More From HPISD: A Quick Roundup
If you ask me, HPISD trustees’ regular meeting on Tuesday had enough talk-worthy tidbits to warrant a list — one I’m still sifting through. Here are a few highlights:
– Talks are well underway for a cafeteria expansion at the middle/intermediate school, and a plan will likely be in order by March. Estimated cost: $2.7 or $2.8 million, depending on ceiling height and other factors that could preclude, or allow for, second-story classroom space. In any case, the playground is going to shrink somewhat. And the student body isn’t.
– HPISD (TEA rating: exemplary) signed a memorandum Tuesday that makes a nod to Robert Scott, Texas Commissioner of Education, and slams some of the consequences of high-stakes standardized testing; a system wherein the state “makes no other judgment on any other work of the school,”as Superintendent Dawson Orr puts it. I’ll keep you posted.
– Board president Leslie Melson and vice president James Hitzelberger will run for reelection in May.
– And beloved drama teacher Linda Raya, whose tenure with HPISD began in the early ’70s, will soon have a scholarship in her name.
Thoughts?
That’s an expensive expansion. How big is it? Will plans be posted for community review?
What have you heard about a movement to object to the standardized testing on moral grounds? You can get a waiver for your kids on this basis. What grades does this objection apply to?
The article says the “playground is going to shrink somewhat”. This is my 8th year of having kids on that campus and there is no playground or anything even close. There’s a small area outside the cafeteria, big enough to hold about 3 lunch tables (which are already there). Are lunch tables playground equipment now? We have 4-8 fields on the south side, but there’s no playground. The kids don’t have to have slides and swings, but a little room for the 5th and 6th graders to play tag would be great.
Agree, Penny. With a wonderful climate like we have, outdoor seating for lunch is a great asset. Don’t take it away!!! Improve it, maybe.
“Talks are well underway for a cafeteria expansion at the middle/intermediate school, and a plan will likely be in order by March. Estimated cost: $2.7 or $2.8 million, depending on ceiling height and other factors that could preclude, or allow for, second-story classroom space. In any case, the playground is going to shrink somewhat. And the student body isn’t.”
Forward to tonight’s Oct 2012 board meeting: are they going to share these plans with the public or is it secret? I hear it was approved to draw schematics tonight but why is it being approved without tax payer user input? No drawings were on the agenda packet.
Eliminating all outdoor seating is a mistake. You can never get green space back – Please fill us in.