
2 minute read
Welcome to Houston, Texas Education Agency
BY JOURNEY STEPHENS
There were seven in the room in a University of Houston-Downtown boardroom, not including the special guest. Each waited with pen and paper to voraciously write notes for the discussion they were anticipating.
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Fran-Victoria Stephens, our very own Good News REview Editor-In-Chief, who is leads an education social enterprise, Story Square, invited these education professionals, who ranged from the Executive Director of Academic Affairs at Baylor College of Medicine – Dr. Patrick Jefferson – to the Executive Director of Latinos for Education – Dr. Armando Orduna.
When the special guest, TEA’s Deputy Commissioner, Steve Lecholop, walked in, they were more than ready to get some questions answered. I noticed these questions correlated with their personal values and the organizations they represent.
The seven asked question after question after question about the ongoing “takeover” of Houston Independent School District (HISD) by Texas Education Agency.
The passionate professionals in the room each feared that HISD students’ education might be negatively affected by this transition.
The Texas Education Agency came to Houston because of HISD’s one school out of over a hundred schools, Wheatley High School, which has been underperforming for five straight years. The agency says they will appoint a new Board and a new superintendent - the people who lead our school district - and improve the horrific ratings of a lot of our schools in HISD.
I learned a lot from my time in the boardroom about the conversations I had heard about this “takeover.” I learned that the priorities for the new superintendent that TEA will be hiring are to simply provide campuses that have unacceptable ratings, or are very close to becoming underperforming, to provide them with all the resources they need to succeed to be better, according to Lecholop.
But there was one participant during this morning visit from Deputy Commissioner Lecholop who made me really think about the TEA Takeover and the expectations of a complete turnaround just because the TEA has come to town.
Jefferson asked the Commissioner, “Will all the underperforming schools miraculously become better performing in the four years you suspect that the new Board of Managers will serve after decades of disparate education and opportunities? If so, The Board of Managers should start their own business, replicate the model all across the nation, and earn billions of dollars.”
Until Jefferson’s question and sarcastic suggestion, I never thought about whether or not the expectations that the TEA shared could really happen.
Lecholop insisted that no new funds will be a part of the transition. I guess I have a hard time understanding how the change that TEA expects will happen if the only thing that changes is the leadership with fresh eyes.
I think the negative effect is this idea that we can just “start over with fresh eyes” as the Deputy Commissioner mentioned several times. We will be starting anew on or around June 1, however, Steve Lecholop says, “It’s not a takeover, it is not permanent. TEA is not going to be in control.”
Some are alarmed, some put lots of trust into TEA, and others just go with the flow to see what happens. As a student, I want whatever will be best for my fellow classmates and me.
In the six years I have been at Roberts, I have realized that not all schools are as great as Roberts. And our principal, teachers, parents, and community make it what it is!
Now it is your time to think: How can Roberts become a model for other schools? What is your take on TEA? Do you think that starting over will change things in our school district?