HOUSTON – One of the biggest concerns for students, parents and teachers came when the Houston Independent School District announced over the summer its decision to remove librarians from school campuses that were adapting to the New Education System model.
In July, Superintendent Mike Miles said that 28 of the 85 schools that joined his reformed program - NES - were losing librarians and adapting “Team Centers.”
At first thought, several parents voiced their concern, being that students, especially at the NES campuses, were behind on reading levels. Parents felt that having librarians was essential to their students’ growth. They also felt that the “Team Centers” were disciplinary centers or library replacements, which Miles simply said wasn’t true.
During our yearlong series, Focus on Fleming, KPRC 2 Anchor and Reporter Candace Burns will spend the year telling stories from the perspective of the students, staff and families who make up Fleming and the surrounding community, as they undergo state-mandated reforms.
Fleming Middle School is one of the 28 schools Houston ISD labeled a high-priority campus, and it’s currently operating under the NES model.
So, what are Team Centers?
It’s a classroom designed for students to work individually or in teams throughout the school day. Students with behavioral issues are also placed in the Team Center, where they can join their class virtually and not interrupt instruction.
“Our main goal here as the learning coach in the Team Center is for students who come in to get their work done. So, they’ll come in and they are given an assignment that’s going to help extend what they’ve learned already in that class with their primary teacher, and so, that way the teacher doesn’t have to worry about slowing down for students that may need that more individualized help and slowing down a student that is already grasping that concept,” sixth-grade Learning Coach Randolph Rendon said.
Rendon is a returning staff member at Fleming Middle School. Last year, he worked as a seventh-grade math teacher. After the Texas Education Agency takeover, Rendon learned he would need to reapply for his job, so he decided to apply to become a learning coach at the Team Center.
Rendon admitted to being a bit confused or inadequately trained for his role as a learning coach when he started at the beginning of the school year.
“I did not fully understand the job when I first got here,” Rendon explained. “Obviously, this is the first year, so this is the first year for the title as well. And so, I came in with no expectations of exactly what the job was going to entail. I didn’t understand what a Team Center was going to be either, but, you know, I feel like I’m a very flexible person.”
Although Rendon said he eventually had to figure out his daily duties by determining what was needed from the school and mainly the sixth-grade teachers and students, he said he wanted to ensure parents and others knew one thing for certain.
“I would like people to know that it is not a detention center, you know. This is a positive classroom. This is to help further students’ learning and education,” he said.
At Fleming, the Team Centers have replaced in-school suspension (ISS), where students with behavioral issues were sent to sit, sometimes days at a time with no lesson plan or work, according to a former ISS instructor at the school.
“There is no more in-school suspension at all,” said eighth-grade learning coach Garret Hults.
Hults said that although the Team Centers house students with behavioral problems as well, the students are more proactive because there’s more structure being that they are still allowed to participate in class via Zoom and given assignments to complete.
“What we had last year in the in-school suspension room, there just wasn’t much structure there,” Hults said. “They’re now coming into the Team Center with work, and they’re doing that work.”
But, what the learning coaches and the district want people to know, especially parents, is that the Team Centers have not replaced the libraries.
Although there’s no librarian at Fleming -- which hasn’t had an active librarian at its school since before Miles’ new reform program -- students are still allowed to check out books.
Latoya Timms, another sixth-grade learning coach, let us explore the library, which she says is home to her Team Center.
“When the students are finished with their assignments early, I let them grab a book or read whatever article or book they would like,” Timms said.
She added that students are allowed to go into the library before the start of the school day and at the end of the school day or whenever she’s inside her classroom to check one or two books at a time.
Watch full interview with learning coach Latoya Timms
More on KPRC’s Focus on Fleming initiative