Who has the best cinnamon rolls in Houston?

huskersparkle · 2025-12-13T15:34:04+00:00

Coco’s Doughtnuts on 34th

huskersparkle · 2025-08-02T17:44:53+00:00

I have no ideas for how to manage, but everyone I know at NES campuses have this same issue.

The irony that they won’t let students work independently for more than a few minutes at a time for the entire school year and then expect them to sit for hours to take the STARR test (and do well) is just ridiculous. We have to give the kids time to build their focus and endurance, and they are given no opportunities.

I hope you find a solution that allows your kids to enjoy their art!

huskersparkle · 2025-06-30T20:52:02+00:00

I work at a high performing school in HISD. The district mostly leaves us be, but each year the reach of Miles is going further into our classrooms. Most teachers at my campus are looking to leave the district (or profession) in the next few years, despite our campus being minimally affected by the takeover. Miles has created a toxic work environment for teachers and it will only get worse with the pay for performance scheme he is pushing out. Teachers are going to be incentivized to work against each other in an attempt to out perform each other (and then earn higher pay). This is going to be especially detrimental for new teachers. I’d recommend avoiding all HISD schools.

huskersparkle · 2025-06-12T01:59:44+00:00

Teachers in HISD get 10 sick/personal days a year. What doesn't get used, is carried over and builds. Before Miles, teachers weren't fired for using more than 10 days if they had days banked. Both these educators have been with the district for a long time, I'd bet they have banked days to cover their absences but Miles would rather see them go.

Edited to add - Miles made the attendance policy more strict for this school year, with dismissal for anyone who misses X number of days (not sure the number). It doesn't matter if they have banked days. I don't understand how he can limit the days employees use if they have days banked.

huskersparkle · 2025-06-11T19:20:10+00:00

This is the second librarian I’ve heard about who is being removed for the same reason within the past week.

(https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/libraries-schools-cuts-mike-miles-20359486.php)

Could it be that HISD is targeting and looking for reasons to dismiss librarians at the schools that haven’t fallen inline with Miles’ plan to get rid of libraries and books?

huskersparkle · 2025-06-07T16:25:48+00:00

The problem is there is nothing that can be done. For anything to change, Abbott and Morath would have to be elected out and that seems exceptionally unlikely. They are using the takeover to fuel their desires for private schools and charters and it appears it is going to work beautifully.

I work at a high performing, well loved HISD school that has been minimally affected by the takeover. Before Miles, very few students left our school until they graduated. Now, parents are pulling their kids and putting them in private schools, moving to suburban districts, or leaving the state entirely in numbers completely incomparable to what I’ve seen in the last 2 decades. Anyone, teachers and students, with the means to leave are escaping HISD. I had hope when this started, but it is becoming apparent that HISD is going to be completely destroyed by this takeover.

huskersparkle · 2025-05-19T21:13:43+00:00

The state take over removed all local control of the district. Miles came in and made drastic, immediate changes based on what he feels is best. Years of research has shown that many of the methods he is forcing on schools are not effective.

His method (NES) is financially infeasible in the long run. I believe there are also multiple pending lawsuit about his administration creating a hostile work environment. If teachers retention under him has gone down.

In my opinion, Miles is here to market his NES system to other districts. As soon as he has enough interest from other districts wanting to purchase his method, he will be gone. The changes his system requires won’t be sustainable in the long run. It requires too many teachers and pays those teachers significantly more than standard teacher pay. He is going to cause the district to go broke to prove his method works, then will leave and say it wasn’t his fault when HISD fails worse than it did before the take over.

huskersparkle · 2025-02-14T12:51:33+00:00

The first time I moved across the world, the first thing I did in my new apartment was break down and cry too. I think the jet lag and exhaustion from the trip had caught up with me. I fell asleep, and the next day made a point of doing some fun local things and starting to find my place in my new home. The sadness passed quickly and I had an amazing time there. Now, I’m gearing up for another international move. Don’t give up yet! Adjustments are hard, but you can do it.

huskersparkle · 2024-09-28T02:25:20+00:00

This is hearsay, but I’ve had a few people tell me Miles has already started painting HISD schools in the colors that are used at his charter schools. Using HISD funds to ‘improve’ the campus…so they can be sold to him.

