Hinojosa began her education career as a bilingual teacher shortly after visiting a friend’s first grade classroom and feeling a connection while reading to the students.
“I actually started telling them the story in Spanish because they weren’t understanding,” she said. “A little boy, ... he said to me, ‘maestra, maestra’ [meaning] teacher.”
At the time, Hinojosa said she was working in the fashion industry, but she eventually went back to school and began working for Houston ISD in the late 1980s. Prior to taking over the role as SISD superintendent Jan. 28, Hinojosa served as the district’s chief of innovation and equity. She began working for SISD in 2014 as the district’s chief academic officer.
Hinojosa spoke with Community Impact Newspaper on Feb. 23 about her goals for SISD. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is something you have learned being in the position so far?
Not learned, but [this has] validated that relationships are important. Listening is very important. And what’s going to differentiate our work from what we have done before is full commitment to execution of our plan and our work; not to let the distractions be distractions and get us off of our work. ...
[What] I’m asking—as I go around and talk to teachers [and] talk to school leaders—is that we commit to the execution of our work. We’ve got the plan, we’ve got the resources, we’ve got all of that. We just have to commit to see our work through.
What are your priorities for the Spring ISD?
Our students must excel academically. ... I brought in a new reading and math curriculum this August, and it was a challenge for our students. ... And so that will continue. We are ... [going to] continue our work in science, technology, engineering and math, but [we are also] bringing back to the forefront our arts. ...
Our priority must be our security. We need to make sure that our students are safe coming to school [and] going home; and any bad actors that are hanging around, they need to move on.
What are the biggest challenges Spring ISD is currently facing?
I know we’re gonna have challenges; I know that the virus is not gone; I want to continue ... following many of the safety protocols that we have in place, you know, the cleanliness, the hand sanitizers, all of that, and being able to give families and students choice, because we know that masks are one of the ways that we can protect ourselves and protect others. ...
Another challenge is ... our low enrollment. We’ve lost students; we don’t know necessarily if they’re at home [or] if they moved out of this area. So low enrollment also negatively impacts our district because it also means less funding to go around to our schools.
Do you think equity is important in a school district? Why or why not?
When you look at equity, equity acknowledges—and it’s okay to acknowledge that—we’re all different [and] that because of these differences, whether it’s cultural, whether it’s financial, whatever the causes of these differences, we must, No. 1, acknowledge the differences and then respond accordingly. And so equity means that we give schools what they need based on their student population and based on their teacher population. ...
When I stepped into [the role of chief of innovation and equity] almost two years ago, it was crucial for us as a district to step in that direction. Our board of [trustees] wanted to make sure we had someone that was able to come to the table ... to ask the questions, which are oftentimes very difficult and sometimes uncomfortable questions and dialogue to have, but it’s the right dialogue to have. They are the right questions to ask if we’re going to ensure that all students in Spring ISD are successful.
How do you plan to address learning loss due to COVID-19?
We talk about filling in the gap. So [it’s about] being able to take [students] at the beginning of the year and doing an assessment to determine what [do they] know? Where are the gaps? Where [do they] need help? And then [we can create] programs that will be able to take that student, fill in that gap [and] accelerate their learning to get them back to grade level.
