You paid millions of dollars to a consultant to help you pass a bond, money that could have gone to our classrooms,” said Carmen Nuncio. “We as parents didn’t pay anyone, but we came together to make sure that your bond did not pass. You should have come to us as experts, because we know our kids’ needs.”
