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Board hears demonstration of text‑to‑speech tools; trustees withdraw motion to impose a pilot and ask staff for rollout updates
Summary
Humble ISD assistive‑technology staff demonstrated districtwide access to Read&Write and Orbit Note (text‑to‑speech and annotation tools); trustees discussed awareness versus a required pilot, withdrew the motion to formally start a pilot and requested an update on classroom use and marketing.
District assistive‑technology staff demonstrated text‑to‑speech, speech‑to‑text and annotation tools that are already available to students and staff and reported Humble ISD leads the nation in vendor usage for the products shown.
"These tools level the playing field for everyone," said Laura Dowy Northcut, director of responsive services, describing Read&Write and Orbit Note features such as highlighting words as text is read aloud, translation into more than 100 languages and PDF annotation for assignments.
Presenters said the district has automated distribution through Chrome extensions and that the vendor Everway confirmed Humble ISD currently shows very high usage—about 2.5 million clicks for Read&Write and 1.4 million for Orbit Note. Staff recommended a pilot to measure classroom outcomes, but trustees debated whether a formal pilot was necessary because the tools are already available and in use.
Trustees discussed alternative approaches: a targeted set of exemplar classrooms to gather qualitative data and a communications/awareness campaign to ensure teachers and families know how to access the tools. Mr. Scarfo suggested volunteer classrooms to make usage tangible; others urged preserving teacher choice. The maker of the motion withdrew it after discussion; trustees asked staff to bring back usage data and recommended updates on any exemplar classrooms and family outreach.
No formal policy change or pilot vote was taken; the board expects a future update summarizing classroom feedback and usage.
