HTX-BMW: Impact 10/13/2025

Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles said the district is retaining more highly rated teachers compared to teachers who scored lower on the district’s teacher rating scale, according to a Sept. 29 news release.

Some context: The announcement is coming after officials approved a new teacher evaluation system, dubbed the Teacher Excellence System, in March. Officials noted the data included in the Sept. 29 news release was collected in the 2024-25 school year using the district’s old evaluation system.

A closer look: According to a Sept. 29 news release, teacher performance was broken down into six categories, with "Exemplary I" marking the highest rating and "Unsatisfactory" representing the lowest rating. According to the news release, the district retained:

• 89% of its teachers rated "Exemplary I"
• 88% of teachers rated "Proficient II"
• 85% of teachers rated "Proficient I"

With an array of classes to choose from, Pvolve opened its doors to Houston residents in and around the Galleria area in September.

What to expect: Pvolve is a fitness studio that touts low-impact, high-resistance functional movement exercises designed to help women build strength and reduce pain.

The studio offers six different classes that incorporate a variety of strength training, flexibility and recovery. Virtual classes are also available.

• 5000 Westheimer Road, Ste. 108, Houston

Home affordability in the Houston region has a more balanced position in the September housing affordability report from the Houston Association of Realtors.

At a glance: Single-family homes priced from $250,000 to $499,999, which accounted for more than 55% of all September sales, experienced a 1.3% decline compared to the same time last year, according to the report.

Digging deeper: The median home price was $327,000, which is 2.1% less than last year’s figure. The average price inched up 2% to $421,655, largely due to a rise in luxury home sales in September, per the release.

Quote of note: “The past few months have brought lower mortgage rates, and it has helped boost buyer confidence,” HAR Chair Shae Cottar with LPT Realty said in a statement.

Community Impact is looking for residents in Houston whose homes have been affected by a recent natural disaster and are still in–or have yet to start–the home repair process.

If you are interested in speaking with us about the struggles of funding and/or are open to allowing a photographer to take photos of your home, please reach out to cjenkins@communityimpact and [email protected].

Texas’ power grid is unlikely to have issues this December, according to an Oct. 3 report by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

The details: During the winter, demand for electricity spikes when people get up in the morning and return home in the evening. This December, the tightest period is expected to be from 7-8 a.m. each day, when little to no solar power is being produced. ERCOT found that there will be a 1.81% chance of a grid emergency during that time.

“Under typical grid conditions, the deterministic scenario indicates that there should be sufficient generating capacity available," the report reads.

The background: Texas' grid withstood three cold snaps early this year. ERCOT last asked residents to voluntarily reduce their energy use in January 2024.

Legislative approach: State lawmakers approved legislation this spring that is designed to make the grid more reliable by tightening regulations on large electric consumers, such as data centers. In extreme grid conditions, those customers will be required to switch to backup power to reduce strain on the grid.