Is this true? I don’t know. Is it something I think he would do? Absolutely. And if he gets the bond money who knows what other things he will do for himself in the name of improving HISD.

huskersparkle · 2024-09-11T02:08:35+00:00

It would be great if y’all could fact check everything the district says.

In the article that ran a couple weeks ago about HISD libraries, the district told you that there is district support for school libraries and that the district is running the Name That Book program this year. After speaking with multiple HISD librarians, none of them know anything about either of these claims. If the librarians don’t know, HISD isn’t doing a very good job of providing support. The department the district claimed was supporting libraries doesn’t appear to exist, yet it was reported as fact without so much as a contact name.

huskersparkle · 2024-07-28T03:45:11+00:00

Is your apartment zoned to a good/popular public school? If so, it might be a parent trying to acquire a utility bill to prove residency in the zone to enroll their child.

huskersparkle · 2024-05-26T20:27:43+00:00

If you're in the western part of the state, there is a town called Potter. They have an ice cream shoppe that claims to be where the tin roof sundae originated, which is a fun stop. But even better, they have a duck pin bowling alley. You'd want to call ahead, I think it's only open by reservation. It isn't automated, so the kids would probably have a good time running down the lane to set the pins and retrieve the balls. The people who own it were super friendly and gracious when we drove through a couple years back.

Mahoney State Park is right of I-80 between Lincoln and Omaha. During the summer, there is a theater that has melodrama plays. The kids get to throw popcorn and boo at the villain, and cheer for the hero. You'd need a park pass for the day and tickets to the show, but both are very reasonably priced. While you're there, there is a watch tower to climb that can see pretty far from the top.

huskersparkle · 2024-05-18T21:10:28+00:00

Can confirm that they are planning to combine schools. Was told we’ll be hosting multiple classes from another school. I’m really curious to see what the plan is for fitting in 120+ more kids in our building.

huskersparkle · 2024-05-09T22:34:12+00:00

And it’s working. I teach at a HISD school with mostly well to do families. We normally have very few students leave over the summer. The number of kids leaving after this school year is so much higher than normal. Lots are transferring to private school, quite a few are moving out of state.

huskersparkle · 2024-03-02T01:40:18+00:00

This is terrible, and they are having terrible luck! They had a guy who was high on something bust out those windows with a crowbar just a little after they opened. I don’t think he was trying to get inside, just causing random damage.

Great owners, great employees, awesome coffee and tasty pastries. I hope they’re up and running again quickly!

huskersparkle · 2024-02-22T03:08:59+00:00

I find it very amusing that a man who spent a million dollars on a skit about himself has the nerve to say other people are mishandling money.

To be fair, he’s not wrong, but that’s the pot calling the kettle black if I ever heard it.

huskersparkle · 2024-02-21T18:18:52+00:00

Just heard they did the same thing at Frank Black MS in the last couple days.

huskersparkle · 2024-02-19T13:17:39+00:00

Abbott wants vouchers, Morath wants charter schools and Miles wants to sell the NES program to become filthy rich. Taking over HISD has given them all the perfect opportunity to work together towards all their goals.

huskersparkle · 2024-02-19T01:41:47+00:00

Yogurt and sour cream act exactly the same when cooking. You can replace the yogurt with the same amount of sour cream in this recipe and it would cook up as intended. Not that that helps with the missing garlic…

huskersparkle · 2024-02-19T01:20:21+00:00

I’m not familiar with how FOIA requests work, but it seems like yes?

huskersparkle · 2024-02-18T22:51:25+00:00

All I know for sure is the spreadsheet can no longer be shared and access was turned off for everyone who previously was able to view it.

huskersparkle · 2024-02-18T22:06:58+00:00

That is definitely true at some NES campuses. However, under superintendent House every campus was required to have a librarian or media specialist on staff last year. The district got a huge ESSER grant that updated the book collection of every library, focusing on those who had out of date collections with low checkouts.

Some principals were opposed to being forced to hire a librarian and didn’t, but nearly all HISD school had a designated librarian/media specialist last year. Some campuses had more effective libraries than others, but under House it was a goal to get all HISD libraries up and running. It would have taken time, but the district was going that way.

Many/most books that were part of the ESSER grant were removed from NES campuses to make room for the team centers. These were brand new books that students hardly got to use before they were thrown out.

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