Lynn Walsh

A story written by Texas Watchdog:

KHOU features Texas Watchdog’s report on wasteful travel spending at HISD
Tue Jun 15 19:48:00 2010 CST
By Trent Seibert

KHOU-TV last night led with Texas Watchdog’s report on wasteful travel spending at the Houston Independent School District.

From KHOU 11 reporter Kevin Reece:

The investigation by Texas Watchdog found that on numerous occasions HISD arranged travel to conferences for its employees within the final few weeks before the events.

Texas Watchdog highlights one specific example, a conference in Columbus, Ohio. Although the October 2008 conference was planned a year in advance, internal correspondence at HISD shows discussions on booking flights lasted until late September. Tickets that could have been purchased for $350, instead cost as much as $934 a piece.

“Money is not the overriding factor,” said Lee Ann O’Neal, the deputy editor of Texas Watchdog. “It’s what’s convenient for the employees it seems. And that’s concerning.”

HISD responded to KHOU’s report, as well:

“There is some truth there to the fact that some employees are not taking advantage of the lowest possible fare,” said HISD spokesperson Norm Uhl when asked about HISD’s response to the Texas Watchdog report.

According to the district’s travel policy, employees are “encouraged to plan business travel at least 21 days in advance” but are not mandated to do so, Uhl said. He said it is a policy under review.

We appreciate KHOU’s digging into HISD’s loose travel policy.

See the Texas Watchdog story here that started it all.

See below the video report from KHOU:

An investigation for Texas Watchdog:

Trustee perspectives on Houston Independent School District travel habits
Tue Jun 15 17:00:00 2010 CST
By Steve Miller and Lynn Walsh

On Friday Texas Watchdog highlighted Houston ISD travel, including the district’s poor planning and frequent plane travel to Austin and San Antonio.

In advance of publication, we asked a couple Houston Independent School District trustees what they thought of the findings, including the disregard to a policy suggestion that employees not fly when headed for destinations less than 200 miles away, such as Austin.

“If I factor in the time it would take me to go to the terminal and fly to Austin, I could drive,” trustee Manuel Rodriguez said. “I could have my vehicle, drive to where I need to while there instead of taking a taxi and get home when I need to get home.

“It is a personal choice, and if they can leave here at 7 a.m. and be back by 2 p.m. in the office by plane, then maybe it is worth it.”

Trustee Larry Marshall was unamused by the idea that staffers were flying to San Antonio rather than driving.

“I find it incomprehensible that someone couldn’t get to San Antonio by driving straight down I-10,” he said.

When we advised Rodriguez of an October 2008 trip to Columbus, Ohio, in which a number of staffers opted for a more expensive flight, he asked, “How much money could we have saved if everyone went with the less expensive?”

But when told it was a difference of thousands of dollars, no more, he was a little dismissive.

“I know you and I could use $5,000, I have talked with (district chief financial officer) Melinda Garrett about delinquent taxes … I am not sure she could even say that the district could use the extra $5 thousand when you are talking $1.5 billion,” he said, referring to the district’s overall budget.

Contact Steve Miller at at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org. Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org.

Photo by flickr Andrew Stawarz, used via a Creative Commons license.

An investigation for Texas Watchdog:

Back story on HISD’s travel habits; Texas Watchdog found wasted taxpayer dollars, poor planning, toothless travel rules
Mon Jun 14 20:18:00 2010 CST
By Steve Miller and Lynn Walsh

Our Friday story concerning the often unbridled travel habits of HISD employees was one of those serendipitous projects, akin to a kid finding a rare coin while picking up slugs at a construction site. (Hey, we used them in coin-operated machines, and they worked.)

In this case, last fall we were perusing Houston Independent School District credit card statements as part of a story on the issuance of district cards to employees with bankruptcies on their credit records. As part of our review of spending on these district cards, known as P-cards or procurement cards, we became interested in the way the cards were used to pay for travel.

So we requested a handful of receipts and records that might further illuminate the district’s travel habits. The records were requested under the Texas Public Information Act, a law aimed at guaranteeing the public’s right to access public documents.

