Teachers investigated for alleged student cheating

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Some Houston school teachers are under investigation because of allegations that they may have helped their students cheat on the TAKS test.

One teacher at Hobby Elementary School in southwest Houston has not been renewed and five more have been transferred from the school to other locations until the investigation is complete. Some parents are defending the teachers and want them back in the classroom with their kids.

The parents say they are proud of the work their children have done at the recognized and exemplary school.

"They are awesome teachers. They are the best. They have worked hard," said parent Elsy Fuentes.

So the allegations, reassignment of some teachers and the firing of another has taken them by surprise.

"We disagree with this action that HISD is taking," said parent Segundo Castro.

HISD says last week, five Hobby Elementary School teachers were reassigned to other job duties away from the campus pending the outcome of an investigation. A sixth teacher was dismissed.

The district says the Texas Education Agency received an allegation of testing impropriety against the school during TAKS testing in the 2010-2011 school year.

"I don't believe it, not at all, because they have really, really studied and worked hard for this," Fuentes said.

These parents wrote a letter to the district concerned about who they say are bilingual teachers being taken out of the classroom. They also claim that many Hispanic children who attend Hobby spent hours after school and on weekends preparing for the test.

"They had a lot of homework, going to sleep at 10 or 11 at night," said Fuentes.

The district says in February it "hired an outside law firm to conduct a preliminary investigation into this allegation. Some students were interviewed after their parents granted permission."

Castro said, "They are good teachers, honest teachers, and they work hard every day in school."

"We want this solved and we want it solved fast. Our kids are wanting their teachers back, they need their teachers," said Fuentes.

HISD says the investigation is not finished and no final conclusions have been reached on the five teachers reassigned.

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houston isd, local, christine dobbyn

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HISD proposes raises for teachers, staff in 2012-13

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The HISD school board is looking at a plan to give all of district employees a raise in the coming school year.

The raises would cost the district about $20 million. Teachers would get either a 1.75 or 2.25 percent pay raise depending on experience. All other district employees would get pay raises of 1.75 percent, 2.0 or 2.25 percent.

No one in HISD received raises this school year. HISD Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier asked for the pay increases so the district can remain competitive with other area school districts.

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New Caney ISD gives teachers bonus checks

  NEW CANEY, TX (KTRK) -- The New Caney school district on Friday handed out special checks aimed at helping the morale of district employees.

District administrators and school board trustees handed out $600 checks to all full-time district workers. Last July, the school board passed a resolution regarding these checks, during a time of uncertainty about state education funding.

"We didn't give any raises last year,. So we're really excited about giving this lump sum payment to our employees for a job well done," New Caney ISD Superintendent Kenn Franklin said.

Those who received the checks had to have been employed at least 90 days and still employed today.

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Houston Schools New Budget Brings Needed Money for Teachers and Improvements

HISD looking to hire 300 new teachers after layoffs

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Hundreds of Houston ISD teachers who were given layoff notices want to know why the district is looking to hire almost 300 new teachers next year.

A district spokesman says they have known from the initial rounds of layoffs, there would later be vacancies and this all has to do with the district being decentralized, meaning each principal makes their own cuts and does all their own hiring. The Houston school district informed about 950 teachers that this year would be their last. More than 700 of the layoffs, the district claims, are due to budget shortfalls. So when 286 vacancies were posted on its website on Monday, many frustrated teachers given those layoff notices began calling their union rep. "They were so upset and so demoralized, saying this is what we thought, they are just trying to run us out and try and hire first year teachers. And that's the prevailing view few out there whether or not it's fact," Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon said. With HISD being decentralized, a teacher who is laid off at one school is not automatically transferred to another school with an opening. That teacher must interview with the new prospective principal again since each principal has autonomy on teacher hires. HISD tells us that the more than 700 laid off teachers will have first priority for the vacancies throughout the district. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Future teachers forced to diversify resumes

 HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The budget crunch has many soon-to-be college graduates rethinking their career plans. With hundreds of teachers being laid off, future teachers are caught in a flooded job market, so they're making changes.

Jobs in teaching have traditionally been plentiful. Normally, students graduating next month would be able to step into a classroom right away and even have options about what school they want to work in. This year is different; the jobs just aren't as plentiful. We wanted to see where the graduates are going and what the alternatives are available to a job market that's shrinking. This isn't what Demetra Gregg thought she'd be doing. A recent TSU graduate, she hoped to be in a classroom, teaching. Instead, she's working on her resume by earning a master's degree. "I'm scared that I won't be able to have a job -- not that I don't have the requirements but because there's just not any money," Gregg said. Gregg's situation is typical of what we found happening to local college graduates. Billions of dollars in state budget cuts to education have meant thousands of local teachers are being laid off. The jobs that used to be so plentiful for graduating teachers just don't exist. "The jobs may not be out there as they used to be, but the more certifications they have, the more training they have, the broader they are in what they offer," TSU education professor Dr. Danita Bailey-Perry said. Be open to out of state hiring, says dr. Perry, and open to teaching alternatives, such charter and private schools. Just down Wheeler Avenue at the UH campus, UH professors say even recent teacher graduates are vulnerable. "I have four in Katy ISD and Katy is really taking a hit financially and they're letting some teachers go and some of the schools have opted to let first- and second-year teachers go," said Dr. Susan Williams, associate professor at the UH College of Education. UH grads are being counseled to do more than drop off a resume. "We've talked to them also about being pragmatic; they might have to take a teacher's aide position for a year and get known at the school," said Melissa Pierson, director of teacher education at UH. That's what Amber Finley is doing. She's a student teacher in the Fort Bend school district. She graduates next month and hasn't been offered a job. Finley and her classmates are nervous, but not giving up. "That's kind of the attitude I'm trying to get toward. If I get something then I'm just happy to have a job because I'm going to be in a classroom teaching kids and that's what matters," Finley said. "I know that is kind of scary that we are losing teachers, but I'm very passionate about this, so if I have to keep looking I will," UH student Izabel Hlayhel said. TSU is planning a teaching summit to help place graduating teachers as well as previous graduates who've been laid off. Meanwhile, both UH and TSU are emphasizing diversity in their student's resumes and a willingness to work outside the public school system. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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Taxpayers protest plan to lay off Katy ISD teachers

  KATY, TX (KTRK) -- Protesters in Katy say the school district has enough money to keep the 500 teachers it plans to lay off.

About two dozen people rallied outside the district's board meeting on Monday afternoon. The protesters claim the district has its own version of a Rainy Day Fund worth $80 million. "That's a source of money. They should look at it very closely before they start laying off teachers. We need the teachers. We don't need the buildings," concerned resident Sean Murphy said. "The fund balance only has a certain amount of money in it. And if we use it all now, there's no mechanism to replace it other than raising taxes and we have no desire to do that," Katy ISD Superintendent Alton Frailey said. The superintendent says the district is willing to tap into the fund, but the problem is the district doesn't know exactly how much funding it's losing from the state. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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