Got word of this story from Jose Orta who is encouraging everyone to contact Dr. Bruce Scott, Superintendent of Taylor ISD, with a polite email to let him know that entering into a Memorandum of Understanding to house Hutto detainees for free is a bad idea.
His information is Dr. Bruce Scott: bscott[at]taylor.isd.tenet.edu
For information on the upcoming April public meeting of the Taylor Independent School District, click here.
From the Taylor Daily Press:
The Taylor Independent School District school board will discuss in their next meeting whether to sign an agreement that would allow residents at the T. Don Hutto facility to be temporarily housed in the old middle school gymnasium in the event of an emergency.
The old middle school gymnasium has been used in the past for evacuations during natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.
ERF Wireless, a provider of wireless and broadband products and services, currently occupies part of the old middle school building. Taylor ISD is also currently considering a proposal to allow a senior citizens center to be housed in the building.
Emergencies that would warrant the relocation of the detainees include the loss of electricity or water for a period of time long enough to elicit an evacuation, David Krueger, special assistant to the superintendent, said.
The current draft of the agreement states that the detainees would be housed in the gym for no more than two days, and security from the residential facility would be present.
If problems at the T. Don Hutto facility persisted longer than two days, residents would be moved and housed in a hotel for the remainder of the time.
The facility has also agreed to pay for the cost to transport detainees.
Krueger said an official from the facility would be present at the next school board meeting to answer any questions the board may have.
According to Krueger, the residential facility has also submitted a request to the Elgin Independent School District for the same purpose.
The agreement is still in the preliminary stages development and no final decisions have been made, Krueger said.
"The board is going to make that call," he said. "T. Don Hutto does pay a lot of school taxes to us, and we want to be good neighbors."
