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Miles has drawn up new policies that facilitate graft and corruption. If his new policies are approved, it will make it easier to hire anyone off the street as a teacher. Along with his decision to turn libraries into Zoom discipline removal rooms, we are in trouble. How can this be good for kids?

Update: Miles changed the agenda again with some Open Meetings Act violations along the way. That means the item numbers are now different than last week as well as some of the details. 

There has never been a board agenda more horrifying than this one. This is a blazen attempt by F Miles to consolidate power, undermine financial and administrative oversight and to eliminate the public’s right to know. It also severely curtails the oversight of the unelected board of managers. 

Sign up to speak by noon on Wednesday at the Thursday HISD Agenda Review meeting at 5:30 pm at HISD, 4400 W 18th. Here is the lengthy agenda packet.Click here for step-by-step instructions to sign up to speak. Read below for detailed board policy changes

Grift Alert: 

Item 22 (p160) HISD Superintendent wants to raise the $100k threshold for required board approval on contracts to $2 Million. If approved, the superintendent will have sole authority to make contracts up to to $2M without board approval and without the public ever hearing about the contract. This means Miles could write up a contract for $1.5M to a friend to buy spin bikes and no one would be the wiser.

Item 24 (p 168): Assistant principals and deans will no longer need to be certified. 

Item 19 (p 124): HISD Supe Miles is proposing policy changes that would make CFO Jim Terry the sole decision maker regarding how HISD funds are invested & removes the Internal Controls section. This opens the door to riskier investments and undermines HISD’s financial stability.

With no one overseeing Miles and his CFO, Miles is free to buy as many spin bikes and Ubers for students to get to school as he wants. If HISD cannot pay its bills in a year, then Miles will say we have no choice but to close schools. and you can bet they will be in NES communities.

Item 26 (p 173) eliminates the requirement that “information on applications shall be confirmed before hiring an individual.” You could create a fake resume and, if you pass the background check and are breathing, HISD will hire you without anyone checking to see if your credentials are, in fact, real. This is a dangerous policy change. 

Miles forces teachers to reapply for their jobs; fires half of human resources and now has so many unfilled positions that now the sign says, “We’ll hire anybody with a pulse, a clean background check, and a degree.” Miles is trying to clean up the mess with more chaos. Teachers need to be vetted; teachers need certifications. 

Item 7 (p 26) Board’s legal counsel will no longer be in the boardroom during meetings providing legal advice to the board. It also authorizes the superintendent to hire anyone for anything without required board approval. The board won’t know and the public won’t know who the lawyers are. This opens up room for abuse of power. 

RSVP at houstoncvpe.org/events 

• HISD’s “community” meetings today, 8/1 at Stevenson (9595 Winkler Dr, 77017), and Wed, 8/2 at Attucks (4330 Bellfort Ave, 77051), both from 6pm to 7:30pm. 
• On Thurs, 8/3, come to the HISD Agenda Review meeting at 5:30 pm at HISD (4400 W 18th St) at 5:30 PM. Sign up by noon on Wed to speak against Miles changing board policy to give himself more power.
• PROTEST, Sat, 8/5 at the HISD building (4400 W 18th St, 77092) at 9, to save libraries and not to turn them into Zoom Discipline Centers.