by Robert Wright
Teachers in Houston Independent School District recently staged a “sick-out” strike in protest of the tyrannical new leadership of the district from Superintendent Mike Miles, who was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. Striking is illegal for teachers and other public employees under the Texas constitution, and so the “sick-out”— in which workers call in sick collectively—is a wildcat strike. In a press release from the organizers, they say that over 100 teachers from 35 campuses are participating the in sick out and the organizers listed the following demands:
- Fire Mike Miles and restore the elected Houston ISD Board of Trustees.
- Students should be supported with wraparound [a planning process which supports students with complex emotional and behavioral needs], counselors, nurses, and librarians/library specialists on every campus.
- Teachers should be certified and have college degrees. Teachers should be respected with their input valued.
- Stop targeting black and brown schools with harmful, unproven interventions.
- Learning should be meaningful and engaging. Curriculum, teacher evaluation and leadership decisions should be based on peer-reviewed and research-based best practices.
This action was preempted by the actions of Superintendent Mike Miles, whose implementation of NES(New Education System) schools garnered outrage from students and teachers alike at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. From converting libraries to disciplinary centers to absurd teacher observation standards which required timers to ring every 4 minutes to check student understanding to punishing teachers who play music in their classrooms and play chess with students.
The Houston Federation of Teachers quickly distanced themselves from the protest, a union which counts more than half of HISD’s 11,000 teachers as members. The attorney for the Houston Federation of Teachers, stated, “We’ve been very clear all year long and as long as I’ve represented this union that the Houston Federation of Teachers does not participate in these types of activities,” Tritico said earlier in the week. “We don’t organize them, and we don’t have anything to do with them. And we certainly don’t have anything to do with this … And we’re encouraging all of our members — and all, any teacher who is thinking about getting involved in this — to not do it because you are subject to losing your job.” and going so far to say that teachers who are genuinely sick should still go to work to not be implicated in the action.
This is the first wildcat strike from Houston teachers since the strike in 2020 which demanded a safe reopening in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
So far in this struggle, the Houston Federation of Teachers have voiced their concerns at district meetings, organized community meetings with parents, and even sued HISD over their new evaluation system. Yet, these actions have done little to curb the damage continued by Mike Miles, who previously left Dallas ISD over a series of scandals and after founding a series of Charter Schools in Colorado. The situation in Houston looms over neighboring major school districts, such as Austin ISD and San Antonio ISD, as the Texas Education Agency begins to move into schools.
The wildcat strike is in the context of a nationwide shortage of teachers and many continuing to resign as waves of complains mount from teachers. From being underpaid and overworked, lack of resources and support on the administrative level, and ever changing standards and initiatives backed by little empirical research. These complaints especially amplified in poor, working class schools where the community these schools serve are the most affected by such polices pushed by the likes of Mike Miles.
photo: Community protest against the state takeover of Houston ISD in late 2023, from hisdteacherblog.com
