Roughly 200,000 Houston Independent School District students are returning to school today for the first day of classes. 

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and members of the HISD Board of Education are spending the morning visiting with students, teachers and principals at two campuses.

We are ready and excited to begin a new school year,” Dr. Grier said.  “We have so much new to offer at HISD, from our new campuses and career and technical education programs, to our expanded dual language centers and our first ever Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School.  We want every parent to know that no matter which school their children attend, they will receive a great education.”

Dr. Grier is visiting Scarborough High School, one of HISD’s schools to offer the new Houston Innovative Learning Zone (HILZ) academies.  These new HILZ academies provide students with the opportunity to earn a college associate’s degree and valuable career certifications while in high school.  This way, they are equally prepared to thrive at a university, or land lucrative jobs in some of the region’s most in-demand professions immediately after graduating.  The HILZ academies are also offered at the following schools: Furr, Kashmere, Long, Sterling, and Booker T. Washington.

 The superintendent will also visit HISD’s new Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center which offers a two-way dual language program to its kindergarten class in an effort to develop full bilingualism and bi-literacy for all students.  The two-way dual language program is both a bilingual program for Spanish-speaking students and a foreign language immersion program for English-speaking students.  Students from both groups are taught together in the two-way classrooms.  HISD currently offers the two-way dual language program at seven elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and one K-8 academy.  Former Superintendent Billy Reagan will be joining Dr. Grier during this school visit.