Houston ISD holding school-specific meetings about $4.4 billion bond proposal – Houston Public Media

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Liliana Diaz said she had heard rumblings that Cage Elementary, where her children go to school, would be torn down as part of a $4.4 billion bond package proposed by Houston ISD.

She wanted to learn more, so she and some family friends attended a meeting about the bond last week at the Second Ward campus. Diaz heard about the $74 million plan to rebuild Cage and have it also house Project Chrysalis Middle School – which has been operating in a series of temporary buildings next to Cage – and also asked questions and voiced concerns about issues such as campus security.

“I hope that they really listen to us, because sometimes we do express our thoughts and opinions about whatever we’re asked,” Diaz said after the meeting. “But sometimes we feel ignored because we don’t really see things being implemented.”

The gathering of about 50 community members at Cage was one of several school-specific meetings being held by HISD ahead of the Nov. 5 election, when Houston voters will decide whether to approve the largest school bond proposal in Texas history. It’s the first since 2012 for HISD, which wants to rebuild and renovate aging campuses, improve safety and security and expand its pre-kindergarten and career training programs.

Some stakeholders are pushing back against the proposal as the district sees declining enrollment and is in its second year under state-appointed leadership, which has overhauled instructional models that have improved standardized test scores but also led to the exodus of well-liked teachers and principals.

There also has been controversy surrounding HISD’s plan to “co-locate” schools as part of the bond. Cage and Chrysalis are among 15 schools that would be housed at a total of seven rebuilt or renovated campuses, all of which are in predominantly Black or Latino neighborhoods.

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Elected trustee Savant Moore, who has no voting power on the school board amidst the state intervention, said the plan amounts to closing Edison Middle School as well as Blackshear, Isaacs, Kashmere Gardens, Pleasantville, Port Houston and Sanchez elementary schools. He referenced a flyer distributed at the meeting at Cage while making that argument.

“It says ‘to be vacated,’ so that means it will be closed,” Moore said. “And my biggest concern is Blackshear Elementary. That’s the only, last public elementary school in Third Ward, so that has to be addressed.”

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Moore said he’s glad, though, that HISD is engaging community members and encouraging more parents to get involved with the bond proposal and its potential implementation. In addition to holding meetings at campuses to be impacted by the plan to merge schools, the district also is reaching out to campus PTO leaders and asking to meet with their boards to discuss school-specific bond measures.

“HISD wants to provide campus and parent organizations with information they want and need to understand the bond proposal and its implications for the district and their campus,” HISD said in a statement. “The district will continue to provide informational materials or make educational presentations on the bond proposal to groups who request them.”

But Moore said there’s a “thin line between education and advertising for the bond.” Public school districts in Texas are prohibited by law from advocating for bond proposals. When asked if the meeting at Cage was more informational or promotional, Diaz said, “Somewhere in between.”

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Meghan Hokom, the PTO president at Westside High School, said she declined the district’s offer to meet with the PTO board, saying it did not want to “become politically involved.” For the same reason, Hokom said she did not distribute bond flyers she received from HISD’s Family and Community Engagement Department.

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Hokom said she instead offered to host a community-wide meeting for the schools in Westside’s feeder pattern. HISD had not rejected that offer as of Friday, according to Hokom, who said the district also had not taken steps toward scheduling such a meeting.

“I do believe it was the intention of HISD to hold a private meeting with our board, with the hopes that we would disseminate the information to our PTO members as an implicit approval of the bond,” Hokom said. “Which is why I turned them down.”

Moore, who represents seven of the 15 schools to be impacted by the co-location plan, has been critical of that part of the bond proposal but declined to say whether he supports the bond overall. He added, “Just know that I will be voting.”

He encourages other Houston residents to do the same, along with educating themselves about the proposal.

“My biggest push to the community is you have until Oct. 7 to get registered to vote,” Moore said. “And what your decision is, whether it’s for the bond or against, make sure you exercise your right.”