HISD bond proposal reflects a new course
Most of $ 1.9 billion would be used for rebuilding or significant remodeling
In an English class at Austin High School, two trash cans sit under a leaky air- conditioning unit. The hardwood floor is stained black, rotted by water.
Across the room, the teacher has written vocabulary words on a chalkboard— a relic of schools built decades ago.
New science labs, promised under HISD’s 2007 bond issue, still are being installed. Crews also are upgrading rundown restrooms, though without ventilation added the unbearable odors continue.
“Our students face enough challenges as it is. The school shouldn’t be another challenge,” said the principal, Jorge Arredondo.
Austin’s students and teachers have learned to be patient. The Houston Independent School District has spent millions of dollars upgrading parts of the East End campus over the years, but the patchwork approach has left the 76- year- old school still showing its age.
HISD’s latest bond proposal, on the Nov. 6 ballot, reflects a different strategy than the one voters narrowly approved five years ago. Most of the schools in the $ 1.9 billion plan, including Austin, would be rebuilt or significantly remodeled, instead
of receiving minor fixes.
“This bond isn’t a bunch of renovations you do just during the summer,” said HISD spokesman Jason Spencer. “We’re not putting Band- Aids on old schools. We’re knocking them down and building them over.”
Many schools
The 2007 bond issue spread $ 805 million to more than 150 schools. The bulk of the money in the pending proposal would go to make over 38 campuses, most of them high schools.
The fixes won’t be quick. District officials estimate it will take six to eight years to complete all the projects, but pledge that future classes of students will benefit from modern buildings that will last for decades.
“We’ve ignored these schools too long,” HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said.
HISD’s middle and high schools are 50 years old on average, eight years older that those nationwide, according to Parsons, a firm that analyzed the district’s facilities.
If the schools aren’t fixed now, the costs will rise by about 3 percent a year, saidMikeManagan, a senior design architect at Parsons.
One of HISD’s oldest high schools, Austin was opened when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president.
Preliminary plans call for preserving the school’s red- brick exterior and triplet of arches at the entrance, but the inside mostly would be gutted.
Walk the campus with Arredondo, and he finds much he won’t miss. Peeling paint. A leaky roof. TVs that no longer work.
The acoustics in the first- floor band room are so poor that students in classes upstairs can hear themusic. Couple thatwith the noisy air- conditioning units, and English teacher CeciliaMichel says her students struggle to understand each otherwhen they read aloud.
Her room used to be part of the cafeteria, and a small sink remains in the corner. “Don’t drinkwater out of it,” Michelwarns.
Taking years
Arredondo says he’d like to seeAustin rebuilt as soon as possible. But current students are unlikely to enjoy the newcampus.
If the bond proposal passes, HISD plans to open the first newhigh schools— NorthHouston Early College and South Early College— for the 2016- 17 academic year, if not sooner.
Both campuses, which allowstudents to take courses atHouston Community College, were given funding in the 2007 bond issue, but the district has been in long negotiations with HCC. The schools would get $ 13.5 million each under the bond plan.
The other high schools should open no later than the 2017- 18 school year, Spencer said.
Cristian Sanchez, a sophomore atAustin, says he hopes his younger brother, an eighth- grader, gets to attend amore modern school.
“Itwould probably lose some memories to the older people,” he said. “But for the newgeneration of kids, they’d get to experience something new.”