Second HISD bullying survey focuses on one school

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There are teachers claiming they're being bullied by principals and other adults in HISD. We first told you about the report last month, and a new more in-depth survey is out about bullying.

Three weeks ago, we reported on a survey that revealed a majority of HISD teachers claimed to be the victims of bullying by their administrators. Well, this new one paints an equally bothersome picture for some educators who think teachers deserve better.

After our initial report, in which the teachers union told us than a staggering number of teachers felt intimidated by their bosses, we were given the results of a lesser-known survey that focused on a single campus, where some teachers say the morale is poor and it's the students who ultimately suffer.

Stacey Magginson taught science at Woodson Middle School for just five months.

"The stress level, going to work -- after a while, I just didn't want to go. You lose your passion," Magginson said.

He says the administrators would yell at students and at teachers.

"You'll hear the yelling a lot of times during the faculty meetings that we have in reference to the scores of students, certain things we needed to work on," Magginson said.

"Are they bullies?" we asked him.

"To me, no, but the type of language or the tone, I couldn't deal with it, so I tried to avoid those particular individuals," he said.

Magginson says he left the K-8 school in January after being reprimanded, and when this year is over, he won't be renewed.

But he's one of several past and current teachers at Woodson who've complained to Eyewitness News about treatment by administrators. And we obtained a copy of an internal survey, in which 36 teachers participated.

And while 58 percent did say they were eager or excited to go to work, 32 percent were resistant or gloomy and 48 percent said morale was depressing or declining. Not one said it was motivating, and when asked if they feel valued, 45 percent said rarely or never.

We reached out to the HISD administration and asked to do an on-camera interview with the superintendent. Through a spokesperson, he declined that. But we did get a statement from HISD that told us it was the principal who initiated that climate survey at Woodson. And that as a result of that survey, she's taken several actions, including having leadership training for the team at her school.

The statement also read, "The Woodson principal's use of the school climate survey shows her to be a leader who genuinely cares about her teachers' opinions and takes appropriate action to address their concerns. Campus principals are the key to the Houston Independent School District's effort to place a quality teacher in every classroom."

But in a district wide survey last month, the Houston Federation of Teachers found that 65 percent of HISD's teachers felt they were bullied by administrators.

"If we don't work on a professional climate on the part of the administrators, dealing with their staff, then we're gonna see chronic turnover," the organization's president, Gayle Fallon, said. "People ultimately will not stay in a place where they're not well treated."

"Which ultimately is bad for the kids?" we asked Fallon.

"Right," Fallon said.

We also spoke on the phone Thursday morning with Woodson's principal. She declined an on-camera interview, and our calls to two HISD board members were unreturned.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

houston isd, local, tom abrahams

View the original article here

Survey: Houstonians upbeat about quality of life here

   HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The 30th Annual Kinder Houston Area Survey shows Harris County residents as upbeat about the city's future.

The findings were released today during a luncheon hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership and Rice's Kinder Institute for Urban Research. Despite economic anxiety and concern for the future of the country, most Houstonians perceive an improving quality of life locally and 90 percent believe that Houston is a better place to live than most other metropolitan areas, according to the survey conducted by Rice University. The survey showed that Harris County residents have become a little more upbeat in their personal economic outlooks but remain pessimistic about the long-term national prospects. While 26 percent (up from 20 percent in 2010) report improving personal financial conditions, only 31 percent (down from 43 percent in 2007) believe that young people will eventually have a higher standard of living than adult Americans today. "Houstonians clearly feel that the bleeding has stopped, but a robust recovery is not yet on the horizon," said survey author Stephen Klineberg, co-director of the Kinder Institute. "They are worried about the American future, but they're feeling better about Houston -- about local crime, air pollution and traffic -- and they are even more enthusiastic than in past years about the Houston area as a place to live." Although 86 percent agreed that "if you work hard in this city, eventually you will succeed," 67 percent also believe that "people who work hard and live by the rules are not getting a fair break these days." The percent of people who spontaneously mentioned education when asked to name the biggest problem facing people in Houston jumped to 7.6 percent this year from just 1.7 percent in 2009 and 2 percent in 2010. Area residents support measures to enhance the city's green spaces and bayous, revitalize and preserve urban centers and improve air and water quality. A large proportion of Harris County residents would choose a more urban lifestyle: 52 percent said they'd prefer to live in a single-family residential area, but 45 percent would opt instead for an area with a mix of developments including homes, shops and restaurants. In 2010, 41 percent said they'd prefer a smaller home in a more urbanized area within walking distance of shops and workplaces, rather than a single-family home with a big yard "where you would need to drive almost everywhere you want to go." Asked how they would feel if a close relative of theirs wanted to marry a non-Anglo, just 8 percent of the Anglo respondents this year said they would disapprove, down from 13 percent in 2002 and 23 percent in 1995. Among the Anglo respondents under the age of 30, 93 percent said they would approve of such intermarriage, compared with 69 percent of those 60 or older. Seventy percent of Anglos under 30, but only 35 percent in the older group, said that the increasing immigration into this country today mostly strengthens American culture. Seventy-three percent of the younger respondents, compared with 52 percent of those 60 or older, said they are in favor of granting illegal immigrants a path to legal citizenship if they speak English and have no criminal record. "Houston is where America's four major ethnic communities -- Anglos, Asians, blacks and Latinos -- meet in more equal numbers than almost anywhere else in the country," Klineberg said. "The challenges and opportunities of creating a more unified and inclusive multiethnic society will be seen here first." The 2011 Kinder Houston Area Survey was conducted by phone between Feb. 17 and March 9 and reached a scientifically representative sample of 750 Harris County residents including 240 respondents contacted by cell phone. The Survey Research Institute of the Hobby Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston administered the survey. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) 

View the original article here