Schools across Galveston County will be closed today through Monday in preparation for Hurricane Rita.
All public, private and charter schools decided Tuesday to cancel classes until after the storm passes and facilities are deemed safe for students and faculty to return. Many schools waited to make the decision until after the county ordered a mandatory evacuation of the area. School officials said they are planning to resume classes on Monday, but those plans may change based on the damage caused by Hurricane Rita. All administrative offices will be closed and the Galveston Independent School District canceled tonight’s school board meeting.
Area colleges including Texas A&M University at Galveston, the University of Houston at Clear Lake, Galveston College and the College of the Mainland will be closed through the weekend. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston also canceled classes for its students. The colleges are scheduled to reopen Monday morning — weather and building conditions permitting.
All school events planned through the weekend have been canceled. The Clear Creek Independent School District will be temporarily operating from an auditorium in the Katy Independent School District. Karen Permetti, a spokeswoman for the Clear Creek school district, said as long as Katy has power the district will maintain its Web site to provide the most recent information to the public.
“We will update the Web site as long as Katy ISD has power,” said Permetti. “We will have everything we need to maintain the business operations of the district from that temporary service site. Katy ISD is also allowing us to store as many of our school buses as we can fit on their property.”
Information on schools in the La Marque and Texas City area will be available on cable television channel 16. Local schools also sent letters home with students Tuesday notifying parents that schools would be closed until Monday and possibly longer.
Most local school districts are also moving their buses to higher ground in advance of Hurricane Rita’s landfall. The Texas City and Santa Fe school districts are housing several of its buses at the Alvin Independent School District. However, a number of buses in those districts will be used by the city to evacuate citizens to designated shelters. Other area districts including Friendswood, Galveston and Dickinson are also lending their buses to assist municipalities with evacuation efforts.
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Information On Public Schools
School district Phone number Web site
Clear Creek (281) 284-0027 www.ccisd.net.
Dickinson (281) 229-6000 www.dickinsonisd.org
Friendswood (281) 482-1267 www.fisdk12.net
Galveston (409) 766-5100 www.gisd.org
Hitchcock (409) 986-5514 www.hitchcockisd.org
High Island (409) 286-5317 www.esc05.k12.tx.us/hisd
La Marque (409) 938-4251 www.la-marque.isd.tenet.edu/
Santa Fe (409) 925-3526 www.santafe.isd.esc4.net
Texas City (409) 942-2713 www.texascity.isd.tenet.edu
