Houston ISD Board Moves Forward With Layoffs Despite Community Outcry

HOUSTON – More walkouts are planned Friday with students and their families protesting recent decisions by Houston ISD administration to get rid of longtime staff at several schools. In some schools, the principal was given an ultimatum: resign or be fired.

Herod Elementary School was one of those schools that experienced walkouts this week and one of several schools where the principal was given that ultimatum. Director Jessica Berry spoke with KPRC 2’s Rilwan Balogun about her resignation agreement, saying she refused to sign it.

“I definitely think there’s a chance that I just finished my career in public education, but at the end of the day, it’s these kids, not Herod’s kids,” she told Balogun. “But every child in Houston deserves an education and deserves someone who is going to advocate for them.”

MORE: ‘I really just ended my career’: Houston ISD superintendent refuses to sign district resignation agreement

Several parents voiced their opinions during an 8-hour school board meeting Thursday, but ultimately, the HISD board voted to remove Berry as principal.

His dismissal was one of several that sparked heated comments during last night’s eight-hour school board meeting. It’s all part of the impending budget, in which struggling staffers have been asked to resign or be fired.

Many of them, according to a HISD spokesperson, were considered underperforming.

Our Deven Clarke was there and said he hasn’t heard anyone say nice things about Superintendent Mike Miles or the job he’s done so far. And despite calls for him to reverse his decisions to fire beloved and respected employees, that hasn’t happened.

As for Jessica Barry, KPRC 2 received a letter she sent to the district. The letter reads in part: “I respectfully decline to execute said ‘agreement.’ It is both shocking and disappointing to witness, let alone fall victim to, the methods you have chosen to implement to downsize.

Strikes are planned at schools through HISD with students protesting the administration. And the fact that some schools opened after the storms without air conditioning.