Displaced by hurricane, some students enroll in new districts

Sept. 16, 2008
Evacuees are uncertain when they can return home

For now, the classroom immediate future for thousands of Texas schoolchildren displaced by Hurricane Ike remains uncertain. Unlike with Hurricane Katrina, the Texas Education Agency has not advised school districts to start enrolling students that are being housed in shelters, mainly because it is unknown how long it will take before families can return home. Some parents may choose to go ahead and enroll their children in local schools, but several local districts are reporting only a few inquiries or enrollments related to the hurricane evacuation.

To read The Dallas Morning News article, click here. ALSO: As they come to grips with the destruction that Hurricane Ike inclicted on their hometowns, many displaced Gulf Coast families must decide whether to enroll their children in a new school. By Monday afternoon, evacuees had moved from shelters at Austin (Texas) school district campuses to longer-term housing. About 10 students had enrolled at five Austin schools. The Lake Travis school district enrolled another nine, and Eanes and Hays County each enrolled at least three. To read The Austin American-Statesman article, click here.

EARLIER: Most Houston-area universities are asking students who left campus before Hurricane Ike to stay away for now as they work to clear toppled trees and limbs, repair buildings and await the full return of electric and water services. Rice University plans to reopen with normal hours Tuesday, but several other area universities haven't decided when they will welcome students and staff members back to campus. Nearly a third of the trees on the University of Houston campus were toppled by the storm, a spokesman says.
To read The Austin American-Statesman article, click here.

The Houston Independent School District is closed through Friday, Sept. 19, according to the district website.

List of school closings in Houston area. (Houston Chronicle)

EARLIER: Hundreds of schools across the Texas Gulf Coast — including those in Houston, Conroe, Katy, Cypress-Fairbanks and Fort Bend — have closed to give families and district employees time to prepare for Hurricane Ike. As the storm approaches, workers were busy boarding up windows, backing up student records, unplugging computers and moving buses to higher ground.
To read The Houston Chronicle article, click here.

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