Several districts in Houston area resume classes following Hurricane Harvey
Several school districts in the Houston area have resumed classes following Hurricane Harvey.
The Houston Chronicle reports that students in Barbers Hill, Conroe, Galveston, Pearland and Tomball independent school districts returned Tuesday after a hiatus of about a week. In addition, the Waller district opened schools for the first time after its original start date of Aug. 28 was delayed. More districts planned to reopen their schools on Wednesday.
Many of the region's districts, including the Houston school system, are scheduled to return by early next week, though some have warned that start dates could be pushed back if damaged campuses aren't remedied in time.
In Conroe, the largest of the six districts to resume classes Tuesday, Superintendent Don Stockton says the return of about 60,000 students went "very smoothly." Unlike several local districts, Conroe sustained no major damage to campuses.
However, Conroe may see an influx of students displaced from harder-hit districts. Flooding caused by Harvey destroyed homes in parts of Houston, Cypress, Katy, Spring, Sheldon and several other areas..
Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Conroe added about 2,000 students from the New Orleans area, Stockton says. A similarly large influx isn't necessarily expected, but Stockton says he's planning for some displaced students to begin arriving.
To the south of Houston, the Galveston district resumed classes for about 7,000 students after the island avoided significant storm surges or flooding from Harvey.
DeEtta Culbertson, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, says state officials don't have a tally of how many displaced students are expected to move to different school districts.
