Each week, “Pop Quiz” features an interview with a member of Greater Houston’s education community. To suggest someone we should interview with an interesting story to tell, email us at [email protected] .
Meet the interviewee
Plácido Gómez, one of Houston ISD’s newest elected board members , could soon step into a more powerful role leading Texas’ largest district after spending a year in the position without decision-making authority.
HISD’s elected board members have received limited attention since they lost voting power in June 2023 when Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath installed a new superintendent, Mike Miles, and nine-member school board in HISD.
But according to state law and the plans laid out by the Texas Education Agency, three of HISD’s elected trustees could return to voting positions as soon as June 2025, kicking off a two-year transition process that would return HISD’s board to fully elected leadership in June 2027. (Morath could choose to delay the start of the transition until 2026 or 2027, if he determines HISD hasn’t made enough progress. He must announce his decision before June.)
In November 2023, Gómez ran unopposed for his seat representing District VIII, which snakes through HISD along the Buffalo Bayou and extends toward the shipping channel…