1. As we are moving to a centralized funding model, what other processes will become centralized?

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1 1 Houston Independent School District Principals Advisory Committee Accolades, Concerns and Recommendations for March 7, 2018 Chief Academic Officer Chief Grenita Lathan Concern: 1. As we are moving to a centralized funding model, what other processes will become centralized? Response: At this time we are considering possible options based on an FTE mechanism which includes essential positions as well as flexibility for individual campus needs. No other processes are being discussed for becoming centralized. 2. Summer School Hub Locations - Principals were notified by SSO the Summer School Hub Locations a couple days ago. When principals had concerns and asked for clarification, neither the SSO or Chief could speak about these assignments. Recommendation: Please don't have Area Staff send out critical (and startling) information that isn't understood by Schools Office Staff. If an SSO can't offer any detail or explanation then it shouldn't be sent out. Response: Thank you for bringing this to our attention so we can continue to enhance our support to schools. Schools Office staff want to ensure that communication is timely, relevant, and thorough. 3. Principal Feedback Regarding SSO - Apparently SSOs are having to interview for their jobs as a response to the Budget Cuts. Perhaps they are offering a presentation to Chief Academic Officer and/or other Chiefs. Since Principals are the "customer/user", how is Principal Input being collected and considered? Recommendation: Develop a feedback survey or tool so that Principals can offer feedback. Not necessarily about the SSO role or structure, rather a chance to offer insight as to areas of strength and areas of growth. Response: Recommendation received. We will develop a tool to gather feedback. 4. Can they eliminate the summer institute? Wouldn t this be a financial savings in light of the current budget status? Response: At this time all district-wide activities and events are being reviewed and up for discussion.

2 2 5. I have heard varying accounts of how the Dyslexia Specialist position is going to be funded. If it is in fact going to be a centrally funded position can we have it included in the FTE model so that we know we don t have to worry about accounting for that position somewhere else? 6. Response: The Interventions office will be meeting with budgeting this week. Once we have arrived at an answer Dr. Courtney Busby will provide information to principals 7. In the February AD Hoc, Chief Financial Officer said that district hasn t considered closing any positions when asked about SSOs and TADS people. When will this be considered? What has been considered? Response: At this time all positions within the Academics department are being considered for possible RIF due to the budget deficit. Chief Student Support Officer - Chief Mark Smith 1. In response to question #1 to Mark Smith at the February Meeting: Can he address whether or not false information was given to the board and if so will it be that information be corrected? He addresses that all magnet schools exit students. I do not doubt that fact because there are exit policies in the agreements that students and parents sign. If this is the concern then why didn t the district address that with the schools that had a disproportionate amount of students being exited? There was also no response to the number of magnet programs that are equitable and that are primarily made up of minority and Low SES students and are doing well. Responses: 1A. Information given to the Board regarding magnet programs has been factual. The Office of School Choice (OSC) is follow established procedures to address non-renewals and exiting of students. Communication with parents regarding non-renewals and exits are on-going. The OSC will continue to support magnet coordinators as they help transition non-renewed and exited students to nonmagnet programs. 1B. Reports are available online from which you can draw information and come to conclusions regarding the number of magnet programs that are equitable and that are primarily made up of minority and Low SES students and are doing well. These reports are available at and

3 3 2. Social Worker and Wrap Around Services - We aren t leveraging some of our best people. We have subscribed to use PURPLE from Pro Unitas. That connects a kid and gives data yet there is no follow up. Additionally, we are hiring people for those positions and all they need is a Bachelor s Degree. No other specific experience sought. Recommendation: We have Social Workers in this district that have Masters Degrees and we should leverage their experience and expertise. Additionally, somehow we continue to lay them less than these new Wrap Around people even though the Social Workers have vast more applicable experience. How is this even possibly aligned to taking care of kids first? Response: We agree, HISD has the good fortune to have experienced Social Workers who, if they choose, are welcome to apply for open positions to serve as members of our Wraparound Services team. We also agree, an advanced degree and relevant experience give any candidate an advantage. However, the decision of our Social Workers to seek opportunities to move from their current positions to the Wraparound Service team rests with those individuals, not central administration. 3. Will the district or state consider defaulting our attendance rates to that of the school year? The hardships of Hurricane Harvey have greatly impacted attendance and a lower rate will certainly affect the funding for schools for next year in addition to the budget cuts that are already existing. Response: If this is possible, it will be the state s decision, not the district s. We are actively advocating to the state on behalf of students. A recent example of our advocacy is the request that schools to provide through Chancery complete and accurate crisis coding for students. Your efforts will better position the district to petition state and federal agencies for additional supports on behalf of our students, including but not limited to the use of last year s ADA in next year s funding calculations. 4. When will schools receive additional information on the magnet funding for next school year? Is there a timeline? We keep hearing that there is no information yet, but schools need to know as soon as possible to make informed decisions for next year. Response: Response: Magnet recommendations are expected to be presented for approval to the Board of Education at the May 2018 board meeting. You are encouraged to monitor the Board of Education meeting agendas, available online at

