Houston ISD Board Acknowledges Shortcomings In Community Engagement Efforts

Houston ISD’s state-appointed school board acknowledged to fail in community engagement, as it rated itself with the lowest grade possible in a self evaluation of the measure for “advocacy and engagement.”

According to records obtained by the Houston Landing, HISD’s board in September went through a process of self-evaluation, where it awarded itself just 1 out of 10 points in its annual evaluation of community engagement. Members argued the board failed to meet several benchmarks last year, such as hosting community meetings across high school feeder patterns and hosting training sessions about board procedures for students.

While the low evaluation does not require disciplinary processes, board members have acknowledged they need to improve in their community engagement efforts.

“It is an acknowledgement that we need to do better,” Board Member Cassandra Auzenne Bandy said.

This grade comes as Houston residents decided to vote against HISD’s $4.4 billion bond package, the largest in Texas history. Residents criticized the state-appointed board, arguing it failed to be transparent and inefficient.

HISD’s board expects to improve following a “Community Engagement Action Plan,” approved in May. This plan suggests members hold meetings with small groups of community stakeholders, focusing on student data. Bandy told the Houston Landing that the board has completed 25 of those meetings since May.

With the new plan, the board seeks to hear different opinions that the ones they hear during board meetings, which are often critical.

“The problem we’re trying to solve with our new community engagement strategy is, ‘How do we do better?’” Bandy said. “It’s not going to be sitting in a room and getting yelled at, or exchanging emails back and forth with someone that’s angry, just for them to post on Facebook.”

In addition to community engagement, it also graded itself on teamwork and goal setting processes. The board rated itself lower on “synergy and teamwork,” and higher in goal-setting processes.

Bandy said she hopes HISD will have productive dialogue with the plan.

“Had the same level of engagement been around just five years ago, would we even be under intervention?” Bandy said. “I would like to see that community engagement energy be put at solving problems and finding solutions and coming together at the table to come up with something.”