This Thursday the HISD Board will be discussing several important agenda items. [en español]

Will you speak at the board meeting this Thursday or email your trustee to express your concern about the proposed spending of up to 1.5 million dollars on “security equipment” over the next three years and other matters?

Agenda item I-1 proposes purchasing 200 rifles and shields for each of the 200 HISD police officers with spending up to 1.5 million dollars over three years to purchase “security equipment.” During agenda review last week, Superintendent House stated that HISD police were not being prepared for an active shooter situation. Watch the agenda review board discussion here at minute mark 1 hr 52 min (10 minutes in length). Read more in the Houston Chron story reported on Aug 5. The vote is on Thursday.

While every single parent, teacher, and community member wants nothing more than for our children to be safe and protected at all times, this is not an intelligent investment. In the event of an active shooter situation, the Houston Police Department is the better agency to handle the situation given that they are funded, staffed, and prepared for this scenario.

Militarizing our high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools is not the answer. Instead, the (up to) 1.5 million dollars should be used to pay for more counselors, social workers, mental health support services, and smaller class size that directly benefit our students' education.

For more background, read why armed police do not prevent school shootings.  And in other research, the author note that “policymakers must be careful not to develop[school police] policy based on racial and social economic status or solely on focusing events.”

Agenda item B-2 discusses the draft of the Board’s 2022 Community engagement plan & community engagement Ad Hoc Committee. The committee met in June and developed the draft policy to “create a plan to engage with parents and stakeholders about the board’s governance priorities”. The problem lies with the committee’s definition of community which as of now includes only “parents and stakeholders. If this committee truly seeks to engage with the community, then teachers and students must also be included in the written community engagement plan.

Agenda item F-5 (talking about STAAR and school ratings): School is starting soon and children, parents, and teachers are eager for meaningful and engaging instruction. Hopefully, this year, the HISD Administration and Board will reduce the number of monitoring and STAAR readiness assessments that sacrifice time from real learning. More of these assessments are given to students in HISD than in surrounding districts. Even HISD Chief Academic Officer Byrd stated during agenda review that there is testing fatigue at the end of the year. 

More time for teaching and learning is best practice.  Ask HISD to put some heft behind that statement. Ask HISD to reduce the number of benchmarks, monitoring assessments, mock exams or other district benchmarks it requires teachers to administer. Also ask HISD to publicize what is required or “strongly encouraged” and to inform parents and teachers what is no longer required. This is not an item up for a vote at this time.

Will you speak at the board meeting this Thursday or email your trustee to express your concern about the proposed spending of up to 1.5 million dollars on “security equipment” over the next three years and their flawed definition of community?

To speak at the meeting you must register as a speaker by noon tomorrow, Wednesday 8/10. You may speak in person or via Zoom. Register  at houstonisd.org/Page/32478 or call (713) 556-6121 for more information.

You can also click here for tips about speaking at the board meeting.

We look forward to supporting students as they learn, teachers as they teach, and parents as they engage!