HOUSTON \u2013 The Houston ISD Board of Managers unanimously voted 9-0 Thursday to close or consolidate 12 schools across the district, but not before a woman was removed from the meeting by police.<\/p>\n
The incident took place around 6:45 p.m. Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a parent of one of the affected campuses and we weren\u2019t called in the first group, so we\u2019re going to go now,\u201d she said as she walked up to the podium.<\/p>\n
She was asked whether she had registered to speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, it turns out y\u2019all didn\u2019t communicate very clearly and welcome us affected parents into this process, that affects all our teachers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She was allowed to speak by the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree years ago, my kid attended an excellent neighborhood school, she checked out books every week from her library and she was taught by experienced, qualified, certified teachers, who challenged her creativity and her critical thinking skills and had devoted their lives to our community,\u201d she said before turning around. \u201cBut for the past three years, I\u2019ve had to watch as you destroyed this school, piece by piece,\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou forced out a beloved principal because she wouldn\u2019t bend her knee to policies that harm our children. You replaced books with worksheets, closed the library, replaced teachers with screen time, which we know harms children\u2019s learning, mental health…\u201d<\/p>\n
At that point, she was told her time was up. The woman continued speaking and was given a warning that if she continued, she would be asked to leave. When she continued again, police came up to escort her out of the building.<\/p>\n
The woman briefly jumped on the podium.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchools in River Oaks and Montrose aren\u2019t on the chopping block,\u201d she said, before being removed.<\/p>\n
The board then took a brief recess.<\/p>\n
Following the end of public comment, the motion passed unanimously. <\/p>\n
Votes for HISD motion (Houston ISD)Parents feel ignored<\/p>\n
Following the vote, several parents told KPRC 2 they felt the outcome had already been decided before public comment even began.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like the decision had already been made,\u201d said Deysy Arellano, whose son attends Port Houston Elementary. \u201cAs soon as we saw the votes, you know, I felt anger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arellano said her son is in pre-K and has thrived at the campus during his first year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really heartbreaking only because now I have to go home and explain it to him,\u201d she said through tears. \u201cI have to go home and explain to him, you know, we won\u2019t be going back to that school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another parent, Vianey Torres, who has two children at Port Houston Elementary, said she believes families were not given a fair opportunity to be heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel like today we were robbed. It was not a fair fight. They already knew the outcome,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n
Torres said she and other parents have concerns about transportation, safety and academics if their children are reassigned.<\/p>\n
\u201cPort Houston is rated a B school,\u201d she said. \u201cThe school that they\u2019re trying to send us to is a C school, so it\u2019s a grade difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also described walking the proposed route to the new campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very unsafe. It\u2019s a secluded area. There\u2019s a creek. There\u2019s two lane street. So it\u2019s fast cars passing by. They blow through stop signs. It\u2019s not a safe area.\u201d<\/p>\n
District leaders said temporary shuttle service would be provided and that a transportation request survey will open in early May.<\/p>\n
Torres questioned how that would be funded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re saying that they don\u2019t have money for it. But they\u2019re over here saying they\u2019re gonna have shuttles. So all of a sudden, money\u2019s gonna appear out of nowhere. That\u2019s what I don\u2019t understand,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n
Torres said she is now considering leaving the district entirely.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019m gonna start looking for another district to send my kids to,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n
For Torres, the decision is deeply personal. She said Port Houston played a critical role in her son\u2019s development.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son, he made a significant strides. He\u2019s speaking full sentences,\u201d she said. \u201cHe went from being a SPED kid that was nonverbal. To now saying full sentences. So it\u2019s just devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, like Arellano, she says the hardest part will be talking to her children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna have to break the news to my kids,\u201d Torres said. \u201cThey\u2019re gonna take it hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board\u2019s vote came after hours of public comment and emotional testimony from families and teachers. Following the unanimous decision, the meeting briefly recessed before adjourning.<\/p>\n
HISD leaders say impacted teachers will be notified about job placements by April 17.<\/p>\n
Under the approved motion:<\/p>\n
N.Q. Henderson Elementary students would move to Bruce Elementary<\/p>\n
Port Houston Elementary students would also move to Bruce Elementary<\/p>\n
Fleming Middle School students would relocate to Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy<\/p>\n
Rose Elementary students could move to Roosevelt Elementary or C. Martinez Elementary<\/p>\n
Burrus Elementary students would transition to Kennedy Elementary<\/p>\n
Franklin Elementary students would move to Gallegos Elementary<\/p>\n
Alcott Elementary students would attend Mading Elementary<\/p>\n
Hobby Elementary students would relocate to Lawton Middle School<\/p>\n
Cage Elementary students would move to Lantrip Elementary<\/p>\n
Briscoe Elementary students would transition to Carrillo Elementary<\/p>\n
Gulfton Middle College would relocate to a nearby campus<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 The Houston ISD Board of Managers unanimously voted 9-0 Thursday to close or consolidate 12 schools…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[57094,163,4045,56,58,1686,57],"class_list":["post-182353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-board-meeting","tag-education","tag-hisd","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-isd","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}