CITY& SCHOOLS
News from Houston ISD & the city of Houston
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS HOUSTON During a March 30 meeting, Houston City Council unanimously approved an ordinance banning the use of electronic smoking devices in places where cigarette smoking is already prohibited, including in enclosed public places and within 25 feet of a building’s entrance or exit doors. HOUSTON ISD At an April 14 meeting, the Houston ISD board of trustees approved a motion to begin the process of redrawing the boundary lines for its nine trustee districts based on 2020 Census data. As required by state law, districts must be reconfigured so they are relatively equal in terms of population. New boundaries must be approved in time for the board’s next election in November 2023. HOUSTON Members of the Houston City Council are hosting redistricting town hall meetings within their districts throughout May. Learn more at www.letstalk houston.org/redistricting. HOUSTON Officials with the Emancipation Park Conservancy Board and the city of Houston will commemorate the park’s 150-year anniversary with a June 18-19 Juneteenth celebration. The free event will include performances from musical artists such as Earnest Pugh, Zacardi Cortez, Pastor Mike Jr., The Isley Brothers, Kool and the Gang, Frankie Beverly and Maze. Houston City Council will meet at 1:30 p.m. May 3 for public comment and 9 a.m. May 4 for regular business at 901 Bagby St., Houston. Meetings are streamed at www.houstontx.gov/htv. Houston ISD board of trustees will next meet for its regular meeting at 5 p.m. May 12 at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St., Houston. Meetings are streamed live at www.houstonisd.org/livetv. MEETINGSWE COVER
Houston approves paid parental leave
HISDdrops proposed ‘hybrid’ funding model following board pushback
BY SHAWN ARRAJJ
BY SOFIA GONZALEZ
counselor or social worker, and a nurse or nurse assistant. Additional funding will be distributed to campuses using the existing per unit allocation formula. formula based on student attendance, demographics • More equitable distribution of Title I funds and coronavirus relief money • Required baseline positions decreased to three total SOURCE: HOUSTON ISD/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER UPDATEDPLAN MA R C H P RO P O S A L • All schools required to staff 12+ baseline positions • Certain materials and services funded from the central office • Principals fill remaining holes using discretionary funds A P R I L C OMP ROM I S E • Allocations made using existing
HOUSTON ISD In ongoing discussions over how Houston ISD will fund schools for the 2022-23 school year, Superintendent Mil- lard House II walked back an earlier proposal following pushback from some members of the district’s board of trustees April 7. As part of a proposed strategic plan, House previously pushed for a shift from the district’s decentralized funding model to a model in which each school would have been required to staff specific positions; certain materials and services would have been funded from the central office; and prin- cipals would have filled remaining holes using discretionary funds. In a compromise offered April 7, the number of required baseline positions was lowered to three—a librarian or media specialist, a
HOUSTON In what Mayor Sylvester Turner called a historic vote April 13, Houston City Council unanimously passed an ordinance allowing paid parental leave for city employees. Pregnant city workers will be allowed paid prenatal leave for prena- tal wellness appointments or other absences; paid parental leave for both genders for care of a child after birth; bonding with a child in placement of a city employee for adoption or foster care within the first year after child birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care; and infant wellness leave for examinations, physicals or other checkups. The prenatal leave is a maximum of 160 hours over a 12-month period, while parental leave is 320 hours. The ordinance begins May 14 for full-time city employees with six months or more of continuous service.
Security cameras, lighting now required for some businesses
Affected business types
• nightclubs • sexually oriented businesses
• bars • game rooms • convenience stores
SOURCE: CITY OF HOUSTON/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
BY SOFIA GONZALEZ
HOUSTON Houston City Council approved an ordinance in a 15-1 vote April 20 that requires certain businesses to have extra security measures in place. The ordinance is tied to Mayor Sylvester Turner’s One Safe Houston initiative, which features a batch of concepts meant to lower crime rates in the city. “I think it’s important for us to send a clear message to people out there,” Turner said. “If you’re hellbent on committing crimes, we are going to be out here shining a
light on you to get you off the street so you’re not victimiz- ing people out here.” Businesses have 90 days to install the cameras—which must cover from the exterior of a business to its prop- erty line—and the lights, which must be bright enough to illuminate a 6-square-foot surface. Once installed, operators must keep video for 30 days and turn it over to the Houston Police Department within 72 hours if HPD has a warrant.
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