Houston ISD is picking up the pieces after Hurricane Beryl ripped through the region, leaving a trail of power outages and structural damage. But schools are set to open their doors for summer classes on Monday. The widespread damage has necessitated some changes to where students will be hitting the books. HISD spokesperson Joseph Sam said that students from powerless campuses will be redirected to other sites, with the promise of transport between these makeshift educational oases. "All HISD summer school students are returning to class tomorrow. Students who normally attend a campus that does not yet have power will attend classes at a different site. Families will be contacted directly by their summer school campus with information about where their student will attend class tomorrow," Sam assured families in a statement reported by Houston Press.
HISD was poked for an update on operational schools. This silence could be as deafening as it is revealing, considering last week's reports suggested a staggering 60 schools suffered damage. Prior to Beryl throwing a wrench in the works, HISD had extended the summer session and accelerated the regular fall calendar, with classes set to kick off on August 12. Obviously, the district will need to bounce back quickly from this setback without compromising the learning experiences of thousands of students in the process.
We're not looking at a minor glitch in the system here; nearly 290,000 Centerpoint customers were still groping around in the dark as of Sunday evening, down significantly from the 2.2 million left powerless at the hurricane's peak, according to data shared by the Houston Chronicle. To ease the nightmare, Houston ISD is teaming up with the Houston Food Bank to orchestrate a food and supply distribution, which will kick off Monday at 9 a.m. at Butler Stadium.
50 campuses with toppled trees, 60 with some form of roof or structural issues, and a somber 70 lacking power—one can only hope the HISD's fleet-footed response gets an A+. "Drop-off and pick up locations will remain the same. HISD will transport students between summer school sites when necessary," Sam said, emphasizing the continuity of service in a statement obtained by Houston Press.
