Houston ISD Chief of Strategic Initiatives Orlando Riddick, who joined the district the day of the state takeover, has resigned.
Riddick, who joined on June 1, 2023 when the state tapped Mike Miles as superintendent, served as a regional chief supervising different schools. In 2025, he was promoted to be the “Chief of Strategic Initiatives.” In that role, Riddick was the point person for Miles’ new vision for school autonomy, which allows schools to turn over their operations to outside nonprofits in exchange for greater decision-making authority — rather than HISD’s central office making decisions for those schools.
HISD did not respond to questions sent Aug. 20 about Riddick’s departure, and Riddick did not respond to a request for comment. His resignation agreement, effective Aug. 4, does not detail why he left…