WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:14.199 This week's trip cast is sponsored by Texas State Technical College has Texas covered with 2 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:18.719 ten campuses across the state. Students can learn skills necessary to start a great 3 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:26.839 new career. Learn more at TSTC dot DU and Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute's 4 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:31.399 vision is for Texas to be the national leader and treating all people with mental 5 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:48.799 health needs. Find out more at MMHPI dot org. Well, hello, 6 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:53.280 and welcome to the Texas Tribune trip Cast for August eighteen, twenty twenty three. 7 00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:56.880 My name's Matthew Watkins, Managing editor for News at the Tribune, and 8 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:00.840 this week we're going to be talking about the state's takeover of Houston, ID. 9 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:04.560 When classes began at Texas's largest school district later this month. They will 10 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:10.760 be done under the supervision of a school board and superintendent handpicked by the state. 11 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:12.840 The previous board, which is elected by the voters in the city, 12 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:18.680 was deposed in June under the authority of a law passed in twenty fifteen that 13 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:23.280 mandated state takeover if a district or one of its campuses receives failing grades from 14 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.799 the TEA for five consecutive years. In Houston, that was Phyllis Wheatley High 15 00:01:27.799 --> 00:01:33.879 School, which reached that threshold in twenty nineteen. The new superintendent, Mike 16 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:38.319 Miles, has already been making waves, firing multiple principles and administrators, pursuing 17 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:42.439 whole sales, systemic changes at dozens of campuses, and perhaps most controversially, 18 00:01:42.519 --> 00:01:49.000 repurposing some libraries into discipline centers. Joining us to discuss this our two reporters 19 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:53.560 for the nonprofit news site Houston Landing. We have Miranda Dunlap, a staff 20 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.560 writer for The Landing who has written more than twenty stories on this topic. 21 00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:02.719 Came Miranda there. And we have Asher layer Small, who's the reporter for 22 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:07.840 covering K twelve for The Landing. Hey. Asher, Hey, Maddy, 23 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:12.800 glad to be here. Yeah, thanks for joining. So Miranda, I 24 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:16.479 want to start with you. You know, one of the more controversial aspects 25 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:22.319 of this taker takeover is the rationale behind it. I already mentioned Phyllis Wheatley 26 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:25.479 the High School is a school that has struggle academically for a long time. 27 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:30.680 It is also one of just two hundred and seventy six schools in a district 28 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.879 that had a B rating from the TEA when this takeover occurred. But that 29 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:38.759 being said, the district has slipped in the ratings in the latest scores that 30 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:43.479 released this week. I'm wondering if you could just sort of kind of lay 31 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:47.719 the framework here and kind of describe what the academic climate and situation was at 32 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:53.199 HISD, you know, leading up to this decision in June for the takeover. 33 00:02:54.520 --> 00:03:00.520 Yeah, I think the fact that the district had a B rating has 34 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:06.159 kind of been a reason why a lot of people have opposed the takeover and 35 00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:09.280 maybe not been in support of it, because, you know, a B 36 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:16.240 rating is an averagely good rating, and so what we're going to see this 37 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:21.159 year though, is that it's entirely possible that the district falls back a little 38 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:24.560 bit and it's a through F rating. The state is kind of like hardening 39 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:29.879 up and raising some bars through their accountability system that would make it a little 40 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:35.639 bit harder for HISD to receive that B rating. Again. We had a 41 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:39.400 story about this, but if HID had the same scores at their schools as 42 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:45.479 they did last year, the essentially the formula would result in a HI s 43 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:49.159 C having a C rating this year. Those scores come out in September, 44 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:53.479 and we saw just a few days ago some star scores came out and the 45 00:03:53.520 --> 00:04:00.479 district fell back a little bit in reading and stayed flat in math, and 46 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:03.800 that is behind several like light districts across the state who did a little bit 47 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:08.680 better in growth. So that's kind of where we're at. Don't know for 48 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:13.080 sure, but it the way it's looking, it's possible that the district could 49 00:04:13.560 --> 00:04:16.959 have a C rating this year. That being said, a lot of the 50 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:21.199 a lot of the takeover, you know, did some from the scores at 51 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:28.279 Wheatley High School and their consecutive failing grades. There were some other reasons that 52 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:35.800 went into that. Specifically, there was a TEA investigation into the board about 53 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:42.680 misconduct, and the investigations findings was that there