Katy Independent School District

The Katy Independent School District (KISD) is a public school district based in Katy, Texas, United States with an enrollment of over 85,700 students. As of August 2009, the district was rated as "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.[4]

Katy Independent School District Or KISD
Location
Katy, TX, Fulshear TX
Katy, Texas
United States
District information
TypePublic
MottoBe the Legacy
GradesPre-K – 12
EstablishedFebruary 25, 1919 [1]
SuperintendentKenneth Gregorski
Schools74 [2]
BudgetUS$1.108 billion (2021-22)[2]
NCES District ID4825170[3]
Students and staff
Students88,693 [2]
Teachers5,603 [2]
Staff11,018 [2]
Student–teacher ratio15.83
Other information
Websitewww.katyisd.org
Leonard E. Merrell Center
Katy School 1899-1909 Elementary School 1909-1927
Katy High School building 1909-1947
Elementary School addition 1927-1951

The district serves 181 square miles (469 km2) in parts of Harris County, Fort Bend County and Waller County. Most of the district lies within the boundaries of the City of Houston, the City of Katy or their municipalities' extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). Unincorporated areas in Katy ISD include Barker, Cinco Ranch, and Cimarron.[5]

All residential areas of the district are assigned to an elementary school, a junior high school, and a high school by subdivision.

History

During the 2004–2005 school year Katy ISD began a new and revolutionary program in the history of the district, with the use of random drug testing for all individuals involved in UIL competitive organizations, student leaders of any official school clubs, and anyone wishing to park on campus.[6] This caused much controversy prior to its instatement. Many parents complained to the school district, citing the new policy as the violation of individual rights. The district responded to this by having every student who wished to participate in the said activities sign a waiver granting the school district to test them randomly. This matter had already been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States as constitutional before KISD chose to implement it. In 2019, Katy ISD celebrated 100 years since being founded.[7]

In 2015 two sections of Thornwood, two and three, currently served by KISD, proposed being removed from KISD and placed in the Spring Branch Independent School District, but both KISD and SBISD's boards denied the proposal.[8]

Controversy

Lance Hindt

Lance Hindt, who served as the district's superintendent from 2016 to 2018, was an alumnus of Katy Taylor High School,[9] and in 2012 plagiarized a PhD thesis for the University of Houston (UH).[10]

During a school board meeting in March 2018, an individual named Greg Gay (also known as Greg Barrett) spoke during a public forum segment of the meeting, and accused Hindt of shoving his head in a urinal when they were both enrolled in a secondary school within the district, and said the incident drove him to the brink of suicide.[11][12] Hindt denied Gay's allegations, claiming he will only be judged by God.[12]

Following the incident, Alabama judge David Carpenter also accused Hindt of bullying during their secondary school years. While Carpenter said that he was not a victim of Hindt's bullying, he has witnessed "frightening, intense and near constant" bullying of weaker classmates by Hindt. Carpenter even labeled Hindt a "thug".[11]

Prior to the incidents' surfacing, Hindt was noted to have taken very public stance against bullying.[13]

At around the same time, a man named Sean Dolan ran Hindt's dissertation through a software, and discovered that it matched with another paper, leading to accusations of plagiarism.[10][14] The University of Houston administration stated that it would investigate the matter.[15]

After an 18-month investigation, the University of Houston removed Hindt's dissertation from their official website. In May 2018, Hindt announced his resignation and retirement effective January 1, 2019, saying that he cannot fulfill his duties as superintendent and that he had done "dumb things".[16] The district agreed to pay $955,795 as severance; a payment which violated Texas Education Code Section 11.201 and resulted in a loss of $513,755 in funding.[17]

To pursue any defamation claims on behalf of Hindt, the district hired the law firm Feldman and Feldman.[18]

Hindt would later campaign for the KISD board members who had defended him and arranged his huge severance bonus.[19]

The district has been criticized for its perceived inaction on Hindt's plagiarism allegations, which critics say run afoul of the district's responsibility to provide an ethical education to its students.[14] The district's decision to retain a law firm for possible defamation lawsuits was also criticized as possibly an act of bullying in and of itself by the district against its critics,[14] or even an attempt by a taxpayer-funded entity to silence those who were thinking about criticizing a public official.[20]

Intellectual censorship

In October 2021, author Jerry Craft was scheduled to speak to fourth and fifth graders about his graphic novels New Kid and Class Act. Parents in the district claimed the books taught Critical race theory and started an online petition, prompting the district to cancel the author visit and remove the book from school libraries. Craft was later invited again for a visit to the district, and the books were reinstated in libraries with a restricted audience.[21][22][23]

During a school board meeting in November 2021, Seven Lakes High School senior and student activist Cameron Samuels spoke during a public forum segment of the meeting to claim the district was blocking student internet access to the Trevor Project and other websites supporting the LGBTQ+ community.[24][25] Students, including Samuels, started a petition soon after that garnered almost two thousand signatures within a few months and drew national attention to the district.[26]

