Rylander Elementary students will be temporarily housed at Obra Tompkins High School for classes Nov. 20–22, while the elementary school building remains without power, Katy ISD officials said Tuesday afternoon.
The outage began Nov. 18 when a transformer blew out near the school and classes were cancelled over concerns that power would not be restored by the following day. District officials said Tuesday that it might take CenterPoint Energy multiple days to fix the problem.
"The Rylander and OTHS teams are working collaboratively to ensure a safe and smooth transition for the elementary school students that will be sharing facilities with their high school counterparts," said Lisa Simmons, principal of Rylander Elementary in a letter to parents.
The high school, which currently houses about 950 ninth and tenth grade students, has facilities large enough to accommodate most of the activities of both schools.
There will also be increased security on the Tompkins campus, according to the letter.
Key information:
-OTHS 9th Grade Campus: Administrative offices, attendance office, cafeteria, nurse's office and a majority of the classrooms in the 9th Grade Center will be reserved for, and used by, Rylander students. Parents of Rylander students are requested to drop off, pick up, and conduct all business concerning their student at the 9th Grade Center, which has its own entrance. The phone number for this building is (281) 237-8300.
-Buses will run as usual. Students will be picked up at their regular bus stops and dropped off at OTHS, then dropped off at their regular bus stops.
-Daycares will be notified of the temporary move and requested to pick-up and drop-off at OTHS. The daycare transportation schedule will be adjusted so there may be a slight delay in returning to the daycare in the afternoon. Rylander staff will also be on duty at Rylander to facilitate this process.
-Walkers/Bike Riders: Students who normally walk or ride their bike to Rylander may continue to do so. They will then ride a Katy ISD bus "shuttle" to the OTHS campus in the morning. The bus will pick up and return students to Rylander in the afternoon so that they may walk or ride their bike home. Crossing guards will be on duty in the morning and the afternoon.
-Parent Pick-Up/Drop-Off: The parent pick-up and drop-off location will be at the front entrance of the 9th Grade Center. Parents should enter from the Falcon Landing Blvd. entrance closest to Gaston Road. Cars will circle through the perimeter of the parking lot for a drop-off in front of the Performing Arts Center. Students will exit the cars and meet their teachers in the Performing Arts Center area. There will be Rylander personnel on duty to guide students in locating their class and teacher.
-YMCA before and after school care will be located at the 9th Grade Center cafeteria. The drop-off site for this program will be at the front entrance of the 9th Grade Center.
-Life Skills Classes will be relocated to Creech Elementary School where they can take advantage of the materials and equipment from an already existing Life Skills program on that campus. All buses that provide transportation will be re-routed to that campus.
-Daily Schedule: The instructional day will remain the same (i.e. lunch will be at the same time, recess at the same time). Students who eat breakfast at school will be served beginning at 8:00 a.m. in the 9th grade cafeteria.
-Picture make-up day will be rescheduled.
- Other events to be rescheduled:
Open House will be rescheduled.
The 5th grade reading tutorial scheduled for November 23 will be cancelled.
Mrs. Steuer's field trip will be rescheduled for when we return to Rylander.
All conferences will be rescheduled – teachers will be contacting parents to set a new time.
-While Rylander Elementary is housed at OTHS, parents should refrain from walking their students to class and visiting the school during lunchtime. Additional staff will be on site to escort students to their classrooms.
