On Friday, February 1, the Superintendent of HISD provided his annual State of the Schools address to a sold out ballroom at the Hilton Americas. The multi-media , student infused presentation had the crowd’s full attention.
Students from various career-tracked and magnet schools shared their stories of success. Many students are now able to graduate high school while also obtaining an Associate’s degree in various fields. This is life-changing and career track development at its finest.
Dr. Grier shared mostly good news. Test scores are up, the dropout rate is down, teachers are rewarded and hard-working, and the private sector is partnering more with the District.
He also laid out plans for forthcoming significant changes. He would like to see every student in HISD have a laptop computer that they can use at school and take home with them. The question of Internet access at homes was not addressed. He plans to start at the high school level and take it down to third graders over time.
He also announced the development of an energy tracked high school that will partner directly with Houston’s energy industry to meet their ever-demanding career needs. And, he shared plans to create an arts-oriented middle school that will feed to the ever-popular High School for the Visual and Performing Arts.
Dr. Grier thanked the room for supporting the bond election and discussed plans to ethically implement the rebuilding and renovations of the schools slated for bond work.
Probably the most touching moment occurred when Dr. Grier shared the story of an immigrant student from Tanzania attending the program for newly arrived immigrant students. He shared that the extremely dedicated teachers in this program were struggling with the student and finally sat down to meet with him. He shared that his father had been a math teacher and was shot while teaching. The teachers shared with him that they were his brothers and sisters in the profession and were committed to work with him. The student was seated with his teachers, one of whom had tears in her eyes. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
From videos of high-performing, successful students engaged in modern technical career tracks to the live testimonials by brave young men and women to Dr. Grier’s passionate delivery about his belief in the direction of the district, it was a straight A performance of an event.
Does this mean that everything is rosy in HISD? Of course not but it was nice to hear some good news for a change. It’s unfortunate the Texas Legislature wasn’t in attendance……… Of course, they might decided that with all this success, HISD doesn’t need any more money!