The district defended blocking access to the Trevor Project by claiming it violated the Children's Internet Protection Act with its chat features. In December 2021 and January 2022, following formal complaints by Samuels, the district unblocked the websites of four organizations supporting the LGBTQ+ community: the Montrose Center, the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG, and GLSEN.[27][28][29][30] The filter was eventually brought down after a complaint and letter delivered by the ACLU of Texas on behalf of Samuels.[31][32]

In February 2022, NBC senior investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh and NBC correspondent Antonia Hylton published a report on books disappearing in record numbers from Texas schools, especially those in Katy ISD. The district's superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Gregorski, sent a parent communication to clarify the district's policy regarding removing books from schools, which includes various methods for parent input.[33][34]

The Houston Chronicle reported in February 2022 that Samuels and other students planned to distribute challenged books to students during a "FReadom Week" initiative, including Maus by Art Spiegelman and Beloved by Toni Morrison.[35] In response to the distribution of hundreds of books, the district initiated an internal review of Maus. Students and parents spoke against banning Maus during the public forum segment of the March 2022 board meeting, and the district announced its decision later that week to keep the book in middle school libraries.[36][37]

The ACLU of Texas delivered a letter to school board members and the superintendent in April 2022 claiming that the district's book removals violated the First Amendment, the Texas Constitution, and the district's own policies.[38]

After a district parent filed a criminal complaint against Mike Curato's Flamer in the Jordan High School library, district police temporarily removed the book for an investigation. The book had already been deemed appropriate for high schools by a book review committee in March, and the police concurred.[39][40]

At the August 2022 board meeting, the board discussed the first read of a proposed EF local policy update. Ten students from the Cinco Ranch High School Gay-Straight Alliance, led by student Logan McLean, spoke in support of adding students to the reconsideration committees for instructional materials. The policy was passed at the next meeting without the inclusion of students or explicit inclusion of librarians in the committees.[41][42] McLean had planned to hold a book distribution at the start of the 2022-2023 school year with the GSA club, but school administrators claimed that prior review was necessary and confiscated the books.[43]

Schools

High schools
Cinco Ranch High School

Note: In addition, Katy ISD lists under high schools:

  • Miller Career & Technology Center[46] - Offers students from other campuses specialized career and technology programs as well as core classes.
  • Raines High School - A project-based learning campus that allows students to earn credits at an accelerated pace.

Junior high schools

Elementary schools

Support facilities

Other campuses
  • Katy ISD Virtual School
  • Opportunity Awareness Center
  • Robert R. Shaw Center for STEAM
  • Simon Youth Academy

Katy ISD has done an extensive study and maintains and updates a District Growth and Facilities Planning Study.

Departments

The Katy ISD Police Department was created in 1989 because the district had jurisdictional issues and low response times from other police agencies.[53]

