HISD alters start dates
About 80 school openings to be further delayed
Students at nine Houston ISD schools will be temporarily shifted to different campuses due to flood damage from Tropical Storm Harvey, and those attending about 80 schools likely won’t return to classes next week as originally planned, Superintendent Richard Carranza announced Thursday.
The district already had delayed the return of students for the fall by two weeks in response to Harvey, which drenched the Houston region with historic rainfall amounts after making landfall on Aug. 25.
Carranza said he expects 202 of the district’s roughly 280 campuses to open Monday, as planned. Under the revised start dates, though, students at the hardest-hit campuses will begin classes as late as Sept. 25, giving workers additional time to complete building repairs.
District officials said start dates for campuses remain fluid, making it difficult to project how many campuses will open on specific dates. Some schools could open mid-week and on a few days’ notice.
“Our goal is to get them in school as quickly as we can, as safely as possible,” said Carranza, who is starting his second year as superintendent of the nation’s
seventh-largest school district.
The projected start date for each school can be viewed on the district’s website at www.houstonisd.org/harvey.
The breadth of the fastchanging plan reflects the havoc wreaked by Harvey, which dumped almost 52 inches of rain on the Houston area, triggering massive neighborhood flooding and causing billions in property damage.
Harvey touched virtually all corners of the district, with more than 75 campuses sustaining “major” or “extensive” damage, administrators said. Early estimates put the hurricane’s cost to the district at about $700 million, Carranza said.
The superintendent’s announcement follows several days of uncertainty about start dates and building damage at the Houston ISD, expected to serve about 218,000 students this year. Employees have now surveyed all of the district’s campuses, several of which were heavily damaged by floodwaters, Carranza said.
Working through the kinks
District officials are working to relocate students attending nine campuses that sustained the heaviest flood damage. They are Askew, Braeburn, Hilliard, Kolter, Mitchell, Robinson and Scarborough elementary schools; Burbank Middle School; and Liberty High School. Combined they served about 6,500 students last year.
Carranza said three of those campuses likely won’t reopen this year, though he didn’t specify which. Students in those schools are expected to be relocated to now-vacant buildings.
The remaining six schools could be closed for a few weeks or months, Carranza said.
Students attending those six will be temporarily sent to existing Houston ISD schools, where they will share space, or other vacant facilities.
“I’m excited that we’re getting some normalcy back to our kids. I think it’s important for them to have a consistent place for them to be every day,” said Houston ISD board vice chair Rhonda Skillern-Jones, whose district includes Hilliard and Scarborough elementary schools.
“I don’t think it will go perfect. This is our first time doing it, and there will be some kinks that we’ll have to work through. But I think, overall, it’s the best thing.”
Carranza said he does not anticipate any “split shifts” at campuses, with one group of students attending class at a building in the morning and another group arriving at the same building in the afternoon. Humble ISD has used that tactic to accommodate the 2,800 displaced students from Kingwood High School, which could be closed for the year due to flood damage.
As the financial costs to Houston ISD come into view, administrators are beginning to assess how to pay the estimated $700 million repair bill.
The district’s insurers have been on-site in recent days, and funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are expected to help defray the costs of repairs. Carranza called on state officials to dip into Texas’ $10 billion “rainy day” fund to help cover expenses, but Gov. Greg Abbott has said he doesn’t intend to call a special session for legislators to authorize “rainy day” funds on Harvey recovery.
District officials don’t yet know how much, if any, of Harvey’s cost will come out of the district’s
“I don’t think there’s a way, without philanthropic giving and the state opening their coffers, that the district will be whole.”
Rhonda Skillern-Jones, HISD board vice chair
budget. Board members passed a budget in June that tapped the district’s “rainy day” fund to plug a $106 million shortfall. Projections showed the district fund would have about $246 million at the end of fiscal 2017-18, below the state-recommended total of $275 million.
“We were already in a precarious financial position,” Skillern Jones said. “I know the insurance company definitely has to do their part. I don’t think there’s a way, without philanthropic giving and the state opening their coffers, that the district will be whole.”
In addition to making extensive repairs, district administrators have been coordinating to address the needs of students in shelters, children living in temporary housing and teachers affected by the flooding.
Carranza said staffers are working with authorities at shelters to identify Houston ISD students and transport them to schools once they re-open. In some cases, Carranza said, the students might be transported to a school that isn’t their home school but is close to them.
Displaced students now living in different parts of the city will be allowed to attend nearby campuses under relaxed enrollment policies, administrators said.
Some districts resume class
The Houston Federation of Teachers reported that about 300 Houston ISD educators were affected by flooding, some of whom aren’t expected to be ready to return for the first day of classes. Zeph Capo, the teachers’ union president, said the district has been accommodating as teachers work through personal challenges stemming from Harvey.
As he coordinated a volunteer clean-up effort involving more than 150 students and faculty Thursday, Sharpstown High School Principal Dan De León said it’s important for his community for school to resume.
“It’s going to be a struggle for a lot of people,” De León said. “For teachers, a 30-minute commute is now taking an hour and a half, and going home is even longer. It’s a real commitment for them, but they’ve all committed to be here and to start school.”
Several districts across the Houston area have had to make accommodations after flooding caused significant damage to school buildings.
Humble ISD officials have temporarily closed Kingwood High School and chosen to send students to Summer Creek High School, which will share its building. Students at Creech Elementary in Katy ISD will be attending class in a vacant University of Houston satellite campus building about a mile from the school.
Students returned to class Thursday in several local school districts, including Aldine, Channelview, Crosby and Humble ISDs.