HISD says patrols will be stepped up.

​A fifth-grade girl from White Elementary was abducted this morning on her way to school by a man who drove her to an apartment "where he touched her in an inappropriate sexual manner" and then returned her to school, HISD says.

The principal of the west side school, at 9001 Triola Lane, sent a letter home to parents telling them of the incident and urging students to travel in groups going to and from the campus.

The girls described the perpetrator as an "African American man with dreadlocks," HISD says, and he was driving a black car, possibly a Honda.

After taking her to his apartment, the man "then drove her back to a street near the White Elementary campus and let her out of the vehicle," HISD says. "A parent of another White Elementary student saw the girl on the roadside and noticed that she was in distress. The parent drove the girl to school, where she reported to staff what had happened."

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No need to express an opinion.

​Three abstentions? Really? You're voting on extending the contract of the man who works for you and you opt out? Decide not to have an opinion? Decide not to share your opinion? Certainly it's unlike any job review in the real world.

Last night, as expected, five members of the Houston ISD school board decided not to wait until December -- as Superintendent Terry Grier's contract had called for -- but to immediately renew his $300,000 yearly contract an extra year through 2014.

The surprise was that the newly elected school board president, Mike Lunceford, abstained from the vote. He was joined in his inability to choose between yes and no by newly elected Rhonda Skillern-Jones and board member Juliet Stipeche, who was elected in November 2010.

Only Anna Eastman voted a clear-cut no, to oppose the yeses from Paula Harris, Manuel Rodriguez, Greg Meyers, Harvin Moore and Larry Marshall.

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Terry Grier's contract being discussed.

​Are you ready for some more Terry Grier?

Five Houston school board members are, and they are looking to extend the superintendent's contract for another year, to 2014.

The move may come as early as tonight, although some are questioning whether doing so would violate the state's Open Meetings Act.

The board agenda doesn't specifically state the contract will be voted upon, but it does say the contract will be discussed in closed session and the board will then "consider items discussed" in that closed session.

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It's already broughten, heifer.

​When it comes to high school-coach rants, we have to admit we are only familiar with football coaches.

And even the worst of those never called us "highfalutin' heifers," but it's probably because we were all pretty low-falutin'.

A cheerleader coach at Cypress Woods High -- one who had obviously reached the end of her rope when it came to dealing with her team -- has been disciplined after being taped in a semi-epic rant that included the "heifer" phrase.

She had apparently been prone to such things, and a parent urged his daughter to surreptitiously tape one; he then gave the recording to KPRC.

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Photo by FBI

Rice Pride, robbing a bank.

​He may not be "tall, dark & handsome," but this Comerica bank branch robber is proudly Rice, through and through.

Not only is he wearing a dapper-yet-conservative business suit, he loudly displays his Owl Pride by sporting a Rice baseball cap, which, it must be said, is not the usual chapeau choice for your Houston criminal. Also, like any dedicated Rice grad, he's double-tasking, talking on his cell as he waits for his ill-gotten gains.

The man robbed a Comerica branch in the 2300 block of West Holcombe this afternoon, the FBI says -- not all that far from Rice's South Main campus! -- by handing over a note and saying he had a gun.

The FBI describes him as "a black male, 20-25, 5'8" - 5'9", with an average build, light complexion and clean shaven." Somehow they didn't add "mentioned needing money for Valhalla."

On Monday, Dekaney High students started a fire inside of the school gym.

​On Sunday night, Leticia Miranda received an e-mail from the staff at Andy Dekaney High School, which has been beset with violence that includes all-out riots.

"It said they aren't allowing hoodies, backpacks...and if the kids aren't there by 8 a.m., the doors would be locked and every student that's late is going to a 'special place,'" says Miranda, whose 16-year-old son attends the Spring ISD school in northwest Harris County.

True to the administrators' words, the classroom doors were locked on Monday at 8:01 a.m. The tardy ones were then sent to the "special place," a.k.a. the school gymnasium, to spend the remainder of the school day. All 200 of them.

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Photo by Daniel Aaron

Flooding at 59 and 610.

​The Houston Independent School District has cancelled all after-school events Wednesday due to heavy rain and flooding that has struck the area today. Administrators will decide at a later date whether to reschedule specific activities.

An HISD release states:

HISD schools will conduct dismissal at their regular time today. Teachers and staff will be released once dismissal is completed.

Employees in the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center will be dismissed from work at 4 p.m.

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier's visit to Eastwood Academy in honor of the school's 2011 Blue Ribbon Award will be rescheduled.

Since the weather has mostly cleared out of the immediate area this afternoon, we imagine things should go back to normal tomorrow and kids can complain that the rain hit after classes were already in session.

​The Houston Independent School District on Tuesday handed out awards to teachers for student high scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. The ASPIRE Award program is part of an ongoing effort to reward teachers for the success of their students.

According to an HISD press release, $35 million is being paid to 12,390 campus employees -- mostly classroom teachers -- this year. Some 9,162 teachers will receive $30.5 million with an average award of $3,324.26. Four teachers received $10,300 each including Debra Bunton (Highland Heights Elementary), Marcos Giannotti (Hobby Elementary), Chavis Mitchell (Osborne Elementary) and Stephanie Spurling (Hartsfield Elementary).

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​Like the dreaded butterfly effect (the phenomenon, not the Ashton Kutcher movie, although that was pretty bad, too), a bizarre decision by an Arizona school official to shutter a Mexican-American studies class means kids won't be reading a few well-regarded books published by the University of Houston's Arte Publico Press.

The Tucson Unified School District had included Message to Aztlan, by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales and Chicano! A History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement, by Arturo (no Corky) Rosales as texts for its Mexican-American studies program, according to a UH press release.

The classes were suspended earlier this month because Arizona Superintendent for Public Instruction John Huppenthal "upheld an Office of Administrative Hearings' ruling that the classes" violated state law, according to a TUSD press release. (The press release was then removed from the District's Web site and replaced with pictures of unicorns sliding down rainbows, because the press release also violated state press release law.)

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Comcast says: Yes, we do care!

​Back in September, Comcast made a deal with the Federal Communications Commission as part of its takeover of NBC and Universal Studios that it would provide low-cost Internet services and a cheaply priced computer to low-income families -- but that hasn't happened in the Houston area, according to union leader Orell Fitzsimmons.

Feeling that Comcast was trying to slip one by the FCC, Fitzsimmons and members of United Labor Unions Local 100 announced today that they will be out at Comcast's facility at 8590 West Tidwell around 4:30 p.m. Friday protesting. They say that it's not enough that Comcast has posted a notice of the program on its Web site -- it needs to do outreach in the schools and actually help some of what it says are 385,000 free lunch children's families that would qualify.

Ray Purser, vice president of government and public relations for Comcast-Houston, said he truly doesn't understand why Fitzsimmons is saying that the cable company hasn't done outreach promoting Internet Essentials, which is designed to provide low-cost access ($9.95 a month and a computer for $150) to low-income kids.

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