We noticed flights purchased on extremely short notice. And it kept happening, sometimes for trips lasting three or four days. This led to a request to further inspect travel records, which ended up as Friday’s story.

As we wound this story down, we found we had numerous unanswered questions. Who is this Advantage Travel, and why are they working for HISD when the district has two dedicated travel staffers?

So we asked for any contract with Advantage and any documents surrounding the related bidding process.

We also wondered what kind of budgeting is done for travel. Is there a pot of money for each school? We asked for details.

We did not receive this information in time to include in our initial story. We will have more on these questions and any others that arise.

As the story progressed, we also realized that travel by higher-level officials, including trustees and Superintendent Terry Grier, was not included in these records. So we have a new avenue to explore. What about higher-ranking officials? Do they fly first-class?

The district has an obligation to be accountable for the money it spends on travel. We have found some abuses of common sense, which means we want to continue checking into things.

If you have additional questions we should ask, please contact us at news@texaswatchdog.org or 713-980-9777.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

Jeremy Beard named HISD administrator for low-performing schools, as trustees pass school improvement plan (w/video)
Fri Jun 11 17:06:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

HISD has announced a new leader for a program to boost academic achievement at 20 low-performing schools.

According to a Houston Independent School District press release, Jeremy Beard has been named the school improvement officer for schools included in the district’s Apollo 20 program.

The announcement comes after Houston ISD trustees on Thursday passed a separate plan to improve nine of those under-performing schools.

The plan details five areas the Houston district will focus on to increase academic achievement at four high schools and five middle schools. Different options for increasing academic achievement were presented to HISD trustees back in April of this year.

Beard will be responsible for working with principals at four high schools and five middle schools identified as under-performing schools in the Houston district.

Before the vote Thursday, teachers and a graduate of Fondren Middle School, one of the schools being affected by the transformation plan, expressed concerns over the coming changes to the middle school.

Jaielon Fowler, a recent graduate of Fondren, rattled off statistic after statistic, which he said demonstrate the success Fondren has had.

The plan is part of the Apollo 20 program that includes 20 high schools, middle schools and elementary schools that HISD has identified as under-performing. Part of Apollo could also include paying students to attend tutoring sessions.

Beard comes to HISD after serving as principal at IDEA College Preparatory, in Donna, Texas, for five years, according to the press release.

Beard will be responsible for Lee, Kashmere, Sharpstown and Jones high schools along with Fondren, Key, Ryan, Attucks and Dowling middle schools. These are the same schools the plan passed by HISD trustees affects.

The school improvement officer position in HISD was added as part of the district’s re-organizational plan. Including Beard, there are 23 school improvement officers who report to three chief school officers, who each oversee elementary, middle or high schools.

Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or 713-228-2850.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

HISD trustees set to vote on Community Education Partners contract for alternative school: w/video
Tue Jun 8 19:37:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

HISD trustees are set to vote on renewing a contract with the district’s alternative school provider at a board meeting Thursday.

Community Education Partners underwent a performance evaluation at the request of Houston ISD trustees and Superintendent Terry Grier earlier this year. The results of the evaluation, reported on by the Houston Press and the Houston Chronicle last week, were presented to HISD trustees Monday.

Although the evaluation showed that CEP was meeting the expectations spelled out in its contract, trustees raised questions about the figures throughout the HISD agenda review meeting Monday.

Trustee Anna Eastman said she wanted to be sure she understood what the evaluation showed so she could vote for the contract renewal accordingly.

“I have publicly solicited feedback from people on Facebook and Twitter, because I want to hear how this has affected people’s lives,” Eastman said. View more of her comments below.

Most of the questions asked by the trustees were addressed by the evaluator, HISD Chief Academic Officer Chuck Morris and Grier. Some of the questions went unanswered because the researcher’s study didn’t address them. Grier and HISD administration said they would make it a point to either calculate relevant data themselves or make sure it was included in the next evaluation.

