HISD's race to save three high schools
It was more than a year ago that community activists had a collective heart attack when HISD superintendent Dr. Abe Saavedra suggested that drastic measures needed to be taken to improve three underperforming high schools (the outrage was courtesy of the Chronicle's less-than-stellar reporting). The usual suspects all came out of the woodwork to protest the possibility that outsiders might take charge of the schools, to get their performance up to acceptable standards. Even Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee got into the act when she complained that Dr. Saavedra holds his meetings so early, her staffers were forced to wear their pajamas to one. So, Dr. Saavedra's hands were somewhat tied as he attempted to bring positive changes to those schools.
Fast forward to yesterday when we learned that the three high schools -- Yates, Kashmere and Sam Houston -- all retained their unacceptable ratings. HISD saw many schools make gains in the state's accountability ratings, but those three were among a handful that did not.
Now HISD is in a real bind. State law will force the district to take drastic steps to improve the schools, or HISD will have to shut them down. So what do community activists say now? They blame HISD, of course. They meddled last year, the problem isn't fixed and now they say it's all HISD's fault. They say more money is what's needed. Naturally!
So will the blowhards meddle again (with the ever-helpful local media lending a hand), or will they let Dr. Saavedra have carte blanche to see if he can get those schools turned around? We'll soon find out.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/02/06 06:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (3)
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