Tom Perumean/Houston Public Media
Hundreds of parents of Houston ISD students in and around the Meyerland area protested Monday morning along the perimeter of the Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School. With shouts of “Mike Miles has got to go,” they demonstrated in response to widespread staff reductions tied to a budget shortfall and also performance-based terminations of well-liked teachers and principals.
Miles, who is completing his first year as HISD’s state-appointed superintendent, last week revealed sweeping job cuts across the district, claiming the need to close an anticipated budget deficit of $450 million for the 2024-25 school year. The protestors might have been even more upset about the treatment of campus principal Auben Sarabia, who last year was named Middle School Principal of the Year in HISD. The school’s parents say he was given an ultimatum: resign or be terminated.
Amanda Sorena, a former president of the parent-teacher organization at Meyerland PVA Middle School, was among the protest organizers and said she is furious with the way Sarabia is being treated by district leadership.
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“When the list came out right before Spring Break of principals ‘who needed improvement,’ and it was over half the district, including a lot of A-rated schools, including principals of the year, including our school, that’s a huge problem and a huge red flag,” Sorena said. “How can you deem that half of our schools are ineffective?”
In an emailed statement Monday, HISD did not address how many teachers and principals across the district are being replaced for performance reasons. Changing how educators are evaluated is among the many reforms being implemented under Miles, who was appointed as HISD superintendent by the Texas Education Agency, which also replaced HISD’s elected trustees with a state-appointed board of members because of mismanagement and alleged illegal activity by previous board members and also because Wheatley High School had a string of failing academic ratings from the state.
Tom Perumean/Houston Public Media
Dozens of HISD schools are aligned with Miles’ New Education System (NES), which entails pre-made lesson plans for teachers and a greater emphasis on testing-based performance evaluations for students, among other changes. More schools are expected to join the NES model next year.
“Principals are not being asked to resign because of budget cuts,” Sorena said. “I think what they want is for principals that are coming out of their principal academy who are not going to question Miles, who are not going to question NES policies, they’re not going to fight back about the things that he’s doing in the district that are harming our children and our schools.”
Regarding a district-wide reduction in force that has been ongoing since January and is impacting departments and schools across HISD, the district reiterated Monday it “will keep cuts as far away from students and classrooms as possible and will continue to invest in our teachers and leaders.” But teaching positions figure to be impacted as HISD’s board of managers last Thursday authorized the potential elimination of teachers in a range of subjects at a range of grade levels, including math, reading, science, social studies and fine arts.
HISD said it could not yet comment on the specific employees or positions being impacted by the overall reduction in force, adding that employees whose jobs are eliminated will have the opportunity to pursue other roles in the district.
“The staffing decisions being made by HISD will allow us to allocate the district’s limited resources in ways that will help ensure all students receive high-quality instruction every day,” HISD said.
Monday’s protest featured a cross section of parents from HISD schools who were on hand to voice their concerns with the district generally and Miles more specifically.
“There were representatives, not just from Meyerland,” Sorena said. “There were a bunch of area schools, because we are not the only ones that are seeing that these policies have expanded beyond the NES. We are a non-NES school and we are seeing the devastating effects that Mike Miles is having on our school district.”