HISD’s guidance on holiday parties leads to some confusion for at least one campus

Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles issued updated guidance around holiday parties to principals last week, leading at least one elementary school principal to cancel their celebrations outright before reinstating the parties at the eleventh hour.

Miles informed principals at a recent meeting that schools were welcome to hold holiday parties for students during lunch and recess, and before or after school, according to HISD spokesman Joseph Sam. If the celebrations were to be held during class time, they had to be “tied to instruction,” Sam said.

Families and staff at Bell Elementary in southwest Houston, however, received a letter Tuesday evening from Principal Kizzy Luke saying she had been “notified that class parties are no longer allowed,” and told them to cancel orders for purchases such as pizza and cupcakes. “Again, classroom parties are strictly prohibited and will not take place,” Luke wrote.

Sam said the information in Luke’s letter was “inaccurate.” A teacher at Bell informed the Houston Chronicle that Luke walked back her instructions on Wednesday evening and was allowing Thursday’s parties to move forward under the stipulations laid out by the district.

It was not immediately clear if any other of the 274 schools in HISD had fully canceled their celebrations.

Teachers and parents at several other HISD elementary schools told the Chronicle that parties on Wednesday and Thursday were being held as planned, though some expressed frustration with the tighter constraints, such as a rule against playing movies. In previous years, teachers might have flexibility to move their schedules around to accommodate parties at the end of the school day.