was multiple instances of misconduct and 54 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:47.319 there is a law that if there is a finding of misconduct within the board, 55 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:54.079 that the Tea can appoint a board. You know, some board members 56 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:58.600 did say that it was a biased investigation, that those findings weren't you know, 57 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:03.839 accurate, but regardless, there were findings that they violated Open Meetings Act 58 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:10.920 or you know, made false statements to investigators during that time. Yeah, 59 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:18.360 and there's also a third aspect that another another provision of law is that if 60 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:24.480 the district has a state appointed conservator for more than two years, that the 61 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:28.000 district that the TA can take over the district and appoint a school board. 62 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:33.839 Now Hie had a state appointed conservator for six years to kind of remedy some 63 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:46.360 district issues. So there's it's kind of threefold essentially. Essentially Miranda's getting at 64 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:53.360 there is that there's several state laws that lay the legal groundwork and legal framework 65 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:58.399 for why the state was able to take over. There's the consecutive failing grades 66 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:01.360 which happened at Wheatley, and I think there are a lot of Houston residents 67 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:05.399 who ask, like, hey, why can the state take over this district 68 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:09.879 of two hundred and seventy three schools based on the rating of one school. 69 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:15.120 So that is a state law that went into effect in twenty fifteen, and 70 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:19.319 then there are a couple other provisions that also allowed the takeover to be triggered, 71 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:27.720 and that is what has led us to where we are today. Jumping 72 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:31.160 on the star scores piece, so pretty much there were star scores that came 73 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:36.160 out this week. They said the state standardized tests and then how those play 74 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:44.560 into the district's accountability ratings, So like abcd F that comes out later in 75 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:50.600 September. But I was on a press call with Superintendent Miles earlier this week 76 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:55.360 and he said, you know, we have to wait and see what's going 77 00:06:55.399 --> 00:07:00.079 to happen with the with the accountability rating, but we're expecting to see How 78 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:05.319 would you kind of classify the community feeling about the state of the schools, 79 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:09.319 you know, leading into this, And I know there's been some pushback about 80 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:13.279 the idea of the state's involvement here and in the kind of extent of the 81 00:07:13.319 --> 00:07:19.439 takeover, But was there a large contingent of a feeling that, you know, 82 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:23.800 this this board is dysfunctional. There were a lot of kind of public 83 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:27.079 spats that rolled out. There was there a feeling that schools do need to 84 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:30.600 turn around? Or was there not much of a clamoring for dramatic change in 85 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:34.600 the schools leading up to this? I can start. I think it's hard 86 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:42.519 to say what the general consensus is because it is so mixed. You have 87 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:47.240 a lot of parents who who have children at these schools that are being you 88 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:51.519 know, immediately overhauled this year, and a lot of them, you know, 89 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:56.160 maintain that their schools are great schools. Some of these schools have good, 90 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:01.720 you know, scores, But then you have a lot of people who 91 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:07.120 you know, have really grown tired of really the dysfunction of the previous board 92 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:11.519 and all of the you know, like in fighting that was just so rampant, 93 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:16.439 and their kind of inability to address these longstanding issues in the district. 94 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:20.240 So you have, you know, some people who really are proud of their 95 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:24.560 schools and don't understand why so much change is you know, now falling upon 96 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:30.519 them. But then you have, you know, people who recognize that a 97 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:33.679 lot of schools in the district are not doing well and are not serving kids, 98 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:35.159 and they want change. And you know, maybe some of this is 99 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:41.240 really uncomfortable to them, but they're more trying to stay positive. It really 100 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:46.279 is mixed. It's hard to say what the overall feeling is. But but 101 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:50.240 Miranda and I spend a lot of the summer going to community events that the 102 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:56.960 superintendent held. So twice a week he would go to a school and kind 103 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:03.720 of go over his vision for the district and then have give community members a 104 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:07.639 chance to kind of say their peace or ask him questions. And not at 105 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:11.720 every school, but at most schools. In most instances, the feedback was 106 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:16.960 largely negative. There were a lot of people who are really upset about these 107 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:22.440 changes and feeling like they were losing their you know, their their their voice 108 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:26.440 in all of this, because they did lose their democratically elected school board. 