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Houston ISD board meeting, date not confirmed yet

3 h 44 min · 28 public speakers

Discussed school closures

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 3 h 44 min.

  1. Who spoke · first speaks at
  5. Ric CampoPresident
What happened

What happened at this meeting

Houston ISD board declares school properties surplus, authorizes start of sales procedures 3:41:42

  • Speakers at public comment raised concerns about the special education campus consolidation and the proposed sale of closed school properties. 15:54
  • The superintendent presented a report on the start of the school year and three years of results, followed by a researcher's presentation of NWEA assessment data comparing the district with other large urban districts. 1:07:58
  • After closed session, the board voted to declare a list of school sites and facilities surplus and authorize the superintendent or designee to start sales procedures. 3:41:42
  • The board also approved the personnel agenda and the superintendent's 25⁠-⁠26 evaluation with incentive compensation. 3:43:14
Item by item (14)
  1. Opening and welcome of new member 0:04
    • Ric Campo convened the meeting at 5:03 PM and said a quorum of board members was present. 0:04
    • A cadet led the Pledge of Allegiance and the pledge to the Texas flag. 0:04
    • Ric Campo welcomed Karen Duffy as a new board member and thanked Karen Duffy's predecessor on the board for 3 years of service. 2:34
  2. Recognitions of first-day staff 6:59
    • A district deputy chief recognized employees who prepared for the first day of school, including school nurses, the facilities maintenance operations team, bus drivers, crossing guards and the nutrition services team. 6:59
    • The district showed a first day of school video. 8:05
  3. Public comment from public officials 14:18
    • Ric Campo said 62 speakers had registered and would be limited to 1 minute each per board policy. 15:05
    • A speaker asked the board to hold a public hearing before Cage Elementary is listed or declared surplus, and another read a letter asking the board to pause the special education campus consolidation for the 2026⁠-⁠2027 school year. 15:54
    • Another speaker asked the board to reconsider placing the closed campuses into a surplus category. 27:39
  4. Public comment from students and parents 34:02
    • A speaker said the speaker's school is one of 33 schools in the district that no longer has free lunch for everybody. 36:06
    • A speaker said a child's schedule still did not match the child's IEP 4 days into school. 44:07
    • Another speaker said a new transportation hub model put a child's drop-off location 3 miles from home. 1:02:56
  5. Board member reports 1:03:56
    • Marty Goossen reported attending a back-to-school resource fair at Del Mar and estimated 1,200 or 1,400 families were served over 3 hours. 1:04:17
    • Karen Duffy thanked fellow board members and the administrative team for a warm welcome. 1:07:28
  6. Superintendent's report 1:07:58
    • The superintendent said 3,000 of 5,000 students in self-contained classrooms were moved and 1,600 had their location changed, not their IEP. 1:07:58
    • The superintendent said the district had 5 vacancies out of 9,600 positions at the start of the school year. 1:09:42
    • The superintendent said A and B rated schools rose from 93 in 2023 to 205 today and D and F campuses fell from 120 to 13. 1:20:30
  7. NWEA assessment data presentation 1:52:46
    • A researcher compared district results with a group of 1,700 schools across 22 large urban districts and said the median district 8th grader reached the 61st percentile nationally in math, compared with the 38th percentile in the other urban districts. 1:55:20
    • Marcos Rosales asked how to reconcile those percentiles with 53% of higher performing groups meeting or exceeding grade-level expectations. 2:17:37
    • The researcher said national norms show achievement has fallen in every subject nationally since before the pandemic. 2:19:23
  8. Facilities usage committee update 2:26:35
    • A district staff member said the board approved the closure of 12 facilities at the end of the 2025⁠-⁠26 school year and that legacy events were held at 10 of the closing schools. 2:27:53
    • The staff member said the committee had approximately 20 members, 7 to 8 of them internal. 2:34:10
    • The staff member said declaring a property surplus means the district has no continued educational need for it, and options include a long-term lease with a community partner. 2:35:32
  9. Goals 1 and 2 progress monitoring 2:36:14
    • A district staff member said 3rd grade students met the reading target of 49%, a 5 percentage point increase from last year. 2:37:49
    • A district staff member said 53% of 3rd graders met expected growth on the math NWEA MAP, short of the 55% target. 2:48:56
    • A staff member described a pre-teach course that reviews prior-grade skills just before grade-level math lessons. 2:55:24
  10. Second round of public comment 2:58:38
    • A speaker questioned the methodology of a district parent survey, citing a 26% district-wide response rate. 2:59:05
    • A speaker asked the board to let the Independent Heights community determine what Burrus Elementary can become. 3:06:59
    • Another speaker said NWEA scores in the district reflect differences in testing environment. 3:16:45
  11. Monitoring update and consent agenda 3:32:11
    • Ric Campo pulled items 15 and 16 from the consent agenda, covering Head Start pre-kindergarten partnerships and interlocal agreements with Texas public institutions of higher education. 3:33:19
    • The board monitoring update passed, item 15 passed with one abstention, item 16 passed with 2 abstentions and the remainder of the agenda passed. 3:32:11
  12. Broker-dealer list reconsideration 3:35:17
    • The board recessed to closed session at 8:41 PM and reconvened at 10:21 PM, when Ric Campo said a board member wanted to abstain from the item 4 vote. 3:35:17
    • The board reconsidered the vote on item 4, a resolution approving a revised list of approved broker-dealers. 3:38:58
    • Ric Campo announced the motion passed. 3:40:17
  13. Personnel agenda 3:40:35
    • Ric Campo announced the motion passed. 3:41:24
  14. Surplus property declaration 3:41:42
    • A motion asked the board to declare sites including Burris, Cage, Briscoe and Port Houston elementary schools surplus and authorize the superintendent or designee to initiate sales procedures, effective August 14th, 2026. 3:41:42
    • Ric Campo announced the motion passed. 3:42:15

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

Other meetings

Other meetings of this board

Video: posted by the district as “School Board on 2026-08-13 5:00 PM - Regular Meeting”