Some Houston ISD campuses damaged by Hurricane Beryl may not be ready for school – Houston Public Media

Dozens of towering pine trees have long been a signature feature of Sinclair Elementary School, a 65-year-old campus nestled in Houston’s Timbergrove neighborhood.

Most of those trees came down in recent months, with many toppled by the May 16 derecho windstorm and others by Hurricane Beryl last Monday. The downed trees destroyed most of the 16 temporary buildings used by the school, according to Sinclair Parents’ Association President Kim Ludlow, who said a playground structure and a campus garden were also badly damaged.

The first extreme weather event forced all of Sinclair’s fifth-graders and two of its fourth-grade classes to finish the 2023-24 school year at a nearby campus, Ludlow said. And in light of last week’s Category 1 hurricane, which was particularly devastating because it passed almost directly over Houston, it remains to be seen whether the school will be ready for the start of the school year on Aug. 12.

“It was very hard,” Ludlow said. “It was really difficult and very stressful.”

Sinclair was one of the most severely damaged schools in Houston ISD, according to the district, which said in a statement Tuesday night at Houston Public Media Kelso Elementary School in south Houston and Cage Elementary School in southeast Houston are also in that group. In total, 50 campuses suffered tree falls during the hurricane and 60 reported roof or structural damage, HISD said.

Two hundred of the district’s 274 campuses also lost power at some point, reflecting a trend across the region, as nearly 80% of the 2.8 million customers served by CenterPoint Energy — or 2.26 million — lost power at the height of the storm. Twenty HISD campuses were still without power Tuesday night, according to the district, which said its facilities team and hired crews “worked around the clock to get campuses back online and ready to serve students.”

“We are working hard to ensure these campuses are ready for the start of the school year on August 12,” the district also said. “Campus leaders will be reaching out to families on these campuses in the coming days and weeks to share updates on the return to school and to share details about any impacts the storm damage will have on the first day of school.”

Sinclair PTO via Facebook

Kelso and Cage, the latter of which shares a campus with Project Chrysalis Middle School, are among more than 40 schools slated for reconstruction under a $4.4 billion debt proposal being considered by the state-appointed HISD board. The board is expected to vote Aug. 8 on whether to put the debt measure, which would be the largest school bond in Texas history and HISD’s first since 2012, to a Nov. 5 ballot.

Sinclair would not need major renovations under the proposed bond, but would benefit from lead abatement as well as upgrades to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning and security system, according to Ludlow, who said the campus’ main building was spared damage from the storm in May and last week. Repairs related to the mid-May windstorm were supposed to be completed by November, Ludlow said, but that deadline has now been pushed back because of Beryl.

Ludlow said she hopes the storm debris can be cleared and the school will be ready to welcome Sinclair’s more than 700 students by mid-August, which would mean maximizing space in the main building and using the few outdoor structures that weren’t damaged. But at least some of the students may need to start the year on another campus, she said.

“I don’t think anything is off the table at this point,” Ludlow said.

HISD said campus and district administrators have been communicating with Sinclair community members on a weekly basis and will continue to do so as August approaches. Ludlow said, however, “I don’t know if the district’s response has been as timely as we would have liked.”

Ludlow thanked Sinclair Principal Lee Mashburn and school stakeholders for trying to speed up the recovery process and said neighborhood residents have been supportive and generous, contributing to a recovery fund that will be used to purchase mature trees to replace some of the fallen trees as well as teachers’ belongings that were lost in damaged buildings. Ticket sales from a school dance that had to be canceled also went to the fund, according to Ludlow, who said T-shirts with a “Sinclair Strong” logo are also being sold for fundraising purposes.

“We hope our school will be repaired and our children will be able to start their studies there and have a good year,” she said. “I hope the same for the other campuses.”