Is this a backdoor plan to sell schools in Black and Brown neighborhoods to charters, turning our city into a NOLA-style charter network? If the district uses a facility for non-district purposes, TEC Sec. 11.1542 states it must allow each charter to make an offer, but it’s not required to accept any. Can we rely on our rubber-stamping board of managers to resist selling off our district piece by piece to the highest (lowest) bidder?

Will you attend a co-location meeting this week? Will you join a Tue wikipedia edit-a-thon? Save the date: Speak at the Oct 10th board meeting.

All four remaining meetings are 5:30-6:30 pm this week and next.

• 9/24/2024 - Deady MS 
->Deady MS and Sanchez ES
• 9/25/2024 - Holland Middle School Auditorium 
->Holland MS, Port Houston ES, & Pleasantville ES
• 9/26/2024 - Baylor at Ryan Middle School Auditorium 
->Baylor at Ryan MS and Blackshear ES
• 10/1/2024 - Fleming Middle School Cafeteria 
->Fleming MS and Isaacs ES

Data for this chart comes from HISD’s Election Order and the July bond proposal.

You may wonder why HISD is spending millions on schools it plans to close. On page 7 of its Bond overview, HISD states, “While every proposed co-location ... may take two or three years (according to HISD), it's important those campuses be safe and healthy in the meantime, so the district will make targeted investments to secure those schools (now).”

We’re pouring tens of millions into schools that won’t be used by HISD students in a couple of years. Are we just prepping them for charter schools? Additionally, does HISD understand that state law requires bond money to be reimbursed to taxpayers if a property is sold before the bond is fully paid off?

The most basic planning protocol for relocating elementary schools seven-year-olds is, "How will the seven-year-old cross the street?" Someone should have checked for railroads, freeways, and the Ship Channel on a map.

Should little kids have to cross under 610? Kashmere Gardens students will have to walk under the highway to get to Key Middle School, with no HISD bus service and many families without cars. Why is Key only getting a partial rebuild since it was built in 1957?

Is walking past giant containers a safe walk home? Pleasantville ES is across from Holland MS, and Port Houston ES is just a mile away. Yet, the walk from Port Houston to Holland is dangerous. Munn Street, the only direct route not via a major road or freeway, has heavy traffic, deep ditches, overgrown lots, and speeding cars. This community is surrounded by 18-wheeler depots, the Ship Channel, and freeways.

Edison MS has huge athletic fields, so why is it being moved to Franklin, which has a much smaller footprint? Did anyone even bother to visit these schools before making this decision?

Did you know that most public schools in Third Ward have closed over the last 20 years, even as gentrification fuels population growth? Blackshear and Lockhart are the only public elementary schools left. BCM at Ryan requires an application, and Cullen is becoming a military academy. Sometimes, systemic racism is painfully obvious.

Finally, placing elementary school students on the same campus as middle school students without careful planning can lead to significant risks. What thoughtful planning have we seen under Miles? 

This $4.4 billion bond will raise taxes and leave us with record debt, but nothing to show for it. No trust, no bond.