Three years into the Texas Education Agency’s takeover of Houston ISD, parents and community members have continued to voice concerns against the state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles and the board of managers’ measures.
In April, in yet another protest against the takeover, organized by the Community Voices for Public Education, students and parents gathered outside Miles’ home and read books.
Credit: Tannistha Sinha/Defender
For six hours straight, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., participants took turns reading children’s and middle and high school titles in five-minute segments, highlighting what they called “real stories” over a school system increasingly built around screens and scripted lessons.
The read-in was a direct response to years of mounting frustrations with Miles’ New Education System (NES), a sweeping overhaul of HISD that parents say has compromised the time students spent in libraries.
Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, HISD eliminated librarian positions at more than two dozen schools, repurposing some of those library spaces as Team Centers, rooms where students removed from class for disciplinary reasons watch lessons virtually or work on their assignments individually.
The school district now has 23 librarians for its 274 schools.
Concerns from parents and community
Some students spoke against academic pressure in NES schools.
“They say this takeover is about improving outcomes, but taking me out of Algebra 2 just to make the ratings better and putting me in a more remedial TSI prep class didn’t help me,” said HISD NES student Aubrie Barr. “I was ready to learn higher-level math.”
Parents raised alarms about what’s coming next.
Sim Kern, a parent of a third-grader, described watching her child’s school deteriorate from a B rating to a D, cycling through four principals in recent years, “who seem to get worse and worse at communicating with parents,” and will now absorb another campus to balance declining enrollment numbers. The parent is now also bracing for the school to become an NES campus.
“Four years ago, it was a B-rated school. The principal was beloved by the community,” Kern said. “The teachers had all been there for a long time. It was just a fantastic community, and he has systematically destroyed every good thing about this school over the past three years. At this point, pretty much every teacher has left. Our principal was forced out.”
Kern also expressed concern about the school district’s shift to AI-driven learning.
Letitia Plummer, a graduate of HISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions and a vocal critic of the district’s direction, also participated in the reading protest.
“I still am worried about year 2035 competencies. The workplace is changing, and we have to think not only do we have to read write and doing math. That’s job number one. But there’s a job number two, and that is to get students ready for year 2035.
Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles
“Reading allows you to see a world without actually physically living it,” Plummer said.
She connected the loss of library access to a broader pattern of disinvestment in communities of color.
“What Mike Miles has done to our education system is deplorable,” she said. “Twelve schools have now closed. We’re seeing these happen in Black and Brown communities. If we don’t create some level of education value and support for our young people, then we’re not going to have a future workforce.”
Miles answers parents in live Q&A
Parents also took their concerns and questions to a live Q&A session hosted by HISD, during which Miles outlined the district’s progress and priorities, including a focus on academic gains and a shift to “Future 2 schools.”
Miles said the district has made significant academic improvements, particularly in reading and math, attributing gains to a focus on instruction and the “science of reading.” He pointed to increases in A- and B-rated schools and the elimination of failing campuses as key indicators of progress in the TEA accountability ratings.
At the same time, he emphasized that HISD must better prepare students for a rapidly changing workforce. Beyond core academics, the district is prioritizing skills like critical thinking and working with AI.
“I still am worried about year 2035 competencies,” Miles said. “The workplace is changing, and we have to think not only do we have to read write and doing math. That’s job number one. But there’s a job number two, and that is to get students ready for year 2035.
“That means they need different skills like problem solving and decision making, leadership, working in teams, learning how to learn, growing their perspective, working with AI, working with other tools…critical thinking, information literacy. So many skills that um now in HISD we’re teaching some of them, but we got to do more.”
He said the “Future 2” model reflects the direction HISD wants to take.
In these schools, for grades 3-8, the school day runs from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with campuses opening from 6:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Some required learning experiences can occur after school, on weekends, or outside the school building, per HISD.
Mornings will focus on core academics, while afternoons will emphasize hands-on learning and group projects. AI will be introduced, with limited screen time and continued emphasis on teacher-led instruction, Miles said.
He also stressed that early literacy remains the top priority, particularly ensuring students read at grade level by third grade. The district plans to expand targeted interventions, especially for struggling readers, including intensive phonics-based support.
“It’s an adaptive model that helps kids with their individual uh need, or you know where they’re struggling,” Miles said.
To questions about testing and students learning more than “just passing exams,” Miles said that is “poor characterization” and that frequent assessments are being used to identify learning gaps, not just to assign grades.
On staffing, Miles said the district prioritizes teacher effectiveness over certification status, noting efforts to retain high-performing teachers and train new hires quickly amid a statewide teacher shortage.
The conversation also touched on school closures, which Miles said are driven by long-term enrollment declines and underutilized campuses.
