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HISD workers wonder what state takeover would mean for their jobs
As Houston ISD waits to learn if there will be a state takeover, some workers in the district including HISD bus drivers, are trying to find out what the change would mean for their jobs. FOX 26's Damali Keith reports some answers and speaks with support personnel.
HOUSTON - As the Houston Independent School District waits to learn if there will be a state takeover, some workers in the district are trying to find out what the change would mean for their jobs.
Support personnel in HISD such as bus drivers had a lot of questions regarding if they were in jeopardy of losing their jobs in a state takeover. So they took their concerns to a state official.
"Most of the time when something like this comes down the first they want to cut is the front line people," says Wretha Thomas who is President of the Houston Educational Support Personnel (HESP).
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We caught up with Thomas shortly after she finished a meeting with Texas House Public Education member State Representative Harold Dutton, who filed a bill supporting a state takeover of HISD.
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One of the first things she asked him was, "If they take over HISD we want to make sure our blue-collar workers, our bus drivers, our custodians and maintenance employee jobs are secure."
Thomas is advocating to protect the 6,500 HISD support workers and says Rep. Dutton answered all of her questions. "And he told me it would be business as usual and that the support personnel would not be threatened in this takeover if it happens. At this time I really do feel like we have job security for our blue collar workers," Thomas says.
Even while questioning job security in the event of a state takeover, Thomas says she’s still trying to secure pay raises for bus drivers in an effort to get fully staffed.
"It’s ridiculous. We’re still probably down by about 200 bus drivers and we’re scrapping every day. We just want to encourage our support personnel to continue to come to work, be on time, keep a positive attitude and do the job better than anyone else can do."
The latest word regarding the takeover, the Texas Education Agency says the state, "Continues to review the Supreme Court’s decision in order to determine next steps that best support the students, teachers, parents and school community of the Houston Independent School District."