The new contract between CEP and HISD for the 2010-11 school year could cost around $13.7 million, down from the previous annual contract cost $18 million. The more than $4 million savings is a result of HISD reducing the number of student spots from 1,600 to 1,200, which HISD administrators say is closer to the number of students who actually get transferred to CEP.

CEP provides alternative schooling to the Houston district. Students are referred to CEP by principals for a variety of reasons ranging from acts of violence to drug abuse.

Richard Goddard, a professor with Texas A&M, conducted the evaluation of CEP for the Houston Independent School District.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Public hearing to be held moments before trustees vote on $1.5 billion HISD budget, but public can share opinions now
Mon Jun 7 13:25:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh
HISD’s $1.5 billion budget for the 2011 school year is set to be voted on by trustees June 24.
calculator

But before Houston Independent School District trustees approve next year’s budget, they want to hear from you. Thursday afternoon at a board workshop meeting, HISD Chief Financial Officer Melinda Garrett presented an updated budget to the trustees. The public can offer opinions on the proposed budget beginning at 5 p.m. that Thursday night — just before the trustees are to vote on the budget. Garrett said by e-mail Friday that the net budget to date is $1.563 billion; the net budget for 2009-10 was $1.576 billion.

So, yes, you will have a chance to speak against or in favor, or ask questions, about any of the appropriations included in the proposed district-wide budget for next year. Perhaps you think the proposed $219,148 increase in the communications department is too small, or the proposed $192,000 increase in government relations too large. The question is, would it make a difference to speak out about it June 24?

Texas Watchdog raised this question to Garrett after noticing the quick turnaround between hearing from the public and approving the budget. HISD is allowing you time to talk, but will anything you or your neighbor say change what the budget looks like?

“That is up to the trustees,” Garrett said. “We have always done this it way.”

Due to tax rules and different advertising needs, the timetable for the budget approval process has always looked like this, Garrett said. And she pointed out that there are various other ways the public can weigh in on the budget.

“The public has had the opportunity to see it,” Garrett said. “The budget has been presented at many public workshops.”

Previous recommended budgets can be found online; but if you’re looking for the 2010-11 budget, you are out of luck. It is not posted online yet. It will be posted “most likely the morning of June 16,” said Glenn Reed, senior manager of budget operations.

Since April three board workshops, scheduled for 7:30 a.m., have included discussion of the proposed 2010-11 district budget.

Couldn’t make it? Had to work? There is a designated time for the public to speak during every monthly board meeting. These are held once a month in the evening on a Thursday.

Still doesn’t work for you? There is always e-mail. The trustees’ contact information is here. Rather talk in person? HISD trustees hold community meetings for their districts about once a month.
And the trustees will be all yours June 24.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. On Twitter: @lwalsh.

A story published for Texas Watchdog:

Initial findings from HISD’s $8.4mill teacher hiring project are in. Which trustee said it won’t work if principals don’t listen?
Fri Jun 4 16:38:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

HISD trustees continue to hear details on a program designed to help the district have an effective teacher in every classroom.

Consultants from a New York-based nonprofit presented its findings to Houston Independent School District trustees Thursday morning at a board workshop. The nonprofit New Teacher Project is consulting with the district on its hiring practices and aims to help HISD attract and retain the best teachers with the hope of boosting student achievement.

All the data collected is from part ones and two of the four-phase project HISD has been involved with since late last year. Phases one and two have been paid for through a combination of grants and district funds. The funding for phases three and four has not been identified.

After the presentation, several trustees expressed concerns over putting the $8.4 million plan into action.

“We have lots of data. What this district has been lacking is implementation,” HISD Trustee Diana Davila said.

The New Teacher Project representatives said they will be working with HISD throughout the summer to move the project forward. The national nonprofit also plans on holding more focus groups with teachers in the upcoming months.

HISD Trustee Anna Eastman said she wants to make sure the principals are prepared to listen to teachers and receive feedback.

We need “leaders who are competent and confident and not threatened by people that come in or say in a staff meeting, ‘This is not working. Can we try some different things?,’” she said.

