Houston ISD parents, community members protest Mike Miles’ State of the District luncheon

Dozens of people showed up to protest Miles’ plans for Houston ISD outside of his State of the District speech. Inside the meeting, three attendees disrupted Miles and were escorted out.

Patricia Ortiz / Ariel Worthy

| March 21, 2024, 5:17 PM

HISD Protest State of District — Dozens of protesters showed up in front of the Marriott Marquis in Downtown Houston to show their opposition to the New Education System.

The rain didn’t stop dozens of parents and community members from showing up to protest outside the Marriott Marquis Downtown, where Superintendent Mike Miles held his State of the District luncheon.

Christine Anderson is a parent with a high schooler in the district and said she opposed the New Education System since she first found out about it.

“There weren’t any failing schools. To me, it was totally a political ploy and all about money,” she said.

Last week, a list circulated on social media with 120 principals from the district who were told to improve their performance. Anderson said she believes the list was a turning point for many other parents.

“They didn’t believe it was going to get this bad, and they didn’t think it was going to happen in their neighborhood,” she said.

Jessica Seth is another parent who attended the protest. She brought her kids along with her.

“I told the girls, ‘Okay, we’re going to have a social studies lesson today’,” Seth said. “We love our schools, we want to save our schools, we want to make sure that mommy and daddy and you guys can stay in Texas and learn in Texas.”

Seth is from Wisconsin but settled in Houston with her husband. She said her kids’ schools are underfunded and she believes current leadership is worsening them.

“It’s hurting morale. Honestly, people call the district at this point toxic,” Seth said. “It’s a toxic work environment with a toxic boss.”

Blair Reid/Houston Public Media

Inside the State of the District luncheon, three attendees disrupted Miles’ speech.

Two of them, Kathryn Danas and Denise Wilborn, stood up as Miles touted HISD's progress as "good."

Danas, who stood up first, was approached by police and sat back down. A few moments later, Wilborn stood up and was escorted out by police and security. A third woman also stood up and was escorted out.

"Mike Miles has not been honest with everyone here, he's giving out false information," Danas told Houston Public Media. "I got to witness it firsthand. We had a principal who opted out of NES because he knew it was the best thing to do."

Danas said the principal was later "harassed and bullied" by the administration and stepped down from the position.

Wilborn said she spoke out as a voice for the students, teachers and principals.

"The students are under stress," she said. "... Teachers are being watched and micromanaged, and I came here to speak for those who can't speak, those who are afraid to speak because if they do speak they might lose their position."

Wilborn said the loss of libraries, certified teachers, counselors and special education professionals "breaks my heart."

"These children, our children, deserve better," she said.

Community Voices for Public Education is a non-profit that helped organize the protest on Thursday. They provided a leaked internal survey where 74% of families who took the survey somewhat or strongly disagreed with the following statement: “If my school joins the New Education System (NES) model, the quality of education my child receives will improve”. According to the survey, 70% of families somewhat or strongly disagreed with the next statement: “I will continue sending my child to my school if it joins the NES model”.

Meanwhile, during his speech, Miles laid out the shift coming to HISD as the NES expands across the district.

"We need a change in the system. So that we break the status quo, so that we will change the system over the long haul,” he said. “The goal is to have 150 New Education System schools, which is wholescale systemic reform."

Miles says this is the largest transformation of a public school system that has ever taken place and the only one that is taking place in the country now.

Tom Perumean contributed to this report.