Students at dozens of Houston ISD schools will return in a few weeks without librarians and to former libraries that have been converted into disciplinary spaces.
This news makes me want to throw up. This country is descending further and further into the dark ages every day.
I have to stop doomscrolling.
It helps to reminder that at every turn fascism faces opposition. It’s an unnatural and despicable trend seeding its own destruction.
People fought this, people will fight to reverse it, folks will make sure books get to kids. If you’re in the area, it could be you.
Mike Miles, the new state-appointed superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, started his tenure in a manner eerily similar to how he ended his embattled time in charge of Dallas Independent School District: with everyone asking where he was.
During the first Houston ISD school board meeting led by the board of managers that the Texas Education Agency appointed as part of the state’s recent takeover of the district, many community members were upset they didn’t see Miles until he came in the very end. Eight years ago, after a tumultuous three years as superintendent of the Dallas ISD, Miles didn’t show up to his last board meeting.
Already, the manner in which Miles has begun his new position in Houston is drawing comparisons with his short-lived stint in Dallas. Within a week of being appointed to lead Houston ISD, the largest school district in Texas, Miles announced an overhaul of certain campuses and a new program that will pay teachers more to work with students struggling academically, steps that resemble his approach during his last superintendent gig.
But while his management methods laid the foundation for some future success in Dallas ISD, they also left behind various scandals, caused veteran educators to leave the district and ultimately scores remained largely flat on state’s standardized test.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/21/mike-miles-houston-isd-dallas-tea-takeover/
Liberals of Texas, I feel for you. The right wing is going to get worse and worse. It doesn’t even matter why.
For context, a state superintendent was brought in to intervene because Houston ISD was doing so poorly that dozens of its schools were failing.
And the logical reaction to kids not passing classes is to… remove the libraries…?
I’m just providing context. There isn’t a state-appointed superintendent for some random reason, it’s because the last one was greatly underperforming.
Am I misreading this? Schools without libraries?
Schools where the libraries are now “detention”, yes.
Former library spaces at some schools will be converted into rooms where students who misbehave will be relocated to watch lessons virtually, work alone, or in groups with differentiated lessons. Books will remain on shelves and students will still be able to borrow books on a honor code system.
But it actually gets worse:
“It’s sending an entirely wrong message. Five years from now, that student who was sent to the Zoom Room (former name for Team Center) in the library, may associate reading and libraries with a punishment,” said [Deborah] Hall.
Imagine if going to detention meant being surrounded by books: You’d grow up to hate books.
Texas, the one star (out of five) state. Gunning for Florida’s ‘fascist champion’ title.
We’re really becoming a country of have and have-nots. Access to healthcare, access to information, access to opportunities, quality education….all of these things are being dismantled unequally across the country. To the point, I guess now…where some kids will have libraries and some kids will have jails. Some kids will get second chances when they make mistakes, and some will be hungry all day because, while all life is sacred, also “no handouts”…etc…just makes me sad. In a couple decades we will have a ton of people coming of age who grew up being taught alternative or watered down facts. I just wonder what we (those privileged to escape or have access to opportunity) do to help the innocent victims of this, how we can help rehabilitate and deprogram an increasingly large proportion of the country which is being intentionally damaged.
LoL… Texas…
They probably get to save money because detention areas need not be air conditioned in Texas.
