T.H. Rogers students plead with Houston ISD to not relocate profoundly disabled students
HOUSTON - Mack Hutchison, an 8th-grade gifted student at T.H. Rogers School put together a YouTube video with fellow and former Rogers students leading with Houston ISD to keep his student body the way it's been for decades.
"We at Rogers believe the PSI students are so important to our community," says Hutchison. "We are willing to do whatever is needed, and whatever HISD requires to continue to serve them."
Hutchinson's mother, Elisabeth, says her son was motivated to make the video after seeing his school could look a lot different soon.
PREVIOUS STORY: 'It's reckless': Parents react after HISD plans to relocate profoundly disabled students to different schools
"I told him that they're taking away the only choice that these kids have," says Elisabeth Hutchinson. "And I said that to Mack, and he said, "I'm going to do something."
The district's Special Education Director recently announced to the parents of profoundly-disabled children at Rogers they would be getting relocated to neighborhood schools.
Parents tell FOX 26 Rogers is the only school in the district that gives exceptional accommodations for their student's medical care. In November, Julie Beeson said the school has been helpful for her son, Beau. The 15-year-old was born prematurely with cerebral palsy and deals with frequent illnesses.
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The letter sent to parents does not indicate students in the Vanguard or the gifted program would be relocated as well. Families are frustrated since the unique campus caters to both levels of learning.
"They didn't end up at Rogers by accident," says Hutchison. "They had to apply to get in. They made this decision for their students and HISD has made a different decision without even consulting them."
Parents met with HISD leaders before Thanksgiving break, but officials had limited information on why students were getting relocated and where they would go.
HISD enrolling students in new self-esteem courses
HISD is partnering with e-learning platform "Enrichly" to help students build their self-esteem through "gameified" online courses. The creator was recently selected as one of 50 businesses in the country to receive $100,000 in funding to help expand the program. Fox 26's Chelsea Edwards speaks with CEO Margo Jordan about how she hopes to use her program to help combat violence in Houston. For more information, visit https://www.enrich.ly/.
"One spokesperson that was speaking for HISD proudly said, 'Oh, I can't tell you any schools that would work for your kids at this point. I just moved to Houston'," Hutchison says.
Parents are also being told by those neighborhood schools that there is no room for their special-needs students on their campuses. They have begun filing grievances against the district.
As of Dec. 1, at least 12 grievances have been submitted. In November, HISD told FOX 26 that this relocation decision was based on recommendations from the Texas Education Agency, a public education overseer.
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Parents have also requested information from TEA, asking for specific data that supports this decision. They're waiting on official responses from both offices.
HISD tells FOX 26 they are working on scheduling additional meetings for parent feedback. Our newsroom is also waiting on a response from TEA on the public information requests.
The next HISD board meeting is set for Dec. 8. Although the matter has not been placed on the agenda, T.H. Rogers parents say they plan on attending in hopes their voices would be heard.