Ken Huewitt named interim Houston ISD superintendent

Five months after Terry Grier resigned as Houston Independent School District superintendent, the Board of Education has named an interim superintendent. The board voted unanimously on Wednesday to name Deputy Superintendent and chief financial officer Ken Huewitt as interim superintendent of the largest school district in Texas.

Board trustees continue to search for a permanent replacement for Superintendent Grier, whose administration ends Feb. 29. He has served with HISD for almost seven years.

Huewitt will begin his interim duties on Tuesday, March 1.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to lead the Houston Independent School District, and I thank the board for their confidence,” said Huewitt in a statement released by HISD. “We want to continue to stabilize the district, but also keep Houston on the map as the top urban district in the country.”

Huewitt joined HISD in 2001 and has served as Deputy Superintendent and chief financial officer since July 2015. He supervises all HISD financial operations including the Controller’s Office, Budget and Financial Planning, Benefits and Risk Management, Medicaid Finance, Real Estate, Materials Management and Warehousing, in addition to the School Business Manager Training Program.

Before he was employed at HISD, Huewitt served as an auditor for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General, a senior audit specialist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a senior associate for Coopers & Lybrand, and a regional director of finance for The ServiceMaster Corporation.

The Council of Great City Schools honored Huewitt in November 2015 with the Bill Wise Award for distinguished service in urban education.

Dr. Grier announced his pending resignation in September 2015. that he would be stepping down this spring. His last day is Feb. 29.