109 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:35.879 So we went to I'm thinking of a community meeting at an elementary school called 110 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:45.000 p Elementary. It's a predominantly Hispanic area where most parents are either Spanish speaking 111 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:48.720 or bilingual, and so they used to have a bilingual principle who was then 112 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:52.320 replaced with a non Spanish speaking principle. The parents were really worried about that. 113 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:58.080 They're concerned about the future of their dual language program. Superintendent Miles said 114 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:03.759 he would maintain in that program, but he has made changes to allow him 115 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:07.360 to modify Magnet programs as he sees fit. So there are people who have 116 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:13.159 a lot of concerns about what's to come. I think to encapsulate it. 117 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.399 A lot of parents I've spoken to feel like they're kind of between a rock 118 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:24.159 and a hard place because they do acknowledge that there were changes that were needed 119 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:33.360 in the district, and at the same time, what they're seeing happen to 120 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:37.799 Houston is sd are not the sort of changes they're looking for, and they 121 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:43.080 feel like they're boxed out of giving their input because there's no one really to 122 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:50.720 hold Superintendent Mike Miles accountable other than the TEA, other than the state and 123 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:54.960 the board. But the board was appointed by the state. So that's that's 124 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:00.639 what we're hearing from a lot of parents and community members. It's just such 125 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:03.320 a complicated issue because, of course, the way parents and community members evaluate 126 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:07.279 their schools is not just by looking at test scores. It's you know, 127 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.919 a whole lot of different things, including the community around the school, their 128 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:15.799 relationship with the teachers, and the principle and things like that. So hard 129 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.559 to just look at, you know, a TEA report card and decide, 130 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.120 you know, this school is doing well or this school is not doing well. 131 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:26.679 Let's talk a little bit about Mike Miles here. Though I am a 132 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:31.360 former Dallas Morning News reporter, I was there when he was overseeing Dallas. 133 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:37.879 I s d. He was a very he elicited a lot of passion from 134 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:43.759 both his supporters and his detractors, and I it seems as though the same 135 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:48.080 thing is going on in Houston right now. Can can you give us a 136 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:54.039 little bit about his background and the approach he's taking to this to this big 137 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:58.879 task. Sure. Yeah, I mean I think the word that comes to 138 00:12:00.039 --> 00:12:03.159 mind for me is polarizing. So exactly like you know, exactly how you 139 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.759 said, He's a really polarizing guy. And we've spoken to even you know, 140 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:15.360 folks at at many points in his tenure. I spoke to someone in 141 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:20.320 Harrison County too, or in the first the first school district out in Colorado 142 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:26.399 Springs where he was superintendent, and they told me his legacy continues to be 143 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:31.960 polarizing. There are people who won't touch certain reforms because they're associated with Mike 144 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:37.440 Miles, and there are others who are still trying to carry them forward. 145 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:41.799 Miranda did a good amount of reporting into his most recent stop, which was 146 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:50.159 leading a charter network called Third Future Charter Schools. So yeah, I can 147 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:54.879 speak to that better than I can. Yeah, you know, under so 148 00:12:54.080 --> 00:13:00.639 the the charter network that he ran, the way that the rules that were 149 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:05.799 tied into that we're run are very similar to how HISD schools will run. 150 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:09.279 It's, you know, his model of how a school should be, and 151 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:16.360 you know, there's striking similarities. And it was you know, once again, 152 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:24.039 there were some mixed feelings towards certain policies at schools, and I don't 153 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:28.279 know, Sorry, I don't know how specific we want to be, But 154 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:33.000 are you asking more like general or Yeah, let's talk a little bit about 155 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.080 his methods because I think that we'll get into what is going on here in 156 00:13:37.320 --> 00:13:43.120 Houston. I think you know, he has, as you have written, 157 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.480 has has taken on a lot of situations where he has identified specific schools and 158 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:52.000 kind of proposed or begun to implement wholesale changes. He'd tell us a little 159 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:56.440 