After the Houston Chronicle published a list of almost 120 HISD principals who received an email warning of their potential removalstudents and parents from some of the district’s top-achieving schools have more questions than answers.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me why our school would be less-than-proficient or why our principal would be less-than-proficient because our school is running very smoothly,” said Comfort Azagidi, a senior at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Houston Public Media has been unable to independently verify the Chronicle’s list of 117 principals, which the newspaper took down on Friday, pointing to “a tip that the district may have included someone erroneously in its distribution.” Miles told principals the district “asked the Chronicle to take the names down or face legal action from us.” The list remains publicly available because community members screenshotted and posted it to social media.
Read more: Houston ISD warns 120 principals to improve performance, suggests possible legal action against Houston Chronicle over leak publication
Despite the uncertainty and subsequent removal from the list, Azagidi praised the initial publication.
“I think it’s very important to be transparent, especially in a time of change when nobody really knows what’s going on,” they said. “Props to that journalist who released that list. The moment I heard, I was searching up and down seeing who was on that list, because for a lot of people, it just doesn’t make sense.”
In an email to HISD employees on Friday, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles described the Houston Chronicle’s list as “illegally obtained.” On Sunday, he walked back that description to “incorrect and legally protected information.”
“On a personal note, I respect the job of the press to inform the public discourse, but I cannot stay quiet given this egregious violation of our employees’ rights,” Miles said in a message to news outlets on Friday. “It is irresponsible and unethical, and the HISD community and the Chronicle’s readers deserve better.”
Before the start of the school year, Azagidi performed with Miles in a musical performance about school reform. They played the role of a reporter who accused Miles of hating children and asked bad-faith questions about the removal of playgrounds — an apparent reference to Miles’ conversion of some campus libraries into “Team Centers.” After the performance, Azagidi expressed regretcalling the performance a “propaganda play.”
This week, Miles continued to downplay the potential for high turnover over the next few months. He said he expects “the overwhelming majority of our instructional team … to meet or exceed our expectations by the time school ends in June.”
A mid-season win-loss record does not describe the entire season and rarely predicts whether the coach will have a winning record. Principals and the District leadership are committed to doing what we do best – continuously improving the quality of instruction.
— Mike Miles (@HISDSupe) March 12, 2024
Carnegie Vanguard High School was also on the list. US News & World Reports ranks it as the top high school in the Houston-metro area, the fifth best high school in Texas and the 35th in the country. Principal Ramon Moss has been at the helm for two decades, and parents are in the midst of planning a 20-year celebration for later this school year.
Claudia Molina is the parent of a Carnegie sophomore.
“We are confused because we don’t understand where it’s coming from,” Molina said. “In the nation, this is a very high-achieving school. And why is it high achieving? Because we have the best teachers. And why do we have the best teachers? Because we have the best leadership. It all comes from the top . So, we’re outraged that (the principal) would be deemed underperforming when he was the leader of the top-rated school.”
She also praised the Chronicle’s initial publication of the list.
“Superintendent Miles is a public servant,” he said. “He is supposed to serve the public, like me, like all the parents at HISD schools. Public servants must be held to account, and we must see how they operate because these are our taxpayer dollars that are paying his salary and funding his programs and his initiatives.”
“We have to know,” she continued. “He’s not entitled to privacy here. These are our children.”
Houston ISD parent Jessica Campos has already gone through one principal change since Miles took office. Her fifth-grade daughter attends Pugh Elementary, where a new principal took over from the previous leader who spoke Spanish and was well-liked by Campos and other parents. Since then, the group has been vocally opposed to the changes at their school and across the district.
On Friday, Campos discovered her other daughter’s principal on the Chronicle’s list — the campus leader of DeBakey High School for Health Professions, who fell just behind Carnegie in the US News & World Reports rankings as the number two school in the Houston-metro area.
“I was very surprised to see that our DeBakey principal was on that list,” Campos said. “I feel like he’s done some great things for our school.”
Her daughter, Analiah Espinoza, is in her first year at DeBakey.
“DeBakey is such a rigorous school, and students are often, like, mentally drained or just drained of joy in general,” Espinoza said. “(The principal) always makes sure that we don’t have to suffer more than we already are in that school. You know what I mean? He gives us opportunities to actually just be kids and enjoy our time at DeBakey rather than just being engulfed in work constantly.”
Miles’ principal evaluation system is new to Houston ISD. The state-appointed management board approved it in October. It relies heavily on test scores and classroom spot observations, and campus leaders’ salaries will be based on their ratings starting next year.
Critics have raised myriad concerns about the hard-to-discern metrics and forced distribution. Multiple principals said they still don’t fully understand how the system works.
After the principals received their results, Miles told us “This is what raising expectations looks like.”
According to documents and emails obtained by Houston Public Media last week, the approximately 120 principals who fell short of proficiency will face additional instructional screenings in April. Based on those results and, in some cases, the discretion of their bosses, campus leaders will either keep their jobs or be forced out. They’ll find out on May 1.
Miles told principals last week the district wants 25% of Houston ISD principals — approximately 70 campus leaders — to be “new to HISD or Academy Graduates” starting next school year.