INSIDE: Local middle school teacher honored by HISD• Page 5
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Saturday, May 20, 2023 • Vol. 68 • No. 20
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HISD board thanks community ahead of takeover By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
As the Texas Education Agency prepares to take over Houston Independent School District on June 1, the HISD board of trustees recently held what is likely to be their final public meeting before the takeover happens in the coming weeks. With the standard passing of motions and approval of prior meeting minutes on May 11, there was also an extended period when trustees and superintendent Mil-
Millard House II
lard House II spoke directly to the communities they have served ahead of being removed in favor of state-appointed managers. “Thank you for allowing me to serve you… service is what I do,” said District II board member Kathy Blueford-Daniels, whose district includes local schools such as Highland Heights, Oak Forest, and Stevens elementary schools as well as Frank Black Middle School and Booker T. Washington High School. More than two months after the decision was announced, there is
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INSIDE.
Photo from Facebook Representatives from Heritage Classical Academy gather before a previous meeting with the Texas State Board of Education last year. The school is hoping to soon go before the board again in hopes of being approved for a charter.
Heritage Classical Academy leaders renewing attempts for state charter
Man charged Houston police say a fifth suspect in a local fatal shooting has been arrested and charged
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Musical magic The Blind Uncle Charlie Band will play at reHAB Bar on the Bayou this weekend
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THE INDEX. Public.............................................................. 2 Sports............................................................. 4 Classifieds.................................................. 7 Local Culture............................8
By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
For the last four years, leaders of a proposed charter school in the local area have tried and tried again. And while to some that might seem like insanity, for the school’s leaders it’s a story of determination and perseverance. And they hope a recent meeting is a signal of things to come. On May 11, leaders from Heritage Classical Academy held a “capacity interview” with the Texas Education Agency in hopes of securing approval from the state to open for the next school year that will be in the 77092 zip code. Essentially, school leaders must secure a charter from the Texas state board of education in order to open, according to Kathryn Van Der Pol, the secretary of the board of the proposed charter school.
But each of the previous times the school has come before the board previously, the board has always vetoed giving it authorization to open. In order to secure the capacity interview, Van der Pol said Heritage submitted an application on which the proposed school scored a 97 out of 100. From there, she said the capacity interview is simply an attempt by the TEA to as-
sess whether administrators have the resources to operate a school and knowledge of the state’s educational provisions. “They’re sounding us out to make sure we are the kind of people they want to have be part of the school system in Texas and opening a charter school,” she said. Van der Pol said they will hear back on May 29 whether they have been approved by the TEA and Commissioner Mike Morath for a June meeting with the state board of education. “It’s not our timing. It’s all on God’s timing,” Van der Pol said. “…We love this community, and I hope that we get this school because I think it would be a beautiful gift to this community that I love.”
An area man has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to two separate assaults in 2020, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The district attorney’s office said Friday that Florian Kroll, 33, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a sexual assault that occurred in the Heights on Jan. 10, 2020. He was also sentenced to 10 years for attempted sexual assault of a child just five days, later, according to the office. Kroll’s sentences will run concurrently, according to the district attorney’s office, and he will not be eligible for parole until serving at least half of his sentence. “This is a predator who has a pattern of attacking and hurting women when he is free to roam,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “He has been sentenced to spend the next two decades behind bars, where he can no longer harm or victimize women.” The sexual assault of a woman happened on Jan. 10, 2020, according to the district attorney’s office, when Kroll assaulted a woman in the elevator of an HE-B in the Heights. Just five days later, the office said he attacked See Indicted P. 6
Florian Kroll
See Heritage P. 6
City of Houston announces new proposed budget By Landan Kuhlmann
landan@theleadernews.com The city of Houston recently announced its new proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2024, which the new mayor will inherit when elected next November as current mayor Sylvester Turner comes to the end of his final term as the city’s highest elected leader. On Tuesday, the city revealed details of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, with all funds for the budget totaling $6.2 million – an increase of 6.6 percent from
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See HISD P. 6
Area man indicted for multiple assaults
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Still alive St. Thomas baseball will play for a TAPPS state championship this weekend
still uncertainty hanging over the district. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted last Saturday that he has heard from sources that former Dallas ISD superintendent Mike Miles has been tabbed to take over, but the TEA has not publicly confirmed.The TEA said during a recent meeting that no information about who will be on the board of managers or appointed as superintendent will be released until the previously-announced June 1
the current fiscal year’s budget of $5.8 million according to the city. During a Tuesday press conference announcing the proposed budget, Turner said the proposed budget would leave the city in the best position to address any future uncertainties than it has been in a number of years. “In many ways, it is a budget that is futuristic,” Turner said. “We will be handing the budget off to the next mayor in better financial shape than when I came in. In fact, I believe it’s one of better budgets presented by the city in quite some
time.” According to city documents, the general fund expenditures for the proposed FY 2024 budget are set at $2.89 million, an increase of about 4.4 percent (or $120 million) compared to the current budget. That increase in spending, Turner said, is largely driven by pay increases for employees in employee groups in all departments. It includes pay raises of 3 percent for both municipal employees and those in the police department, See Budget P. 6
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