Written by Michael Thervil
On Saturday this past weekend, protesters from all over Houston gathered at the headquarters of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to protest Superintendent Mike Miles closing various school libraries within the district and repurposing them to be used to separate and collect students that have discipline and behavior problems in their normal classrooms. This is an effort by Superintendent Mike Miles to foster a classroom environment that supports students who want to learn from those who don’t. In doing so the goal is to foster an environment for teachers and educators to perform their tasks and duties unrestricted and free from the stress, burden, and fear of having to deal with students that have behavioral issues and students that are disruptive and often time destructive in the classroom. We highlighted this issue within HISD in a previous article.
Simply put, with Mike Miles strategically repurposing libraries into detention holding room for problematic students, it will allow teachers to deliver their lesson more efficiently and effectively to deserving students - or will it? According to the protesters, the placing of students into the library turned detention centers is doing nothing more than conditioning the students to go to jail or prison. Some protesters have even called for parents, students, and teachers not to return to school and work until Superintendent Mike Miles reverses his decision of turning school libraries into detention centers. It should also be noted that when Superintendent Mike Miles decided to repurpose targeted school libraries into detention centers, the Librarians at those schools claimed to have found themselves out of a job.
There’s a lot at stake here. On the one hand, you can’t allow students that suffer from behavior issues to deprive students of a quality education, but at the same time, according to protesters, they can’t allow students to be conditioned to go to jail or prison. Superintendent Mike Miles has a dilemma on his hands. Can he balance the two extremes? There are many people that are lined up on both sides of the fence. Could the current issues that HISD face be bigger than both Mike Miles and the HISD Protestors? We think so
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