Lynn Walsh

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Video: Houston ISD trustees approve magnet school plan following intense debate
Fri Apr 9 18:03:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

The $12 million federal grant proposal for five magnet programs at Houston ISD schools is moving forward.

The Houston Independent School District trustees voted to submit the magnet school application to the federal government Thursday at their board meeting. But before the vote there was more than an hour of deliberation, a change in the proposal, lots of clarification and comments from parents angry about the plan.

The big issue: Turning Garden Oaks Elementary school into a complete Montessori magnet school. Currently the school uses a school-within-a-school model; students are either enrolled in the Montessori program or a traditional program. Parents on either side of the issue took to the mic Thursday night voicing their support or distaste with the plan.

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier apologized for how the district handled the federal application process. “Communication could have been clearer,” Grier said. Grier’s complete apology can be viewed in the clip below.

Most of the night was spent clarifying the proposals. Trustee Carol Galloway asked Grier about community involvement in crafting the magnet school plans, a question that was met with silence.

A worker in the superintendent’s office explained that there were parents involved in the planning process, and told the trustees that officials had met with them many times.

Trustee Larry Marshall has called the proposal “overly ambitious” and warned fellow trustees against getting too involved with the federal government.

Thursday night, Marshall suggested an alternative: splitting the grant proposal into two separate board votes, one for Garden Oaks and another for the other four schools involved, Jones, Fondren, Whidby and Dodson. Watch the alternative Marshall suggested in the clip below.

In the end, both measured passed, but Marshall, Galloway and Rodriguez voted against including Garden Oaks.

Also reporting:
Houston Chronicle
Houston Press

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Video: Houston ISD officials discuss how to fund $28 million summer school program
Tue Apr 6 18:25:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Budget officials at Houston ISD are working to find millions of dollars to fund districtwide summer school programs.

Summer school costs for the Houston Independent School District cost around $28 million a year, HISD Chief Financial Officer Melinda Garrett said.

A majority of the funding for the summer academic programs comes from Title I funds, federal funding aimed at boosting achievement among poor students. Title I funds are redirected to school districts from the state of Texas.

But this year, HISD is only expecting $100,000 in Title I funds from the state, Garrett said. Traditionally HISD received $10 million to $12 million.

Why the drastic difference? Garrett said she wasn’t sure during a Monday meeting with school trustees.

“Between now and Thursday we will have to find out some information” from state education officials, Garrett said.

The 2010 summer school budget is on the on the agenda for Thursday’s board meeting. The school district’s overall budget in the 2010 fiscal year is $1.5 billion, and trustees are set to vote on next year’s budget in June.

Garrett said she is contacting the Texas Education Agency office to find out why the funding has been reduced this year.

“We will have to modify the budget if we can’t find the $20 some million,” Deputy Chief Academic Officer Charles Morris said.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Houston ISD school administrator named in Key misspending report says she did nothing wrong; view response/retirement letter here
Wed Mar 31 20:41:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

A school administrator named in an investigation report into misspending at Key Middle School said in a letter she is retiring from HISD, effective March 31.

Dolores Westmoreland, who is listed in an HISD employee database as an assistant principal at Kashmere High School, submitted her notice within a response letter dated March 22 to the Houston Independent School District. At a meeting with news reporters Tuesday morning Superintendent Terry Grier said Westmoreland was resigning.

In the response letter Westmoreland said she did not violate any laws: “I violated no law of the State of Texas or any policy or procedures of the Houston Independent School District.”

An internal investigation done by a private firm for the school district found that Westmoreland failed to make sure testing guidelines were followed during administration of the TAKS standardized test, and misused an HISD-issued credit card known as a procard. The investigation report said Westmoreland used another employee’s procard at Wal-Mart between December 2007 and January 2008, signing her own name on the receipts.

“I did sign my name on the charge slip, because I was told this was the protocol at Key,” Westmoreland said in her response letter.

She also said she never made several of the purchases referenced in the investigation report:

When I had a card issued in my name in 2008-2009, it was kept in [administrator Peggy Collins'] office. I noticed that there are charges on there for food and other things in the documents. I did not make those purchases myself. The two main vendors that I used for the Procard were Office Depot and Wal-Mart.

The investigation report names Collins as one of three people involved in the “gross mismanagement and abuse of authority by Key administration.” Peggy L. Collins is listed as a school business manager at Key in a database of HISD worker salaries Texas Watchdog acquired from the school district earlier this year.

Westmoreland also said no testing procedures were breached.

Another employee named in the investigation, former Key Principal Mable Caleb, had submitted a March 22 letter of retirement, to begin Aug. 31.

The investigation at Key Middle School began after HISD received an anonymous tip suggesting officials look at surveillance video from Key and Kashmere High. The video showed several people removing computers and other equipment out of one school and into the other. The private investigation conducted by the law firm Martin Disiere Jefferson & Wisdom found multiple examples of price gouging of snacks for students, unauthorized fundraisers aimed at students, and thousands of dollars of missing equipment.