Furr High School

Bertie Simmons (died 2021[11]) began her term as principal in 2000.[12] She had retired from teaching, but decided to become a principal after her granddaughter died in a skiing accident.[13] In 2003 a riot occurred at Furr. While many assistant principals wanted to send the 42 involved children to CEP, a disciplinary school, Simmons called them into her office to have a discussion. The students said that they did not believe that the September 11 attacks occurred, and that they believed the authorities were trying to deceive them. Simmons told them that she would take them to New York City in the June following that school year if the school remained at peace. After the school term completed, the students traveled to New York City.[14] In 2010 Simmons was ranked as the 2010 Houston Press best school principal.[15] Laura Isensee of Houston Public Media stated in 2017 that Simmons's term was relatively long as many principals of low income urban high schools have relatively short terms.[16]

Around 2010 several students who originated from Honduras and newly enrolled at Furr were M13 gang members. In 2016 Margaret Downing of the Houston Press wrote that by 2016 "they were handled and are long gone".[12]

Terry Grier gave Simmons an Excellence in Leadership award in 2015 despite previously having some workplace disagreements with Simmons.[17]

In 2016 Furr won the Super School competition, organized by Laurene Powell Jobs, prevailing over about 700 other schools. The prize was a $10 million grant,[18] awarded by the XQ Institute, and the Furr administration planned to use the money to revitalize the teaching program.[19] The grant was awarded partly because Simmons had installed a conflict mediation room for students called the "thinkery room". Simmons also intended to have an on-campus community center funded with the grant money.[17]

In October 2017 the HISD administration suspended Simmons, accusing her of disobeying a district directive to suspend school uniforms in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and threatening to issue tickets for non-compliance, as well as threatening students with a baseball bat. According to Simmons, she had the right to set a dress code, and that the bat statements were commonly understood as jokes.[20] On a previous occasion students gave Simmons an engraved bat as a gift in light of the jokes.[21] Simmon's lawyer, Scott Newar, filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice.[22] He accused the HISD administration of attempting to remove Simmons in favor of a non-Hispanic white principals and of trying to seize and redistribute the $10 million Super School grant.[23] Simmons stated that the project organizers only intended for the grant to go to Furr and that it would not be given if the money did not arrive at the intended destination, but that HISD administrators wanted the grant money used in multiple locations in the district.[24] Students staged a school walk-out in favor of Simmons.[25] In May 2018 HISD announced that an investigation conducted by lawyers concluded that some administrators inappropriately altered grades. HISD officials did not clarify whether Simmons will still be employed by HISD. Jacob Carpenter of the Houston Chronicle stated "Although HISD officials did not implicate Simmons on Tuesday, the findings appear to spell an ignominious end to her five-decade career in HISD."[26] The HISD board terminated her after a 5-1 vote in June 2018. Simmons sued the district, stating that it discriminated against her being white and against her age. She also filed an appeal with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), although the agency hearing examiner's recommendations are not binding on HISD.[27] HISD gave Simmons a $100,000 settlement in September 2018.[28] Simmons donated the settlement money and has a memoir Whispers of Hope: The Story of My Life, scheduled to be released on November 2, 2019.[17]

Simmons' community center was never implemented and the "thinkery room" was repurposed.[17]

Rosa E. Hernandez became interim principal in 2017.[29] Simmons's successor served for one year. The suspension rates increased after Simmons' departure; Simmons stated it was mostly among African-American students.[17]