More than 4,100 community members participated in telephone surveys. Still others responded to 120,000 flyers sent home with students. About 65 percent of all HISD students were classified as economically disadvantaged. That ballot proposal, in May 1996, was rejected. Then, just days before the beginning of the 1996-97 school year, a roof collapsed at the Houston Gardens Elementary School cafeteria, drawing even further attention to the condition of buildings and other facilities throughout the district.
Real change takes more than a year, and that's why our reports have five-year time frames.
HISD will only succeed by keeping up the pressure for progress. So far, however, the results have been outstanding.