Houston has a new superintendent, a new board of managers, and hundreds of HISD employees are re-applying for their jobs.
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Superintendent Mike Miles has been meeting with teachers and administrators. He's been clear, starting with changing policies at a small group of schools, then expanding from there.
So far, Miles has announced all employees at 29 low-performing HISD schools will now have to re-apply for their jobs this summer.
"The way to reform and move the achievement needle and get our kids prepared for the year 2025 is to do wholescale, systemic reform," Miles said on Friday. "That means many systemic things at once. Can't do that at 273 schools. It's too many. We don't have the resources - too monolithic, too hard to change, and it's June."
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The superintendent has promised no school closures in his first year, but there likely will be some in the future.
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He has not ruled out bringing charter networks into HISD in the future but has said that's not his focus now. Miles is the founder of Third Future Schools, a charter school company in Colorado that has partnered with 11 schools across the country, including three in Beaumont. He resigned as superintendent there when he accepted the position in Houston.
Miles has also been clear that teacher pay across the district will soon be tied to student performance.
"We identify what you value - whether that's achievement, whether it's graduation rate, whether it's preparation for year 2025 and then compensate people who can give you that," Miles said. "The pay-for-performance model we have lines up with that principle. I've done it twice now."
Thursday is the first HISD board meeting with the new board of managers and superintendent.
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