bit about what some of those changes are. What this is looking like at 160 00:13:56.440 --> 00:14:03.799 the ground level. Yeah, there's a lot of changes. I guess the 161 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:09.360 the broad picture is that there are eighty five schools that are seeing the immediate 162 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:13.360 changes this year, seeing a complete overhaul. And what that looks like is, 163 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:16.919 you know, it looks similar to what he's done in the past, 164 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:22.519 but it will be a very uniform model of how a school will be run. 165 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:28.799 And with that comes some several very like controversial changes that you've probably heard 166 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:35.720 about, such as the repurposing of libraries to make quote unquote team centers or 167 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:41.720 people call them zoom rooms, and kind of this like very tough, no 168 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:46.279 nonsense approach that comes out in some policies, like you know, elementary middle 169 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:52.080 schoolers walking single file in the hallways or carrying a traffic cone to the bathroom, 170 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:56.879 or you know, the jobs of teachers and principles are being effectively re 171 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:01.639 engineered. So teachers won't be grading papers, teachers won't be making copies. 172 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:07.639 Someone's gonna be doing all that for them. They'll be using a scripted curriculum. 173 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:11.879 It's kind of just very can't think of the world, I want to 174 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:18.120 say, but it's very systematic. And so you know that that has been 175 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:22.759 controversial. There are a lot of people who are not excited about those changes, 176 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:26.720 People who you know, more so believed that school should be a very 177 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:33.519 comforting place where a teacher brings their unique touch and believes in more of like 178 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:39.279 the holistic education approach. Those those people are upset about this. Some people 179 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:43.639 that I talked to in Odessa and Midland who went to a school under this 180 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:48.919 model, you know, we're specifically concerned about the use of the team centers 181 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:52.399 and felt like, you know, it just gave way for students to be 182 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:56.399 ejected from class more often and set to a team center where their teacher wouldn't 183 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:00.679 have to deal with them. So there's a lot of fear and angst not 184 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:06.200 knowing exactly what this is going to look like, but it is. It 185 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:10.679 is a model that has been seen before, essentially. Yeah, and I 186 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:17.000 wanted to give some context too, because these sorts of changes where it's where 187 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:23.120 the model is much more systematized, is particularly significant in Houston because this is 188 00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:29.799 a school district that has this long history of what's called decentralized you know, 189 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:34.120 school government or education governance. And what that meant was that principles really had 190 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:40.200 wide discretion over all sorts of things at their school, including hiring or you 191 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:45.799 know, budgeting or adding specific programs. And at these eighty five schools that 192 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:52.039 Mike Miles and his administration are overhauling, that's all changing. So now at 193 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:56.240 those schools it's very centralized. It's all the same curriculum, it's all the 194 00:16:56.279 --> 00:17:03.160 same teaching style, and so that has that has some people worry. Then 195 00:17:03.160 --> 00:17:12.039 it also has some people who felt like a change was needed excited that someone 196 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.759 is taking account for this. And also I will say, just to be 197 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:23.039 fair to the to the model that Mike Miles is implementing is the teachers at 198 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:27.359 several of the schools that he's overhauling. I do have to make a distinction 199 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:32.799 here because there's twenty eight schools that he targeted and then there's another fifty seven 200 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:37.319 that opted into the changes. At the twenty eight that he targeted, teachers 201 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:42.519 are going to get a really significant bump in salary. So somewhere in the 202 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:49.039 like eighty to nine DK on average per per teacher will be their their annual 203 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:55.359 salary. And his idea is, these are the schools that have historically struggled 204 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:00.599 the most in HISD or some of the most. Let's attract at the very 205 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:07.599 best teachers we can to these schools by paying top dollar. And so that's 206 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:12.880 what they're doing there. They're trying to professionalize the the job of a teacher 207 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:18.559 by taking away busy work such as grating quizzes. And you know, we've 208 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:22.319 heard from a lot of teachers who still say, we don't like this. 209 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:26.680 This isn't about the money. It's about the fact that we can't We like 210 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:30.640 to be able to plan our own lessons. We don't want to have a 211 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:34.319 