HISD superintendent announces teacher audits have begun amid push for 'high-performance culture'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Mike Miles, the new Houston ISD superintendent, met with senior staff members on Wednesday in a meeting he said was designed to improve accountability for teachers and administrators.

Miles said he's creating a "high-performance culture" at the district, but some wonder if his tough approach is what's best for students.

No cameras were allowed inside as he addressed keeping problem-solving within schools.

"That's part of the learned helplessness I was talking about, right? You're going to complain about some attribution or some slide? Fix it," he said.

HISD is moving toward becoming what's called a District of Innovation.

SEE MORE: HISD board to vote on 'District of Innovation' status, but not everyone is on board

The state designation would allow Miles to add eight extra days of instruction he has been asking for.

Miles said he will continue adding programs he believes will make teaching less stressful, especially in historically low-performing schools.

"We are adding some teachers, 32 teachers, to the curriculum department who are teaching half-time and who are going to be in the curriculum department half-time," he said.

After the local teacher's union was granted a temporary restraining order for the district's planned teacher evaluation system, Miles adopted a different, but state-approved system, so a "pay for performance" model still stands.

On Wednesday, Miles said he already has a list of names of teachers who won't be needed due to enrollment numbers and upcoming school closures.

"We actually have already started an audit of all the schools and seeing how many excess teachers we have," he said, "So we'll be implementing that. It'll be over time."

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