Help HISD families
If any of the troubled schools are going to be closed, TEA should let parents know ASAP.
So what happens next? If most Houstonians are perplexed by what’s going on at Houston Independent School District, imagine the confusion for parents whose children attend Blackshear, Dogan, Highland Heights, Mading or Wesley elementary schools. Or whose tweens go to Woodson Pk-8 or Henry Middle School. Or the rising seniors who are hoping to graduate next year with their friends at Worthing, Kashmere or Wheatley high schools.
As students count down the days until summer vacation, all 10 schools could be experiencing their own more final countdown. One or all of these struggling schools, which serve a combined 7,000 students, could be shuttered for good before the next school year begins.
If any of the troubled schools are going to be closed, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath needs to let parents know ASAP.
After final state test results are released in August, Morath will follow the dictates of a state law passed in 2015 and possibly close schools that haven’t met state standards for five years, or replace the district’s board of trustees. The way this will all work is uncharted territory, and the commissioner would only add to the confusion by waiting until August to lay out his cards for our community. The preliminary results of the math and reading accountability tests are already in.
The decision on school closures will affect Houstonians in black and brown neighborhoods who may already be dealing with other uncertainties in their lives. They may be trying to piece together part-time summer jobs to make ends meet or put back together homes devastated by Hurricane Harvey.
Waiting until August to send a strong signal about school closings is unnecessarily punitive to parents, students, teachers and administrators.
If the closure sanction is not on the table, and Kashmere, Wheatley and Worthing are likely to open in the fall, parents who are counting on a scholarship to help their students attend college don’t need to be brooding over whether their athlete, academic star or band member will lose contact with that all-important coach, teacher or principal.
If Woodson will be accepting students, parents don’t need to be discussing when or whether to tell their first-grader that he may not be going to school on the same bus as his big brother or sister, or stress about where to transfer.
If their neighborhood schools are to remain an option, 7,000 students don’t need to be anxious about starting over at a new school with a new set of teachers and friends.
If schools are going to close, then families will need a summer to prepare.
Morath can also help allay teachers’ anxiety about what the closures might mean for their commutes and careers. Some teachers and administrators may be considering whether to take early retirement rather than risk upheaval.
No one argues with the fact that too many schools have been letting students down for too long and that it’s past time for action. But if any of these schools are closing, the TEA owes it to children and parents to provide information and help them make arrangements to transfer as soon as possible. TEA should enforce sanctions without unnecessary disruption to families.
A disproportionate amount of the debate around HISD seems focused on who’s going to run our schools: the TEA or the elected board of trustees. Too little of the debate seems to be focused on students and what they want and need. The least Morath can do is put families first and spare them from unnecessary anxiety about the future.