Watch the video below for more of Eastman’s comments.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Follow news about the Houston Independent School District on Twitter. Search #hisd.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

HISD’s Terry Grier says plan for small schools would be implemented gradually in Houston — not how San Diego schools did it
Wed Jun 2 22:00:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said it is not surprising that a small schools plan in a California district he previously oversaw has faced recent criticism.

Texas Watchdog reported on the story earlier today, highlighting a school-within-a-school model implemented at San Diego Unified School District that has failed to boost student achievement. The small schools plan in San Diego mirrors a plan Grier introduced to Houston Independent School District trustees in January. The policy would create smaller communities, perhaps of a few hundred students, within the existing physical plants that house high schools.
Terry GrierGRIER
Grier said there are important differences between the way he would implement small schools in Houston and the way it was done in San Diego. The small schools model was started in San Diego before Grier became superintendent and continued during his tenure.

Grier explained some of the differences, and said Jones High School is being considered for conversion to a small school next year.

What follows is the text of the brief interview, though some phrasing of the questions has been edited for clarity.

Question: Have you read the articles describing the criticism San Diego Unified School District is receiving for their small school-within-a-school model?

Answer: No, I have not, but, those small high schools were started before my time. They were started with a grant they got from a large organization. In San Diego they went in and broke entire schools apart implementing the model all at once. Here, (at HISD), we would do it like the (New York-based Institute for Student Achievement) model suggests, start with 9th grade then go from there and grow. One year it would be just 9th grade, then 9th and 10th grade.

Q: The article describes how the large high schools in San Diego that have been condensed into the small-school model are not performing as well as anticipated.

A: Not surprising if you look at how they were implemented. When I talked with principals at these schools, I was told it was never set up in a collaborative model. There were very few course offerings because of the resources available, and they did not want to share resources. … And frankly they did not pay enough attention to human capital. They were not selective enough when it came to who they employed as principals, teachers.”

Q: Does seeing how the model in San Diego worked raise any concerns?

A: I can take you to Atlanta and show you Carver High School, where they used the (Institute for Student Achievement) model and have turned a school around to have a waiting list. They hired quality teachers, quality principals. … Sometimes in education we find ourselves putting the blame on the model when that is not the case. But, if the model does not work we have to be cautious about that.”

Q: Is the small school-within-a-school model still being considered by HISD?

A: We are taking a hard look at it for Jones High School next year. Using two academies and building it one grade level at a time. If you look at the Institute for Student Achievement model, it is not that much more expensive after year one. … In the first three years it is a little more expensive, but it balances itself out. … The small school model may not be the answer, but I can guarantee that what we are doing in these large high schools (now) is not the answer.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Small-schools plan in San Diego criticized; Terry Grier pitched similar plan to HISD trustees in January
Wed Jun 2 17:13:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

A California program of smaller schools — which mirrors a plan HISD Superintendent Terry Grier pitched to district trustees here in January — has been criticized recently for failing to boost student achievement.

According to a package by the TV station KPBS, 10 small high schools in the San Diego Unified School District, which Grier headed for a year-and-a-half, are performing below average.
school bus

KPBS said the San Diego district received an $11 million grant in 2003 to turn large high schools in the district into small “school-within-a-school” campuses, but now “state test scores show students’ academic performance at about half of those small schools is well below average.”

The Voice of San Diego in 2008 pointed out that four years into its experiment with small schools, dropout rates were worse at some small schools than at their larger counterparts, and that paying for them cost 16 percent more per student than the per-pupil cost at the district’s large schools.

According to the Voice of San Diego:

“Test scores have risen at many small high schools — but so have scores at many large schools. Attendance rates vary widely among the individual schools, with some reporting stellar numbers and others at the bottom of the heap. Small high schools are among the school district’s most exemplary schools, and among its most challenged.”

Grier was superintendent of the San Diego district from March 2008 until September 2009, when he took the helm at HISD. The small schools model was started in San Diego before Grier became superintendent and continued during his tenure.

