Board of Education Meeting Agenda

April 9, 2020

Options for Watching

On April 9, 2020, the HISD Board will be meeting virtually for its April board meeting. The regular board meeting will begin at 5:00pm CST. Here are the following ways to access the board meeting:
  • AT&T UVERSE HISD TV CHANNEL 99
  • COMCAST HISD TV CHANNEL 18
  • FACEBOOK HTTP://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/HOUSTONISD
  • TWITTER HTTP://TWITTER.COM/HOUSTONISD
  • WEBSITE HTTPS://WWW.HOUSTONISD.ORG/LIVETV
Community members who wish to speak at the board meeting may do so and must register to speak by 9:30am CST the day of the regular board meeting (April 9, 2020). Their written comments will be read aloud by a member of the district’s administration on their behalf.

Key Agenda Items:

*More details on each item can be found below this list
  • (B.3) Discussion of Emergency Priorities
  • (D.1) Waiving Certain Requirements For Evaluating Teachers
  • (G.1) Teach Forward Houston Initiative Program
  • (I.1) Vendor Awards for Purchases over $100,000
  • (I.2) Donations for Districtwide and School-Specific Programs
  • (I.3) Grant Funds in Support of Districtwide and School-Specific Programs

Impact (I), Leadership (L), Equity (E), Stewardship (S), Collaboration (C)

B.3 Discussion of Emergency Priorities

The Board will participate in a discussion of emergency priorities. The Board may also approve additional constraints on the superintendent during the COVID-19 health crisis. The three proposed constraints are:

1) The superintendent will not operate without a system to address the social and emotional needs of students.
2) The superintendent will not operate without addressing the health and safety needs of students.
3) The superintendent will not operate without ensuring the learning of all students.

D.1 Waiving Certain Requirements For Evaluating Teachers

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the temporary closure of HISD schools since March 13, the Board is asked to waive portions of their board policy on Performance Appraisal: Evaluation of Teachers, Teacher Appraisal and Development System (TADS) manual, and teacher appraisal calendar.

G.1 Teach Forward Houston Initiative Program (I)

The Teach Forward Houston Initiative (TFH), in partnership with the University of Houston and its College of Education, provides a bachelor’s degree for up to 100 HISD students upon college graduation. After graduation, these students will return to HISD and teach in high need schools for four years.

I.1 Vendor Awards for Purchases over $100,000 (S, L)

The Board needs to approve vendor awards greater than $100,000 and ratify vendor awards under $100,000.

List of Vendors: Dean Foods Company DBA Oak Farms Dairy DBA Southern Foods Group, LLC; Cal-Tex Citrus Juice, LP DBA Country Pure Foods; Recycling Surplus, Inc. DBA ABM System; Elections America, Inc.; Batterson Truck Equipment; Brink’s Inc; e-Builder, Inc.; DXDT Music Products; Lisle Violin Shop; Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Inc.; Rocke Vocal Studio; The Ensemble Theatre; Cummins Southern Plains, LLC;  Frontline Technologies Group, LLC dba Frontline Education; Frontline Technologies Group, LLC dba Frontline Education; Visual AV, LLC; MCA Communications, Inc.; Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, Inc.; Itslearning, Inc.; American Mechanical Services of Houston, LLC dba AMS of Houston; Daikin Applied Americas, Inc. dba Daikin Applied.

I.2 Donations for Districtwide and School-Specific Programs (S, L)

All donations greater than $5,000 must be approved by the HISD Board of Education.To see the full list of vendors, visit our website.

List of donors: Mark Twain Elementary School (ES) Parent Teacher Organization (PTO); The Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation.

I.3 Grant Funds in Support of Districtwide and School-Specific Programs (S, L)

All grant funds greater than $5,000 must be approved by the HISD Board of Education. To see the full list of vendors, visit our website.

List of grantors: Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (MHOF); the Country Music Association (CMA) Foundation; Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (MHOF); USA Swimming Foundation.

Other agenda items to be voted on during the meeting:

  • (A.1) Approval of personal services performed by the Superintendent.
  • (B.1) Approval of the HISD Board’s quarterly self-evaluations, staff use tracker, time use tracker, and quarterly progress tracker using the TEA Implementation Integrity Instrument.
  • (B.2) Approval to suspend the board monitoring calendar for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • (B.4) Report from the Audit Committee Chair.
  • (B.5) Update from the Board Operating Procedures Ad Hoc Committee Chair.
  • (E.1) Approval to renew the contract between Park Place ES and Harris County Protective Services For Children And Adults to continue the Community Youth Services Program.
  • (I.4) Approval of a new term rate period for a portion of variable rate limited tax refunding bonds (series 2012) and authorization to to redeem a portion of outstanding bonds.
  • (I.5) Approval of a new term rate period for a portion of variable rate limited tax schoolhouse bonds (series 2013B) and authorization to to redeem a portion of outstanding bonds.
  • (I.6) Approval of a new term rate period for a portion of variable rate limited tax schoolhouse bonds (series 2014A-1B) and authorization to to redeem a portion of outstanding bonds.
  • (J.1) Amendment to extend the resolution passed last month to continue employee salary payments and business operations until the district resumes normal operations.
  • (L.1) Investment report to the Board.

Areas of Concern:

Although normal school board operations have been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still items the school board must address and new areas of concern created by the current crisis. Houston GPS would like to highlight the following items:

1. HISD should start identifying teachers and principals for the next school year to ensure there are no teacher or administrative vacancies. It should be utilizing the teacher pipelines, such as Teach Forward Houston, so every student will have a teacher for all of their classes before the start of the 2020 – 2021 school year. The Board plans to vote on this item at the April meeting.

2. Last June, the HISD Board had to convene for a last-minute special meeting to pass a budget for the 2019 – 2020 school year. In order to prevent another last-minute budget vote this summer, the HISD Board needs to collaboratively and collectively set its budget priorities. Even as the board and administration are operating virtually, budget discussions should be a priority and need to continue to make sure next year’s budget is aligned with district goals and passed before the deadline at the end of June.

3. The closure of the district, while necessary to ensure the safety of the HISD community, has exacerbated inequities amongst students. [email protected], the district’s online education portal, was launched to ensure student instruction could continue from home, however, login data show that even in the schools with the highest login percentages, all students do not have access. In the schools with the top 10 login percentages, 5%-18% of students have not been able to logon. All of the other schools in HISD have even higher percentages of students without access to education. The Board should continue to receive updates from administration about what efforts are being made to ensure all students are able to continue their learning.

4. The HISD Board should terminate their legal actions against the TEA. The Board is using taxpayers’ dollars from unassigned funds, running HISD into a deeper deficit, to pay for their lawyers. With delays in court due to COVID-19, the lawsuit is moving slowly. Especially now, when the school district is facing hurdles with making sure students have access to instruction and basic necessities, the Board and district finances should be focused on our kids.