Houston Chronicle by Jacob Carpenter Nov. 6, 2019
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath notified Houston ISD officials Wednesday that he plans to temporarily strip power from the district’s elected school board and appoint a replacement governance team, a long-anticipated decision resulting from a state investigation into allegations of trustee misconduct and chronically low academic performance at Wheatley High School.
Morath’s decision all-but-finalizes one of the most dramatic state interventions in an American school district to date, putting immense power over HISD in the hands of state-appointed officials. In addition to selecting a new board, Morath also must decide whether to keep HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan or install a new district leader, an authority granted under state law.
In a letter to HISD officials, Morath said he is compelled to act “given the inability of the board of trustees to govern the district" and its "inability to address the long-standing academic deficiencies†at Wheatley. State law mandates that Morath close historic Wheatley or replace the nine-member school board after the campus received its seventh consecutive failing grade in August. In addition, Texas Education Agency investigators last week recommended the installation of a new board after substantiating several allegations of misconduct by trustees.
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