HISD has announced a new leader for a program to boost academic achievement at 20 low-performing schools.
According to a Houston Independent School District press release, Jeremy Beard has been named the school improvement officer for schools included in the district's Apollo 20 program.
The announcement comes after Houston ISD trustees on Thursday passed a separate plan to improve nine of those under-performing schools.
The plan details five areas the Houston district will focus on to increase academic achievement at four high schools and five middle schools. Different options for increasing academic achievement were presented to HISD trustees back in April of this year.
Beard will be responsible for working with principals at four high schools and five middle schools identified as under-performing schools in the Houston district.
Before the vote Thursday, teachers and a graduate of Fondren Middle School, one of the schools being affected by the transformation plan, expressed concerns over the coming changes to the middle school.
Jaielon Fowler, a recent graduate of Fondren, rattled off statistic after statistic, which he said demonstrate the success Fondren has had.
The plan is part of the Apollo 20 program that includes 20 high schools, middle schools and elementary schools that HISD has identified as under-performing. Part of Apollo could also include paying students to attend tutoring sessions.
Beard comes to HISD after serving as principal at IDEA College Preparatory, in Donna, Texas, for five years, according to the press release.
Beard will be responsible for Lee, Kashmere, Sharpstown and Jones high schools along with Fondren, Key, Ryan, Attucks and Dowling middle schools. These are the same schools the plan passed by HISD trustees affects.
The school improvement officer position in HISD was added as part of the district's re-organizational plan. Including Beard, there are 23 school improvement officers who report to three chief school officers, who each oversee elementary, middle or high schools.
Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or 713-228-2850.
Comments
RSS feed
StumbleUpon
Twitter
Newsvine
Facebook
Digg
De.licio.us
YouTube
