See My Movie -- Houston Before the Big Disruptor

"It is time you own your S.H.I.T." (Hey, I didn't say it.)

Houston Public Media, reporting on the arrival of Mike Miles as the newly state-appointed superintendent of Houston public schools, referred in a headline to his “tense first meeting.” KTRK-TV said he met with an “icy reception.”

Houston Landing, an online digital newspaper, called him a “very big disruptor.” They said he had been “decried” by more than 100 protesters.

Decried, no less. Fox26 TV talked about people screaming. The Houston Chronicle said Miles “flunked.”

OMG. Sounds terrible.

But wait. Sounds terrible compared to what?

Houston is a major urban school district that got itself in so much trouble it has been forcibly occupied by the state of Texas. According to what I read in the litigation, that happened in large part because the state thought the elected board of education was ready for the puzzle factory.

I’m not in Houston. I’m just a Dallas guy observing all of this from afar. I did work for The Houston Chronicle about 100 years ago, but I wasn’t in Houston. I was their Dallas person.

I’m looking at these headlines and remembering Miles’ tenure in Dallas a decade ago. Indeed, we saw a lot of disruption, but I never bought the story that Miles was the one doing the disrupting.

He brought about dramatic change in the way the Dallas school system operates, deemed later by objective third-party experts to be extremely beneficial. There were people opposed to those changes, of course, and sometimes they did some serious disrupting. But Miles himself was always Dr. Cool.

When I saw the initial coverage in Houston, I thought, “Maybe Houston is just extraordinarily sensitive – a bit over-protected, perhaps. Perhaps Houston is accustomed to a very high standard of behavior and good manners, and Miles just stepped in it somehow without realizing. That can happen. I do it in my own home all the time, apparently.

So I went back and looked, and based on that effort I have produced a little movie of clips taken from the Oct. 11, 2018 meeting of the Houston Board of Education. I call it, “Houston Before the Very Big Disruptor.”

All you need now is popcorn.

credit: Jim Schutze, from Houston ISD TV

Special Added Content: Who’s More Mexican?

credit: Jim Schutze, from Houston ISD TV

Former HISD School Board Trustee Jolanda Jones (above) is now a member of the Texas House of Representatives. On March 30, 2023, Houston television station KVUE-ABC reported that three members of Jones’ legislative staff had resigned. KVUE published the letter below, which KVUE attributed to Jones’ chief of staff, Kory Haywood, her legislative director, Catherine Mouer and her district director, Yesenia Wences.

KVUE said the letter was originally obtained by The Texas Tribune, an Austin online newspaper.

P.S.

I have never met Ms. Jones, but I have to admit, there’s something about her I like. Probably not everything.