HOUSTON — For weeks, KHOU 11 has been gathering your questions through our Back-to-School survey.
And, with your questions in hand, we've had successful conversations with the superintendents from Fort Bend, Alvin, and Katy ISDs with more to follow.
In our survey this year, HISD parents account for the largest percentage of responses as parents seek answers to the changes.
Since July 27, we've been confirmed to interview Mike Miles, the state-appointed superintendent for HISD.
So as we push for HISD for more transparency, we want to share with you that our interview was supposed to happen Tuesday, August 15, but was canceled just Monday, August 14, by email that said in part that their primary focus is ensuring a successful start to the school year.
They offered for us to reconnect with them in September.
Below is the email HISD sent.
"Apologies for this cancellation regarding Superintendent Miles interview with you that we had set for tomorrow. Currently, our primary focus is on ensuring a successful start to the upcoming school year, which includes significant changes in our district's plan accompanied by a period of adjustment.
Given the comprehensive preparations underway for the start of the academic year, regrettably, we won't be able to facilitate the scheduled interview and must cancel.
Please feel free to reconnect with us in September when Superintendent Miles availability will open.
By that time, we will have navigated through the initial phase of our initiatives and may be in a better position to discuss the feasibility of coordinating an interview.
Given the comprehensive preparations underway for the start of the academic year, regrettably, we won't be able to facilitate the scheduled interview and must cancel."
As your education station, we will continue to push for transparency now with HISD and with Mr. Miles – as we are armed with so many of your questions that deserve answers before school begins.
Below is a list of questions submitted by HISD parents to KHOU 11 through our back-to-school survey.
- What are real consequences of students who disrupt the learning process?
- The takeover did not have all the data for the 2022-23 school year and all schools made significant progress, what school “grade” is TEA needs in order to reinstate the school board members who were elected by the people in Harris county?
- What changes are you making in the schools that are not the ones that are under the NES?
- Why is the NES elementary school extended for the older elementary grades?( This is too long of a day (8 hours) and extremely inconvenient for pickup for families with kids in multiple grades.)
- How can you justify all the vacant teacher positions when many teachers resigned with your lack of listening to teachers, parents, and education authorities?
- Is it possible to implement a transportation app that gives updates about my child’s bus?
- Some children have problems adjusting to an overly crowded class. How do you remedy this?
- Are accredited teachers filling all classrooms? Are principals, teachers, and parents provided answers to questions when Superintendent is questioned and will he be willing to change if people are upset and he has no proof that his way is working.
- My main concern is school libraries. I was in support of the changes, especially the Science of Reading curriculum, until I saw that librarians were suddenly deemed unimportant. Teachers teach HOW to read, but librarians can help guide a LOVE of reading. Both are so important to academic success!
- What will Dual Language look like across the district? I understand science of reading for English…what about Spanish language arts? Will that be a part of the school day?
Why do NES schools have less recess? - How will HISD recruit and retain teachers?
- How do you plan on earning parents' trust throughout this process?
- Can you bring awareness to school safety? We hear about guns through the news before we hear about them at our own school. Kids who don't even go to the schools are walking around on campus armed. Classroom doors, NOT outside doors are the first line of defense in high schools. I want them closed and locked for me, my student and my child.
- Why do you think libraries and librarians are disposable?
- How do you plan to compensate teachers and administration at thriving schools to keep them there?
- Will schools be forced to adopt the NES protocol?
- Who are you accountable to — elected officials, parents, who? What checks exist to ensure your actions are in the best interests of the students and families you serve, and how does that align with some of your controversial plans (eg, closing libraries and restricting programs like magnets)?
- How are you going to retain successful principals and educators and also keep and attract students and families that are highly successful and don’t want to be a part of the nes program?
- What happens to existing magnet programs and the funding for these programs over the next 5 years? How can we be confident that programs that don’t refit easily into the standardized testing performance rubric will be allowed to be measured in appropriate ways.
- Why are you turning libraries into discipline centers? Why are you running this district like a prison for teachers and students?
