HOUSTON — Three Houston ISD high school principals, including two at New Education System, or NES schools, have been reassigned, according to Superindentent Mike Miles.
Miles made the announcement late Wednesday morning.
The principals at Jack Yates, Worthing, and Sharpstown high schools were contacted Wednesday morning along with each school community. The superintendent said there would not be any other staff transition at the three schools.
District officials said the principals would not be reassigned to other principal positions, but working with human resources to identify alternative opportunities.
Here is Miles's full statement below:
"Earlier today, I reassigned the principals at Jack Yates, Worthing, and Sharpstown High Schools. I informed each principal directly and sent a letter to each school community this morning.
"My leadership team and I reviewed existing plans for the future of these schools and determined that new leadership was necessary to drive the kind of improvement these high schools need to start preparing their students and graduates well for the workplace and world that waits for them after high school.
"We have committed to the school communities that new permanent leadership will be in place before the start of August professional development.
"New principals will have the ability to fill existing vacancies, but there will not be any further staff transition on these campuses, and any campus that opted into NES-Aligned will remain part of that cohort for the 2023-2024 school year."
The announcement comes a day after nearly 60 additional schools opted into the new superintendent’s NES reform program in a major development in the state takeover of HISD.
New leadership in HISD said this program will bring struggling schools more support.
Twenty-eight schools identified as underperforming were added to the program first. Now, an additional 57 schools have voluntarily joined the initiative.
District officials said NES schools will get additional support in areas like course curriculum offerings, PowerPoints, and demonstrational learning.
“This is very much a supporting model, one that will help teachers do their job(s) better and help principals do their job(s) better,” Miles said.
On the other hand, the president of the Houston Federation of Teachers is concerned schools in the program will be treated differently.
“We’ve always known that HISD is the tale of two cities, and it appears to me that the NES model is further strengthening that concept—that some people are going to be treated differently from others,” said Jackie Anderson with the Houston Federation of Teachers.
On top of shake-ups in schools, HISD employees are also bracing for big changes. More than 500 positions were cut at HISD’s central office.
An employee shared an email with KHOU 11 that said virtual meetings will be happening Wednesday to talk to employees about their now eliminated jobs and placement in new positions.
The meeting will be virtual. According to that email, employees can have an attorney present as long as they let the district know ahead of time.