curriculum that's handed to us. But at the same time, like a raise 212 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:40.720 is a raise, and that's the idea behind the model. Yeah, it's 213 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:44.759 so funny to see how much this has played out similarly to what we saw 214 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.839 in Dallas when he was doing this, because I remember those same arguments, 215 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:51.680 you know, a really big focus on teacher pay, which is not also 216 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:55.759 you know, not just rewarding good teachers in the district, but also trying 217 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:00.440 to really incentivize people to enter the profession enjoying the profession that may not have 218 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:03.599 otherwise because of how much they were paid. But you did still see a 219 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:07.920 lot of pushback from you know, union groups, teacher groups and things like 220 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:11.079 that over the issues you're talking about autonomy or even questions of fairness, right 221 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:15.680 if there were discrepancies between you know, what were deemed the highest performing teachers 222 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:21.319 in the in the lowest performing teachers. So I'm kind of fascinating to watch 223 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:26.720 this all play out again. Miranda, what would you what can you say 224 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:29.799 about the success of these programs in the past. I mean, how did 225 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:34.440 this work out in Midland in his most recent stock Yeah, I mean on 226 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:42.440 paper, it was successful, it produced So these schools were in a similar 227 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:49.240 situation to Hi SC where they either you know, partner gave up control of 228 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:55.160 these schools, surrendered it to a charter network who could turn it around, 229 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:00.599 or they would have faced takeover by of the entire district, and so they 230 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:06.160 opted to partner with Third Futures, and you know, they went from failing 231 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:10.960 grades too. I believe Midland and Odesks are both be rating at this point. 232 00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:18.279 So you know that that's kind of Superintendent Miles's entire arguments, like this 233 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:26.880 is uncomfortable. Change is uncomfortable for parents, teachers, students, but it's 234 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:32.559 gotten the results for him so far. So I think that's you know, 235 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:37.279 a lot of the reason why Marath has put him up in this position in 236 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:42.599 hi ST is because of those jumps and scores. Let's plus for a minute 237 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:48.960 here from our sponsors. Educate Texas stimulates creative solutions to key educational challenges throughout 238 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:56.599 the state. Learn more at aedtx dot org and Texas Farm Bureau. Find 239 00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:02.359 affordable health coverage through Texas Farm Bureaus Health Plans. For more information or to 240 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:07.000 get a quote, go to t FB health plans dot com or call eight 241 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:12.200 seven seven five hundred zero one four zero. All right, So I'm ready. 242 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:15.160 I mean, we've talked a lot about the experience for the teachers and 243 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:18.200 you know the reaction from the parents. I mean, what is the impact 244 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:23.759 on the student experience here? Do we even know the answer to that yet? 245 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.799 As you know, I think that is something that you know, we 246 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:33.519 are committed to trying to figure out. I think a lot of you know, 247 00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:37.400 a lot of what you when you're reporting on education, A lot of 248 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:41.640 what you've find out about, like what's going on inside the school does come 249 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:47.599 from parents of young children. But you know, talking to parents and Midland 250 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:52.880 and Odessa, while there was you know, that growth in those scores, 251 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:56.359 there was you know, some parents who said it didn't matter to them and 252 00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:00.480 that you know, their children like lost interests in the subjects and you know, 253 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:03.039 their favorite subjects weren't as fun for them anymore, and to them that 254 00:22:03.079 --> 00:22:10.480 mattered a little bit more so, it's it's a mixed bag, sure, 255 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:15.640 a lot of complexities and all this go ahead. Ashure, Yeah, well 256 00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:18.559 this was Miranda's story. But but one quote that jumped out to me, 257 00:22:18.599 --> 00:22:22.880 I think was one parent said it felt more militaristic the school, which you 258 00:22:22.920 --> 00:22:26.559 know, Superintendent Miles does have a background in the military. He's someone who 259 00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:32.880 has a really strong vision. Some people see that as a good thing. 260 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:38.079 Some people see that as a bad thing. But what's undeniable is that these 261 00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:45.359 schools are more system of ties and more regimented. So we have seen a 262 00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:51.720 considerable backlash among politicians in the Houston area around this. Sylvester Turner, the 263 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:56.200 mayor, really blasting in particular, and some local members of Congress in particular, 264 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:02.599 the targeting the discipline centers the use of libraries for that center, after 265 00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:11.400 how how is this plane out among the other elected officials there. Sure. 266 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:18.079 Yeah. So there was a little bit of drama a few weeks ago when 267 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:23.880 Superintendent Miles and Mayor Turner, we're going back and forth on this library issue. 