4 4 Chief Financial Officer Chief Rene Barajas 1. At the State of the Schools, the superintendent urged the community to demand change to the way that Texas Schools are funded. He called the current model (nicknamed the Robinhood Plan long ago) outdated. I think most of us agree with that. How is what we are doing in HISD any different? The argument for FTE is that the PUA model benefits large schools. Just as the state model is decimating HISD, this new model is decimating large schools. Schools like Bellaire that are slated to lose 38 teachers according to news reports. Schools of students that take up a city block are expected to operate efficiently with 6-7 clerical staff. Non-salary operating budgets cut from $1.6 million to $0.5 million? We are all aware that cuts are imminent, but I d like to know how this is different than the Texas Funding system? Response: The state does not fund school districts based on the number of positions (FTEs) they have but rather on student attendance, or average daily attendance. The state attempts, through its Chapter 41 designation for school districts, to achieve equity by establishing levels of wealth equalization based on property values. The proposed FTE staffing model will establish a base level of resources that each campus can rely upon regardless of their enrollment size. 2. High Schools generate funding for the district through enrollment in CTE courses, but the excess funding that programs generate no longer stays at the campus that generated it but will go somewhere else. An explanation of the change to FTE is that we don t know what s happening on campuses. Will it be public knowledge where those additional federal dollars are allocated when they are taken from the schools that generated them? Response: Need more information on this question. Campuses generate funding through the PUA formula for their CTE courses. A portion goes into the CTE PUA fund while a portion goes into the regular PUA budget. How CTE funding will be allocated in the FTE model is still being worked on. Federal dollars come through the Carl Perkins grant. The FTE staffing will not affect how those funds are distributed. 3. Is there a reason why elementary schools do not have flex spending credits under the new proposed model? Response: The elementary budget advisory team elected to receive a Teacher Specialist. They did not discuss flex positions. 4. Ensuring that Equity is being considered for more challenging schools when the FTE Model is considered. Equality hasn t been very efficient and has supported our struggling regions within HISD. How can we ENSURE EQUITY will be delivered to our struggling campuses during these CONVERSATIONS?!!!

5 5 Response: The Achieve 180 plan put into place in is delivering needed resources to campuses that are facing difficult circumstances. The proposed FTE staffing model will act as a proxy for Achieve 180 in that it will provide a base level of resources to every campus, regardless of the enrollment size. Achieve 180 will continue to be in place in and beyond to assist those campuses in need. 5. When will the campuses be given the specific information about the following programs that are moving to centralization: Special Education, CTE, Magnet, etc? Response: Pending (Will include in April s report.) 6. We have not been told how many positions we will have allocated for existing CTE programs. This impacts how many teachers we will lose in the RIF process and master schedule. When will this information go to high schools? Response: Pending (Will include in April s report.) 7. We have been given a 2nd draft of the positions we will receive. Is this what we use for purposes of contract non-renewals and termination of non-contract employees or is there a 3rd draft coming? Response: Pending (Will include in April s report.) Chief Human Resource Officer Chief Gloria Cavazos 1. What is the plan of action to hire such a large amount of librarians and counselors for next school year? Are there any alternatives for these positions? Response: The Human Resources Department in collaboration with Library Services and the Counseling Department have already begun an aggressive and comprehensive marketing, communication, and recruiting initiative to address the anticipated need for these essential positions. The collaborative teams are attending professional conferences and promoting positions at local universities and alternative certification programs. In addition, the team is internally holding information sessions and will host essential staffing selection events for our campuses. We hope to fill all positions with qualified candidates. Campus principals can work with their Area Superintendent to identify alternative options if a suitable candidate cannot be identified.

6 6 2. The information on RIF is very vague even after the last training we received. What additional training is being offered regarding RIFs? Response: Additional Sessions have already been scheduled for Wednesday March 7, to begin at 2:45 p.m. A flyer will be distributed detailing session times and locations 3. The Certification Office doesn t always cc the principal whenever one of our faculty or staff members has a certification that will expire soon. If she had cc d me on the first notification back on February 14. I would have stayed on top of this Teaching Assistant completing the renewal. I have asked her for this each year for two or three years. Usually when we are notified is when they are wanting to move forward with termination. Response: As a courtesy to HISD employees, the Certification Department does try to assist with a follow up notification sent to employees in addition to the reminder sent directly by TEA (SBEC). The established practice is to include the supervisor in the . Please feel free to Jeff McCanna the name of employee that you are referring to and he will follow up. As a reminder, TEA Certification maintenance is solely the responsibility of the certification holder. Chief Operations Officer Chief Brian Busby 1. Our last two transports for students who were placed under arrest took more than 3.5 and 4 hours respectively to arrive. This leads to an unsafe condition for our campus as our officer has to sit with the student in custody for the entire time rendering them unavailable in the case of an emergency. In addition the student has to sit in handcuffs for the entire time. Also any time we have a sub officer they regularly arrive between the hours of 9-10, well after our school day has begun. Considering recent situations and the uptick in threats I find this concerning. The last officer who came for a transport said he did not report to duty until 2:30- however he arrived at our campus closer to 4. There seems to be a general lack of urgency and of responsibility within our local police force that greatly concerns me. Response: Once an arrest is made, the arresting officer is required to write a report and file charges before a transport can take place. Depending upon the complexity of the case this could take 1-2 hours alone. This does not include time spent during the investigation leading to arrest. Unless the officer has an assigned patrol car, there is a lapse time for a transporting unit to arrive. Calls are answered in the order of priority, so if a more urgent in progress call comes in it could preempt the transport temporarily. It is difficult to know for sure what the cause for the delay was without knowing the specifics of the case. We would be glad to look into this matter and respond accordingly if the specifics could be shared.

7 7 Regarding the substitute officer situation, it is possible that the officer had to be pulled from another campus not too close to the school with the officer shortage. We will monitor absences more closely as they relate to finding substitute officers earlier in the process.