In 2015, I wrote about a group of high school students in Houston who sued the state for underfunding public schools. Valerie Strauss wrote about them too. She wrote: ““The two students who filed the brief on behalf of the HISD Student Congress, an organization that represents about 215,000 students in the district, are Zaakir Tameez, a member of the 2015 class of Carnegie Vanguard High School, and Amy Fan, a member of the 2016 class of Bellaire High School.”
I have always believed that students have more power than they know and they need to speak up about their education.
The two young people who founded the HISD Student Congress–Tameez and Fan–filed an excellent brief, but their appeal on behalf of underfunded school districts was rejected 9-0 by the Texas Supreme Court, which is elected statewide and consists of Republicans. The court complimented the students on their brief on page 24 of the ruling, footnote 100: “High school students Zaakir Tameez and Amy Fan, with the help of other students, have filed an excellent amicus brief.”
These are remarkable young people, our hope for the future.
After graduating from HISD, Amy Fan went to Duke University, where she graduated in 2020. She returned to Houston and is now the official advisor to HISD StuCon. She helped co-found a local civic engagement collective with other HISD StuCon alumni called Institute of Engagement. They just launched Shift Press, an online publication for Houston youth to tell their stories.
Zaakir Tameez is a remarkable young man. After he graduated from high school, he enrolled at the University of Virginia. He was an intern with the President of the University of Virginia and with Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz. After his graduation, he was selected as a Fulbright Scholar and is currently studying in the UK. He will begin Yale Law School in the fall.
So much for the detractors of Houston public schools!
Zaakir Tameez recently wrote to alert me that the school district (HISD) is trying to take control of the HISD Youth Congress away from students.
HISD is now trying to take over the Student Congress and replace it with a “district-sanctioned vehicle” that operates “under the direction” of administrators. In other words, district staff recommended that the board dissolve the student-run, student-led group that has been operating for seven years now to create something new that they can control.
It would mean so much to us if you could speak on this – a short blog post, or even a tweet. We are trying to raise awareness to fight back. It’s a sad situation, really. We’ve spent years advocating for greater funding & resources for HISD and to prevent the board takeover that is being planned by the State of Texas.
But then, this. Without any heads up, they are attempting to take us over. Not one board member or member of district staff has reached out to us yet to inform us of the resolution. I am attaching the resolution text and an FAQ on the situation…Your response would be so greatly appreciated. We’re proud that you came from the same schools that we did.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So NPE broadcast it far and wide. Of course, they can’t stop these students from working for a private enterprise outside the schools…
In my county we have an elected school board with an elected student (SMOB) who has some voting privileges. Some parents in our county have decided to sue the school board because they don’t think that the SMOB should have any say about decisions that affect all students……getting rid of SRO’s in the schools and keeping the schools closed because of Covid. These are the same parents who refuse to wear masks, want the state open for business and are very vocal about redistricting and racial issues (social engineering is the buzzword).
“I have always believed that students have more power than they know and they need to speak up about their education.”
Yes! I have tried to help students understand that fact at every opportunity while working in public schools. Would you be surprised to hear that this has not endeared me to school administrators?
Abbott and Patrick want to dismantle the Houston Public Schools. They do not want to hear dissenting views. They do not want to listen to stakeholders like students. They do not even want to listen to an elected school board. The want to impose top down privatization of public education on the city schools.https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/the-made-up-crisis-behind-the-state-takeover-of-houstons-public-schools
Bless these students.
And now for something completely different.
Geometry: a Love Story | Bob Shepherd
“Imagination can . . . arrange for parallel lines to meet in secret” –Shelley Jackson
Once upon a time, there were two parallel lines, and they couldn’t stop looking at one another.
My lord. Such beauty, each thought. Who would have believed, in all the world, that such perfection existed? If only. . . .
And so they went on, each longing.
Perhaps, one said, there is a certain purity in this. Holding the line.
F that, said the other.
Yeah, came the reply. F that.
I know, for I ran across them both. I found one shy and acute, the other bold and obtuse. But they were just right for each other.
It’s good, at least, to have you by my side, said one.
Yes, said the other, and sighed. Perhaps we could meet in secret?
No, damn him.
Damn who?
Euclid, the other expostulated.
You contain infinities within infinities, said the first.
You, too, said the other. You are my horizon. Aside from you lies only the abyss.
That is very beautiful, and very true, said the first.
Yes, said the other. It is.
On and on they went like this until, until,
Their longing warped space itself. Or perhaps it was God, taking pity, crumpling space and time.
And they lived happily ever after.
https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2021/02/05/geometry-a-love-story-bob-shepherd/
Speaking of Texas, there’s good news for Baltimore. The aerial surveillance program begun in secrecy in 2016 with funding from Texas billionaires, John and Laura Arnold, appears to have come to an end thanks to the ACLU. The Baltimore City Council terminated the contract with the private company who ran the program for the police. (Vice 2-4-2021).
We should all take a seminar explaining how power responds to organized resistance. The HSD is forming a company union! How can we (your readers) help the organized students?
You can contact @HISDstuCon
Or write: ztameez1@gmail.com