Schools such as Lantrip Elementary are not why the Texas Education Agency took control of Houston ISD.
The East End campus earned a “B” academic rating for the 2022-23 school year, the year before the state intervened, according to unofficial accountability ratings released by HISD. Then Lantrip improved to an A for the 2023-24 school year, the first under state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles and an unelected board of managers.
There still was significant turnover among teachers during that school year, and there was a principal change at the end of the year. Another leadership change occurred this week, when principal Valiza Castro was placed on administrative leave by the district and replaced by Janet Benavides, who on Wednesday was named as interim principal.
“Mike Miles is telling us the school district is getting better, but I would say that Lantrip was an A-rated school and it’s gotten worse under the takeover,” said Lantrip parent Timothy Suing, who has had two daughters attend the school. “We can’t say that Lantrip is any better when we have a culture of fear amongst the teachers. We can’t say Lantrip is better when we’ve lost of lot of certified teachers and replaced them with a lot of uncertified teachers.
“What we’re seeing at Lantrip does not match what Mike Miles is saying,” he added.
Suing, along with more than 50 other Lantrip parents and students, made their voices heard by staging a protest outside of the school Wednesday morning. They held up handmade signs and chanted phrases such as, “Hey hey, ho ho, Mike Miles has got to go.”
And they were not just demonstrating because of what’s happened at Lantrip, which is one of multiple HISD schools that has undergone recent leadership changes. The principals at Harvard Elementary in the Heights and Pershing Middle School on the southwest side of town were removed from their roles in October, and district administrators have offered vague explanations for the changes.
Harvard, Lantrip and Pershing are not among the 130 HISD schools in Miles’ New Education System (NES), a reform model that features premade lesson plans and emphasizes testing-based instruction and discipline. Still, Suing said “a lot of the features from NES have been implemented” at Lantrip.
“This is not just Lantrip as most of the city is becoming aware,” said Mark Garcia-Prats, another parent who participated in the protest. “It seems like every week now there’s a new school that has this story happening. This is definitely bigger than Lantrip.”
The HISD press office did not answer emailed questions about Miles’ and other district administrators’ reaction to the protest, nor did it address some of the claims made by parents.
The district has not specified why Castro, Harvard principal Shelby Calabrese and Pershing principal Alvin Goldman were removed from those roles.
“HISD cannot comment further on personnel matters beyond what has been shared with the community,” a district spokesperson said Wednesday. “There are many reasons that can lead to a staffing change, but all staffing decisions are made in the best interest of students and the goal of providing high-quality instruction in a productive and supportive school environment.”
Lantrip parent Jannica Palmer, a member of the school’s PTO, said this week’s leadership change has been disruptive to students such as her second-grade son.
She said she participated in Wednesday’s protest because she wants to see Castro reinstated and also because she wants “more communication and a better explanation as to what’s going on.”
Additionally, Palmer said she wants to see an end to the state takeover of HISD and a return to local control.
“The main reason for the protest today was because we’re all very upset about what happened to Principal Castro,” Palmer said. “But there was a dual purpose here, and I do believe that is, yes, our dissatisfaction with Mike Miles and the state-appointed school board and our desire to get them out of here.”
