HOUSTON — Houston ISD teachers were left frustrated after a nearly two-hour-long meeting with Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath over the state takeover of the district.
Teachers showed up hoping for answers, but TEA officials told KHOU 11 it was only a "listening session," similar to one held with principals in April.
Some teachers leaving the meeting said they did not get the answers they were looking for.
"Not much new in the way of information today," said HISD teacher Stephen Wright.
"Mike Morath was just tap dancing around answers, giving vague answers, hoping to run out the clock," said Daniel Santos, an HISD teacher and the executive vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers.
"I'm very disappointed because I thought that he would be coming with more answers," said Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson.
It was a meeting educators have been asking for ever since the takeover was announced.
"Teachers should have been the very first stakeholder that should have participated in the interview process," Santos said.
Teachers who attended the meeting said the commissioner spent a large part of the time going over what they already knew.
"There were a lot of questions about funding. What are your plans? Are they going to be closed? Are they going to be chartered? None of those were given direct answers," said HISD teacher Samantha Shields.
"What are you doing that's going to be different from what already is happening in HISD? And we don't know. That's the elephant in the room," Anderson said.
HISD educators are concerned about a lack of transparency in the takeover process.
"For the sake of our community, our parents, teachers, our district, I do hope that on June 1 that the TEA Board of Managers and our brand new superintendent will pivot to a more transparent, more engaging process," Santos said.
Teachers did say that Morath pledged to meet with them again a year for a follow-up meeting.
The TEA says no information about who will be appointed superintendent or to the board of managers will be announced until June 1.
From a total of 462 applicants to be on the board of managers, 227 have gone through training and are being considered by TEA. Of those 227, nine will be selected to be on the board that will replace the current board of trustees to lead the district.