- Why are we removing librarians campuses?
- Can these students have a better bus system in regards to arrivals and drop off?
- What is your overall plan in the next 3 years? Are you trying to remove magnet programs from campuses?
- Why do the doors have to be open to the classes?
- How will a magnet school be determined going forward for NES schools?
- Has he thought about the impact of his plans on parents? We are the ones that have to get the children to school, support them in their education along with extracurricular activities? Why isn’t our input considered?
- Do you believe your rapid changes will affect enrollment positively or negatively?
- If positive, but we see declines in enrollment, how will you course correct to engage the community and increase enrollment.
How do you plan to include teacher feedback on your teaching plans. - Last year parent-teacher communication was poor at my school. What procedures are in place to improve that.
- Is it important that all kids have the same opportunity to succeed? Are you trying to widen the school to prison pipeline?
- Why are there inequalities in his education plan, seemingly drawn across SES boundaries?
- How will you be monitoring impacts of your recent changes on the school-to-prison pipeline? How are you addressing inequalities in discipline application?
- Why are libraries being removed? How is centralizing children that need extra attention into one large room supposed to help them?
- How do you plan to measure the progress students make in learning math and language
- Lots of coverage on changes in elementary NES schools but little info out there on middle and high school changes. What will they be?
- Will middle and high school NES teachers be given a canned curriculum, similar to the ones in the elementary schools?
If a teacher at an NES school wishes to use his/her own activities and projects in their classrooms, will there be consequences? - What will be done to improve school that are in desperate need of new facilities and building improvements.
- School safety is a continued concern. What will be done to assure safety on all campuses? 2. What recourse do parents have when they are displeased with the school administration.
- How can we be encouraging our kids to read when the libraries are being closed and the books are so censored?
- What is the district’s plan for implementing health prevention programs for at risks students, such as vaping, alcohol and drug abuse and suicide.
- Why can’t we make class sizes smaller? Why can’t we get more help for the teachers?
- What will be the finalized start and end times for NES and NES-A campuses? Our children were accepted into magnet programs using HISD school choice…how do your changes impact the schools in which they will attend? We work and are trying to figure out logistics for our children before having to switch them at the last minute.
- Will bullying be taken more serious? And will every school have a counselor available daily for those who need one?
- Why are classroom doors supposed to remain open during instruction? The safety of students and faculty is paramount. That is why there has been a policy in place to keep the classroom doors closed and locked from the inside. The purpose this policy is to provide protection during active shooter situations.
- Please confirm......Starting Sept. 1, schools must have armed officers or armed staff members and train staff to ID students who may need mental health support. If schools must have an armed officer what does it mean that lawmakers gave districts flexibility in meeting those requirements. What kind of flexibility and is there a hard deadline on having a armed officers on campus.
- Pay disparities for incoming staff/personnel, associate teachers.
- Currently, the teachers at NES schools get a hirer (sic) salary than the rest of the teachers at non NES schools. He plans on eventually expanding his program to 250 schools. Will the salary of the teachers in these 250 schools match the salary of this year’s 28 NES schools?
- Mike Miles stated he wants teachers to be paid based on student outcome. If a teacher is making 80k and doesn’t meet Mile’s expectations, will the salary for the following year be lowered?
- It was said that if one school in a feeder pattern did not meet Mile’s expectations, the entire feeder pattern would be punished and have to turn into an NES school. Is this correct and what is the rationale behind that? And yes, schools see that as a punishment.
- Is there data that proves Mike Miles NES system works? Where is the data? And does it align to HISD’s demographics?
- What are your plans for the librarians that are not at an NES School?
- Did Dallas improve overtime and is the NES plan sustainable after you leave the District?
- All kids don't learn the same so what are we doing for the kids who need extra help?
- Update on PALS program? What improvements are being made to have quicker turnaround time to contact PALS leadership?changes in curriculum?
- Will HISD be entertaining a 4-day school week at all?
- How will you be blocking cheating via AI apps?
- Besides STAAR test, what other instruments will TEA use to measure growth in NES schools?