HOUSTON — Dozens of parents rallied outside two Houston Independent School District campuses on the East End Monday. They were rallying in support of teachers at Cage Elementary and Project Chrysalis Middle School who were apparently told by the district to commit to the district’s new education system model, or switch jobs.
A least one teacher said she is in the process of being fired. A science teacher at Chrysalis Middle School said she’s been with the district for four years. Though she wasn’t able to go into detail because of the ongoing termination process, she told KHOU 11’s Michelle Choi that for now, she is still employed by the district. The teacher, who didn’t want to be named, said the district’s central division superintendent recommended over the weekend that she be terminated and placed her on home duty over the weekend. The teacher said the recommendation was made after she spoke up and asked questions during a lecture given to teachers on Friday about the NES model.
Dozens of parents showed up to rally in support of the teacher and other staff members.
Standing up for teachers and speaking out against the NES curriculum is why the parents protested at Cage Elementary and Chrysalis Middle, which are on the same campus. Some parents said they felt like teachers were being forced to fall in line, and the new curriculum is hurting more than helping their kids.
Some of the parents shared a recording of an internal meeting Friday that they said was the district's central division superintendent telling teachers in a stern manner that they either commit to implementing the NES model in their classrooms or they'd be reassigned to a non-NES campus. The recording goes on to say that she plans to give teachers more support, personnel and resources moving forward.
Choi reached out to HISD and was told they can't comment on a "personnel matter." The district did however say Cage and Chrysalis became NES-aligned schools after the principal opted into the model this summer.