Katy ISD’s Board of Trustees will likely continue holding meetings at the Miller Career and Technology Center, 1734 Katyland Drive, Katy, for the rest of the year as its main administration building is still closed for flood remediation.

The building at 6301 South Stadium Lane, Katy, took on 18 inches of water from Tropical Storm Harvey and all offices were inaccessible, Superintendent Lance Hindt said.

About $12.5 million had been spent for flood remediation throughout the district already and Hindt said between $34 million and $35 million would likely be needed. That did not include funds to repair Creech Elementary School, which flooded in Cinco Ranch, he said.

On Monday the board submitted an application to the Texas Education Agency for waivers for the 10 instructional days missed due to the storm.

Grants and gifts

Toward the start of the meeting, recognition was given to district teachers who received “Insipiring Imagination Teacher Grants” this year from the Katy ISD Education Foundation, the fundraising arm of KISD. According to the foundation, 263 teachers at 34 campuses received $284,315 in awards this year for classroom programs and just above $1 million has been awarded in the last five years.

“Not every application that was submitted was deemed worthy of funding,” said Janet Theis, KISD director of community partnerships. “So they really are, truly, to be celebrated.”

Almost $63,000 has also been raised to date for Harvey relief to KISD students and staff. Foundation board president Tara Wilson said the donations will be collected through October and distributed in November.

Trustees also approved donations to the district totaling $16,744.07, $15,528.71 of which was cash contributions. The largest gifts to KISD were $6,429 for a shade cover on the special needs sway swing at Fred and Patti Shafer Elementary School, $1,500 for the Seven Lakes Junior High School orchestra department and $1,428 for new teachers’ room setup.