See also

References
  1. "100 Year Anniversary". www.katyisd.org.
  2. "Katy ISD Public Dashboard". www.katyisd.org.
  3. "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Katy ISD". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  4. Writer, Luciano BattistiniTimes Staff. "KISD earns recognized rating from TEA". katytimes.com.
  5. Johnson, Trish. "Location helps make Cimarron popular." Houston Chronicle. April 7, 2009. Retrieved on March 25, 2010.
  6. {{cite web In 2019, Katy ISD celebrated 100 years since being founded. | title = Random Drug-Testing Program Question and Answers | publisher = Katy Independent School District | date = June 3, 2006 | url = http://www.katyzerotolerance.com/Webedition3/Graphics/KISDDocs/drug_QA.pdf | access-date = October 16, 2007 }}
  7. Bretting, Sandra (May 27, 2004). "Random Drug-Testing Program Question and Answers". Katy Independent School District. Retrieved October 16, 2007.
  8. Herrera, Sebastian (July 29, 2015). "Spring Branch ISD denies subdivision petition to join district, leave Katy ISD". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  9. Alfonso, Fernando (April 2, 2018). "Judge claims Katy ISD superintendent was a 'vicious bully' in school". Houston Chronicle.
  10. Ketterer, Samantha (August 3, 2018). "Higher education leader asks UH to investigate plagiarism claims against Katy ISD superintendent". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  11. Glenn, Mike (January 7, 2019). "Lance Hindt's final year at Katy ISD". Associated Press. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  12. Groogan, Greg (March 27, 2018). "More brutality emerging in Katy ISD superintendent's past". FOX 26 Houston. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  13. Groogan, Greg (March 26, 2018). "Judge says Katy superintendent was once a 'vicious bully'". FOX 26 Houston. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  14. Lieber, Dave (February 27, 2020). "After the Allen ISD superintendent left to lead his hometown district, the wheels came off his career". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  15. Glenn, Mike (October 28, 2018). "UH says it 'thoroughly investigates' plagiarism allegation against Hindt". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  16. Simon, Erica (May 11, 2018). "Katy ISD superintendent's resignation effective Jan. 1, 2019". KTRK-TV. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  17. Reporter, R. Hans Miller | Times Senior. "KISD penalized more than $500K for Hindt payout". Katy Times. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  18. Glenn, Mike (May 12, 2018). "Katy ISD's Lance Hindt resigns top job, will get $750,000 payout". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  19. Glenn, Mike (April 17, 2019). "Ex-Superintendent Lance Hindt endorses Katy ISD board candidates". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  20. Blain, Charles (May 10, 2018). "Katy ISD Votes to Sue Complaining Citizen". Texas Scorecard. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  21. Rhodes, Syan (October 26, 2021). "Award-winning children's author speaks to Katy ISD students after critical race theory controversy". KPRC. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  22. Garcia, Ariana (October 15, 2021). "Book accused of promoting critical race theory reinstated by Katy ISD". Chron. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  23. KTRK (October 15, 2021). "Book pulled from from Katy ISD after parent petition is now back on library shelves". ABC13 Houston. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  24. Dellinger, Hannah (November 24, 2021). "'It needs to be accessible by all': Katy ISD blocks LGBTQ+ resources, suicide prevention website". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  25. Childers, Shelley (December 14, 2021). "Katy ISD continues to block LGBTQ+ resource websites as student appeals for change again". ABC13 Houston. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  26. Lee, Josephine (January 11, 2022). "At one Texas school, LGBTQ teens call onslaught of hostile laws "matter of life and death"". Salon. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  27. "Katy ISD reviewing LGBTQ-related websites after backlash over blocking them". khou.com. December 14, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  28. "Texas continues to remove LGBTQ suicide prevention resources from state websites". NBC News. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  29. "Katy ISD Unblocks Four LGBTQ Websites". OutSmart Magazine. January 24, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  30. Ernst, Sara Willa (January 25, 2022). "Katy ISD unblocks some LGBTQ websites after public complaints, but others remain banned". Houston Public Media. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  31. "Katy ISD reverses course, allows access to LGBTQ+ internet resources previously filtered out". khou.com. September 16, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  32. Dellinger, Hannah (September 16, 2022). "Katy ISD unblocks LGBTQ+ websites following year of student advocacy, ACLU letter". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  33. "Book banning in Texas schools: Titles are pulled off library shelves in record numbers". NBC News. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  34. Twitter https://twitter.com/mike_hixenbaugh/status/1488981123078180868. Retrieved April 22, 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  35. Dellinger, Hannah (February 18, 2022). "Katy ISD students organize to distribute books about racism, LGBTQ+ issues". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  36. Dellinger, Hannah (March 25, 2022). "Katy ISD reviewing whether Holocaust novels 'Maus,' 'Maus II' are appropriate for students". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  37. Dellinger, Hannah (April 6, 2022). "Katy ISD decides Holocaust novels 'Maus' and 'Maus II' are appropriate for middle school and up". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  38. Dellinger, Hannah (April 21, 2022). "ACLU demands Houston-area school districts to stop removing books and apologize to students". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  39. "A Texas woman went to the cops about an actual library book". Literary Hub. August 24, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  40. Owen, Greg. "Texas Karen calls cops over gay graphic novel". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  41. Slaughter, George. "Advocates promote student inclusion on Katy ISD book review committee". Katy Times. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  42. Dellinger, Hannah (September 27, 2022). "Katy ISD now requires parent permission for secondary students to check out classroom library books". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  43. Walsh, Dominic Anthony (December 13, 2022). "Katy school students come together as censorship of LGBTQ+ voices ramps up". Houston Public Media. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  44. Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF) Archived March 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  45. http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/2008/2008-schools.pdf
  46. "Katy ISD MCTC". www.katyisd.org. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  47. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  48. "Trustees name 3 new Katy schools." Houston Chronicle. April 5, 2008.
  49. Miles, Jason (August 2, 2018). "Katy ISD school built in reservoir ready to reopen post-Harvey". KHOU-TV. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  50. Seward, Larry (August 14, 2018). "Creech Elementary reopens nearly a year after Hurricane Harvey". KHOU-TV. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  51. "Microsoft Word - list-2003.doc" (PDF). ed.gov.
  52. "Katy ISD approves name of second stadium - Community Impact Newspaper". communityimpact.com. February 28, 2017.
  53. Gordon, Cathy. "Katy ISD solves jurisdiction problem with creation of its own police force." Houston Chronicle. February 26, 1989. Section C p. 1W. Available at NewsBank, Record: 02*26*606156, accessible from the website of the Houston Public Library with a library card.
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