HOUSTON — The HISD board will not vote on turning 10 campuses into charter schools.
HISD released the following statement Wednesday stating the district board of education on Tuesday adjourned without approving a contract to partner with the governing board of Energized for STEM Academy.
"The proposal was intended to give HISD a two–year pause on accountability from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and prevent sanctions from the state related to House Bill 1842," said HISD.
It’s a controversial proposal that led to a heated meeting from which a number of people were forcibly removed.
“I feel like my rights were violated before I entered the meeting,” said Kandice Webber.
Webber was one of two women charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest.
Those charges were later dropped.
Webber says she’d be willing to face arrest again.
“Because we refuse to allow partnerships or charters in our black and brown neighborhoods,” said Webber.
HISD board members have said it’s a dilemma they didn’t take lightly. There are limited options under state law when it comes to perpetually underperforming schools. They can face state takeover, closure, or be handed over to a charter.
“It’s a smart thing to do,” said Ames Douglas.
Douglas is a board member for Energized for STEM Academy. That’s the charter that would have taken over the 10 schools.
He says a lot of the criticisms of the proposal were based on misinformation.
“There will be no athletic programs, that’s not true,” said Douglas. “They said no police or security, that’s not true. They said teachers would be fired, that’s not true.”
The Houston Teacher’s Federation contends what is true is that too many charters, originally intended to foster new ways of learning, have become more focused on profit than pupils.
“And you can’t do that in someone’s community to their schools without the community buying into it,” said HFT President Zeph Capo. “And at least having some understanding of what’s happening.”
HISD will continue to operate and manage the 10 campuses that have been in Improvement Required (IR) statues with the state for four years or more.
“We are not bringing another partnership proposal to the Board, nor will there be another meeting to consider partnerships for the 10 schools,” said Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan. “Instead, we will continue to reinforce our commitment to helping students, staff, and families of our Achieve 180 schools continue the hard work they’ve done this year to transform their campuses and increase student achievement.”
Staff will remain in place at these 10 campuses unless a position is closed as part of the reduction in force HISD is experiencing across the district due to the $115 million budget shortfall.