HOUSTON – Houston Independent School District’s school board is moving forward with plans to become a District of Innovation.
On Thursday evening, they selected the people who would help them draft their innovation plan.
A number of parents, students, and people in the community spoke up at Thursday’s meeting, most of them opposed the changes happening at HISD.
One woman was so passionate about her objections she had to be removed from the meeting.
A lot of people were not happy about the board’s unanimous vote to move forward with becoming a District of Innovation.
According to the TEA, a District of Innovation or DOI title allows for certain state exemptions for things like teacher certifications, teacher contracts, length of the school year, and the length of the school day.
HISD’s superintendent and board members have not expressed what exemptions they will be seeking under the District of Innovation title.
But on Thursday, they took the next action step in the process.
After the meeting went into closed session for about 45 minutes, the board returned and voted unanimously to establish a committee of seven people who would be responsible for drafting a local innovation plan for the district.
KPRC 2 asked the superintendent how they determined who was added to this committee and where these people came from.
“The board of managers put together the planning committee. I was not involved in the selection of that. The names on the planning committee that were announced tonight are from the board members DAC appointees,” said Superintendent Mike Miles.
DAC is short for the district advisory committee, which is the group of people who advise the board and the superintendent.
Here are the names of the people on the District of Innovation committee:
- Edgardo Colon
- Lauren Fontaine
- Janette Garza Lindner
- Bill Horwath
- Jessica Morffi
- Uche Ndefo
- Theresa Tran