268 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:33.880 Mayor Turner started talking about the issue in a city council meeting, and 269 00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:38.400 then at the end of the day, Mike Miles put out a statement saying, 270 00:23:38.440 --> 00:23:42.720 Hey, Mayor Turner, we welcome you to check out our nes schools. 271 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:48.400 The schools were turning around the schools that will be implementing this library. 272 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:51.599 Paulicy, we welcome you to come by when school starts, see what it's 273 00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:55.519 all about. And he's kind of repeated this refrain that people don't really understand 274 00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:59.880 what's going to be happening in these team centers, the places where misbehaving students 275 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:07.599 can be sent to learn via zoom. And so then the next day I 276 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:14.359 went and grab Mayor Turner at a at a ribbon cutting event he was doing, 277 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.440 and just held the microphone up, asking like, are you going to 278 00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:26.680 take uh su the superintendent up on his offer to come check out these these 279 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:30.960 team centers, these overhauled schools, And pretty much what he said was like 280 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.440 he he just went off for several minutes. I didn't really get any other 281 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:37.720 questions in because he clearly had a lot to say about this, but he 282 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.799 was saying, like, this is a gimmick from the superintendent. You know, 283 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:45.240 he just wants a photo op with me. He could have picked up 284 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:48.519 the phone and called me if he wanted to, but instead he like put 285 00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:53.480 out this statement that was really here for the press and the way the way 286 00:24:53.480 --> 00:25:00.599 the mayor sees it is the schools that the superintendent is overhauling. These are 287 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:04.880 predominantly low income schools, and so now these are schools that are going to 288 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:10.720 have their libraries repurposed. The superintendent has said books will remain on the shelves 289 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:14.400 and that students can check them out under an honor system. But a lot 290 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:21.000 of library advocates say that having a dedicated staff member kind of building up that 291 00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:23.920 program of a library is one of the essential parts of actually getting books in 292 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:30.279 students' hands. So folks really feel like this is cutting down access to reading 293 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:40.160 in some of the schools that have historically, you know, had lower reading 294 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:49.319 scores for example, and less access to more resources. The superintendent does counter 295 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:53.920 like that he is putting a lot of reading programs into approach. There's this 296 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:57.839 whole science of reading push, which is a whole other issue, And I 297 00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:03.119 can quickly just say, like, pretty much, there were decades in which 298 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.920 the US used a certain type of reading instruction that has now been shown to 299 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:15.000 be fairly ineffective students the incentive to guess at words rather than learning to sound 300 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:21.880 them out. And now Houston is moving towards this other model called the science 301 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:26.880 of reading. So it's a big issue. But the library is really just 302 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:32.319 like a piece that pulls on people's heartstrings. Like you can picture going into 303 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:36.119 your school library and pulling a book off the shelf, and there's a lot 304 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:40.240 of schools now where that will look different. I think very broadly, when 305 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:44.960 Also when you you know, ask about the elected official response to this in 306 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:48.960 Houston, I think it's very fair to say that most elected officials in the 307 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:53.759 city, you know, do view this as an attack on democracy from a 308 00:26:53.839 --> 00:27:00.200 republican statewide government, you know, targeting a democratic city out seeing a democratically 309 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:07.799 elected school board, you know, handpicked school board brought in, you do 310 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:12.680 get the sense a lot of elected officials see this as an attempt to control 311 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:18.400 by a republican state government. And so that is a lot of the discourse 312 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:21.960 as well, and I think that is the broad sentiment from city leaders. 