site down

Houston Independent School District website crashes on first day of school

Thousands of HISD kids were met with a non-working site.

Photo courtesy of Pixlr

UPDATE: Servers finally began responding some time after 11 am, and the district confirmed just before noon that things were running again, ABC13 reports.

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The website for the largest school district in the state crashed Tuesday, September 8, hours after classes began for thousands of students.

Houston Independent School District's website didn't load for users as information technology sites reported the site crashed around 8 am; the site still appears to be non-working as of publishing. A look at IsItDownRightNow? showed the Houston ISD website server to be down.

However, a local parent tells CultureMap that HISD quickly sent an alternate link via text and email.

“We can't be prepared for a crash,” said HISD interim superintendent Dr. Grenita Lathan, at a Tuesday press conference.

Ahead of the first day of online instruction, not all students had access to the technology needed to learn from home. Families will have the option to choose between in-person or online classes every six weeks. Lathan had outlined how the district planned to equip nearly 214,000 students with appropriate technology to not fall behind this academic year.

“If a particular school still needs 500 devices, and we only have 100 we can deploy, that school is being opened as a learning center," said Lathan. “Those students that are showing in the system that still do not have a device will be [invited] to attend the learning center until their device arrives.”

In an exclusive interview on CultureMap news partner, ABC13, Lathan outlined how the district is stepping up to keep students safe amidst the coronavirus outbreak, and how they're working to keep kids from falling behind.

“I think we will revisit the school day and I'm hoping our state officials and elected officials will revisit what the time looks like for the school day,” she said. “So, do we need eight hours? Do we need 10? I always believe we need more time, especially when students are behind, and what should the school calendar look like that is not a challenge. This pandemic has challenged us all and will continue to challenge us to think differently.”

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For more on this story, visit our news partner ABC13.

education kids

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”