Lenny Schad Email Address

Welcome to the homepage of the Houston Independent School District. HISD has 283 schools and 213,000 students, making it the largest district in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States.

After four decades of experience – including over 30 years serving as the superintendent of school districts all the way from North Carolina to Southern California to Houston, Texas – I decided to leave the superintendency in March 2016 and immediately began leading a fantastic foundation--Pure Edge, Inc. Some of my proudest accomplishments in recent years include leading HISD to its all-time high graduation rate and all-time low dropout rate, while scholarship dollars offered to our seniors have increased from $51 Million to $186 Million. We were named as a finalist for the prestigious Broad Prize in Urban Education in 2012 and we went on to win the award in 2013, receiving high marks for decreasing the achievement gap and increasing the number of minority students taking and doing well on AP tests. I’ve spent a lot of my career focused on education reform and turning around failing schools. HISD’s Apollo 20 program – a bold initiative to improve student outcomes through increased classroom time; tutoring; data-driven instructional models; and a culture of high expectations for students, faculty, and staff – continues to be replicated across the country. We need a “whatever it takes” approach to getting our kids prepared for life in a complex and challenging 21st century global economy. That includes helping students regain their focus that has been eroded by the fast pace world of technology and the stress associated with high stakes testing; living in urban environments; etc. Pure Edge, Inc.'s stretch exercise/mindfulness program gives students a competitive Edge by helping them focus!