Now, Grier has brought the conversation of small school models for high schools to HISD. In January, trustees were presented a small schools plan for HISD high schools.

Texas Watchdog reported that a New York group, the Institute for Student Achievement, presented a model to create high schools of up to 400 students each. Each small school would have its own principal but share a building and resources with other small schools.

“‘We need a model that is research-based. We do not have time to tinker,’ said Terry Grier, Houston Independent School District superintendent. ‘We have failing schools that are not serving our children.’”

Not only is the academic performance of the newly created small schools under question in San Diego, but the district has also questioned the costs of the more expensive small-school model, according to the Voice of San Diego:

“Small schools are typically more expensive than large ones because a smaller group of students is afforded its own principal. Financial staff estimated that small high schools cost $768 more per student than large high schools (in 2007). And a task force charged with weighing costs and salaries in San Diego Unified eyed the small high schools, saying they needed to be analyzed and made more efficient.”

So what does this mean for HISD?

Seeing how the small-schools plan is performing in San Diego “does raise red flags,” HISD board president Greg Meyers said. “But, it puts the pressure on us to make sure we are doing our due diligence to ensure success” in HISD.

“There is not one cookie-cutter approach that will work for every school,” Meyers said. “We are looking at different models for different areas, different schools and different communities.”

Texas Watchdog also put in a call and e-mail earlier today with Grier’s chief of staff, Michele Pola. We’ll post an update if we hear back from her.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Photo of a school bus by flickr user Old Shoe Woman, used via a Creative Commons license.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Employees involved in HISD E-Rate scandal that cost district $105 million plus will remain secret
Wed Jun 2 12:42:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Three Houston Independent School District employees cost the district millions of dollars after violating the ethics rules governing a federal technology program in 2006.

Who are they? Houston Independent School District says that information is confidential, and the Texas Attorney General has agreed with them.

A public records request asking for the names of the three HISD employees accused by the Federal Communications Commission of accepting meals and other gifts from E-Rate vendors was submitted to HISD by Texas Watchdog on March 29.

HISD responded and asked the Texas Attorney General to allow the district to withhold the names of employees because the information is “confidential under the privacy protections” of certain Freedom of Information Act exemptions. The district says the FCC has requested the names be kept secret, saying naming them would invade the fired employees’ personal privacy.

In a letter the AG’s office agreed with HISD and said:

“The fact that HISD is in possession of information that is confidential under (federal law) does not in and of itself protect the information from disclosure under (state law), as those federal statutes pertain to disclosure of information held by a federal agency. However, if an agency of the federal government shares its information with a Texas governmental entity, the Texas entity must withhold the information that the federal agency determines to be confidential under federal law. …

“In addition, HISD has demonstrated a compelling reason to withhold the Requested Information by showing the same is made confidential by another source of law, thereby permitting HISD to withhold the Requested Information.”

At Texas Watchdog, we believe the names of the three HISD employees involved should be released.

The actions of these three HISD employees have resulted in unnecessary cost for the Houston Independent School District, so much so that the district fired them. Funding under the E-Rate technology program was frozen, causing the district to lose $105 million in federal funding.

E-Rate is a federally funded program that brings cut-rate telecommunications services to public schools, nonprofit private schools and libraries.

The Federal Communications Commission filed a lawsuit against the district in 2006. More than three years later, the district paid $850,000 to settle the suit with the FCC.

A subsequent compliance agreement required HISD to hire an E-Rate compliance officer, who makes $150,000. HISD hired Richard Patton in February using a headhunting firm that reportedly charged $67,200.
Patton has spent hours training employees and board members on stricter ethics rules to avoid a repeat of the earlier problems. He recommends HISD spend an additional $10,000 a year on monitoring software.

The fallout has been somewhat dizzying. But after the almost million-dollar settlement, costly staff additions and the need to purchase additional resources, the law is apparently not on the side of knowing whose actions may have triggered all this.
Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or 713-228-2850.

Photo of Keep Out by flickr user Leo Reynolds, used via a Creative Commons license.