On March 21, families, students and teachers from all over the Houston Independent School District protested for hours before gathering inside the HISD board auditorium for an almost four-hour board meeting.
Upon arrival for the board meeting, visitors were separated into two rooms—one for non-speakers and one for those who would be speaking directly to the board of managers.
Over 100 non-speakers were gathered in a separate conference room to watch the board meeting live through a screen. The room was a sea of red—parents, teachers, students and staff wore the color to represent their support for teachers’ unions.
In anticipation of the start of the meeting, parents and former educators shared their hopes for the outcome of the community gathering.
“There’s a lot of us in the community that oppose the NES…I think that’s why a lot of people are wearing red, to promote public education,” said HISD parent Beth Caldwell.
Around 6 p.m., the board meeting officially began. The room’s atmosphere changed from bustling noise to a quiet observance of what was to come. Chairs were scooted closer to the screen as the board of managers introduced themselves and a student led the Pledge of Allegiance. A paper was passed around to everyone in the room, asking for a signature of a petition against the TEA takeover. Hundreds of signatures filled the page—a silent rebellion against the board members speaking on the screen concurrently.
The livestream presented all types of community member speakers, who were asked to keep their speeches to one minute or less due to the large volume of speakers at this particular meeting. Board Manager Audrey Momanaee announced that the meeting had close to 150 speakers, which immediately resulted in applause and cheers from the conference room.
The large volume of speakers was one of the outcomes of Miles’ changes to former HISD policies. Specifically, the policies regarding principal evaluation. Under his proposed system, 117 principals would be put under close watch for their low performance on the new evaluation criteria. Specifically, criteria regarding BOY (Beginning of year) and MOY (Middle of year) assessments, as well as SPOT criteria. This sparked criticism and debate from families and school communities alike, as some principals that were put under close watch represented high-performing schools in HISD, such as Carnegie Vanguard, Debakey High School and HSPVA.
“Our experience at [Carnegie] has been so meaningful, and we find it incredibly disrespectful what the district has done, and we want to stand by and fight.” said Junior Shanti Majumder, a student present at the board meeting.
As each speaker addressed their concerns and grievances to the board, claps and snaps of approval filled the conference room. Everyone in the room, was in support of a larger purpose — to strive for change.
“I hope [the board of managers] can see the community, and that the community doesn’t feel like they’re being listened to, with all the changes that are happening…we want to make sure we are heard,” said Vonda Gibbon, a spectator at the board meeting.
Close to 2 a.m. the next day, Miles released a statement regarding the results of the board meeting saying,
“The district wants to clarify prior communication regarding the use of the proficiency screener. The proficiency screener rating will not be used in the evaluation of principals or other campus administrators in any adverse employment decisions for 2023-2024…”
Additionally, according to an article by Houston Public Media, Miles told reporters at a press conference the day after the board meeting that “…while it took a while to hear all the concerns, there were a number of new voices in the room. And just like always, we take every comment seriously. We were listening, and so the board and I made some adjustments, and we listened to what we heard last night.”
The future of HISD’s policies is yet to unfold. However, the March 21 board meeting not only housed advocates for change but also gave a platform for those concerned about education within HISD.
