District court thwarts bid to remove Houston ISD board

An effort to remove the Houston ISD School Board was overruled in district court, a result that drew the approval of the Houston Federation of Teachers (HFT) which represents the district’s educators.

The district has been on the radar of state education officials based on its poor results. This year the district has been under the microscope to show improvement while doing its best to work around the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Houston Chronicle reported Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath failed to follow proper procedures to remove the board, a state appellate court ruled by a 2-1 vote.

“We are pleased the justices believe this type of public policy must be reviewed and scrutinized considering the high stakes of removing locally-elected school board members,” Zeph Capo, Texas American Federation of Teacher (AFT) president said, Texas AFT reported in a press release. “Such grave decisions shouldn’t be made lightly and need to be considered from every possible angle to make sure the process is justified and fair.”

Morath began to take steps to remove the board in November based on a number of factors that included misconduct among trustees, consistently low performing results at Wheatley High School and the continued presence of the state’s appointed conservator. The Houston Chronicle reported despite the setback in court, the Texas Education Agency plans on appealing the ruling in the Supreme Court.

The union believes the timing is not conducive to turning the district in the right direction based on the challenges associated with the pandemic.

“We are in the midst of the greatest health pandemic in 100 years,” HFT President Jackie Anderson said, the press release reported. ”Keeping staff and students safe should be our one priority at this time. Abbott, Morath and the Houston ISD School Board should continue this game of thrones later. Right now, all parties need to focus on controlling this virus and getting vaccines to our educators.”