When Broad-trained military man Mike Miles was superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, the district experienced a mass exodus of teachers in response to Miles’ top-down style of management. Houston is experiencing the same phenomenon, the Houston Chronicle reported.

More than 4,000 employees left Houston ISD in June, bringing the total departures since the state takeover to over 10,000.

The record number is three times higher than the June departure average for the past five years, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of district employment records. Over 75% of the departures were recorded as “voluntary,” including retirements and resignations.

Teachers accounted for more than 2,400 of the employees who left in June, with the monthly tally exceeding the total number of teachers who typically leave HISD over an entire school year, according to the analysis. About 4,700 of HISD’s roughly 11,000 teachers left the district during the 2023-24 school year.

Some teachers cited state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles’ strict new reforms and sudden class assignment changes as the reasons they left. June’s bloated number of departures includes job cuts and terminations linked to job status notices.

Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, called the teacher departures “unprecedented.”

June’s HISD staff departures surged to three times the average

Over 4,000 staff members left the district this June. The record number of departures was more than triple the average for the past five years….

Bellaire High School teacher Brady Mayo, who taught business law and International Baccalaureate business management, said he chose to retire after seeing teachers hesitate to use time off and deal with new district-mandated policies, such as requiring classroom doors to stay open, at the campus he loved.

There was a culture of fear under new district leadership, he said, even though his campus was not a school in Miles’ New Education System.

“I mean, nobody asked me to leave. But I felt run off, just like most teachers. And nobody ran me off. It’s just the way I felt,” the 33-year educator said. “I felt like Mike Miles was going to put his teachers in place, whether they’re certified or not, his yes men.”

Askew Elementary School teacher Karen Calhoun said the district-imposed strategies did not allow teachers to use techniques that they knew worked for students. Calhoun, who retired in June ahead of Askew formally becoming an NES school this fall, said many “top-tier” teachers left the school. She had never seen turnover like this in her 40 years at the school.

“I decided to retire because I could see the change happening,” Calhoun said. “It’s obvious. People come in all the time (for classroom observation). They don’t identify themselves when they come in. You don’t know who they are. They take notes, they go back and they talk to the principal. You don’t even know what’s going on….”

School staff felt micromanaged, said Lea Mishlan, former principal of West Briar Middle School. Mishlan was told to resign by the district or face board termination.

“We were constantly —  I mean, even the last week of school, we were expected to be in their rooms,” the 20-year educator said. “And so they just felt like they were being nitpicked. And so every time I had to present something to them, it was just like, what? Like, again? Like, another change? So, the morale was horrible, and it was really hard to maintain positivity throughout the craziness.”