313 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:26.319 Yeah, and of course this is something that extends beyond the realm of education, 314 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:30.559 right I mean, Harris County has seen this with its election administration right 315 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:36.000 now, recent laws passing, you know, in which the state is kind 316 00:27:36.039 --> 00:27:40.160 of inserting itself more in that realm. We've seen this in policing and a 317 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:44.880 lot of the different cities, bigger cities in Texas as well, so kind 318 00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:48.200 of fitting into that broader fight. But it's also just interesting to see, 319 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:52.359 I mean, Miles was selected to lead d I s D by the school 320 00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:59.480 board there, you know, also a democratic controlled city, so the kind 321 00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:03.640 of complian cities there are are interesting to watch as well, and I think 322 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:08.680 we're seeing just sort of contrasting as as you guys have laid out contrasting kind 323 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:14.519 of theories as to how education should work, particularly in these big city school 324 00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:17.359 districts where there are a lot of challenges. Right, A lot of the 325 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:22.279 students that you're teaching are you know, economically disadvantaged, a lot of them, 326 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:26.200 many come from immigrant communities, many maybe aren't even speaking English as the 327 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:30.960 first language. And you know, this is not an easy solution for either 328 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:37.400 either method. One thing I wonder is what y'all are watching as this plays 329 00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:41.759 out in the coming months even years. I mean, how will we how 330 00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:47.359 should we judge this in terms of whether it's a success or not. What 331 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:51.119 factors should we be looking at? And what factors will y'all be looking at? 332 00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:56.480 Yeah, I think one thing to know is that, you know, 333 00:28:56.519 --> 00:29:02.160 in order for this state takeover to end, no schools can have failing ratings. 334 00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:04.279 So I think that is like for several years. So I think that 335 00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:10.000 is like the most obvious first step is, you know, is this fixing 336 00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:15.680 school ratings? And asher maybe you want to take it away on some of 337 00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:18.519 these other things will be looking at. Sure. Yeah, I mean that 338 00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:23.720 that the no failing schools is one of three exit criteria, and the other 339 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:30.400 two are that the the school board politics kind of need to be under control, 340 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:33.400 and then the other is that the district needs to be in compliance on 341 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:38.279 special education. So all these three things are things that have been problems historically, 342 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:42.880 but you know, in a on a on a closer time frame, 343 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:48.640 like we said, star scores came out this week, but there are other 344 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:53.680 tests that we're watching. There's the NWEA test, there's the Dibbles tests. 345 00:29:53.960 --> 00:30:00.559 These are all nationally normed tests that students in his d will be taking over 346 00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:06.319 the coming months. So I think that's one marker that a lot of people 347 00:30:06.359 --> 00:30:11.880 are looking at. The superintendent has celebrated that they do have fewer vacancies staff 348 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:18.319 vacancies going into this school year than last year, so that is one important 349 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:26.839 piece where there will be more students who have a dedicated teacher in front of 350 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:30.480 them at the beginning of this school year, or there will be fewer students 351 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:36.440 that are taught by say a substitute or a long term substitute. So that 352 00:30:36.599 --> 00:30:41.240 is a win. But I think there's all sorts of markers that families are 353 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:45.759 looking at. So when students go back to school in August twenty eight, 354 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:52.720 there's gonna be many of them that look really different because their staffs were switched 355 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:57.759 up, were reconstituted, maybe their principle was replaced. At all twenty eight 356 00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:03.160 schools targeted for reforms, all the teachers were required to reapply for their jobs, 357 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:10.279 So in many cases, the staff composition will look really different, and 358 00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:14.119 I think students are going to have to feel that out of like what's the 359 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:21.119 new culture on my campus? And we've we've spoken to students who are nervous 360 00:31:21.160 --> 00:31:26.960 about that. They knew what to expect from their school and now things are 361 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:30.319 different, so they don't really know what to expect come August twenty eight. 362 00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:38.279 So there's there's a lot of markers that we're watching, all right. Well, 363 00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:44.000 Houston Landing dot org is where you can keep track of this. Miranda 364 00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:47.400 and nashuy yalboth done really great work on this, and I appreciate you taking 365 00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:51.920 some time to explain it to us. Thanks for joining us, Thank you 366 00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:53.920 so much. Yeah, thanks for having us, Matthew. Yeah, and 367 00:31:53.960 --> 00:31:59.440 thank you to our sponsors, Texas State Technical College, Meadows Mental Health Policy 368 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:02.880 Institute, Educate Texas and Texas Farm Bureau. We'll talk to y'all next week. 369 00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:15.880 We have a favor to ask. 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