VicMan

Remember too that bonds are issued by ISDs, which cross city and county boundaries. A small portion of west Houston is in Katy ISD but most of the city is not in Katy ISD. As Blue Dogs said, only Katy ISD voters may vote for this bond.

Based on the article map, the residential tower will be zoned to Wilson Elementary (not River Oaks Elementary) http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Wilson_K8.pdf - of course Lanier and Lamar would be the zoned middle and high schools.

I wonder if this will impact Yates High School to the point where it has to consolidate. Maybe it can move to Austin High's campus but it can take the Yates name? Or would Austin just close and consolidate into Yates? Will Blackshear Elementary last or will it too have to merge with Lockhart? They had Douglass, Dunbar, Blackshear, and Carver. Carver went first, then Douglass (now a private school for the poor), and now Dodson...

If they simply move BHS so it gets a taller (but not larger per se) property, maybe Bellaire city officials will be more amenable? The old school can be full of townhouses, the school itself would just occupy the big Chevron building and maybe have an additional gym on site, and the commercial uses can be built on the leftover land from the Chevron tract. That may make Bellaire happy unless they think they could grab another corporate client.

It sounds like Bellaire wants to divide the property between some high density residential and some commercial. I haven't yet read the minutes of HISD meetings related to Bellaire HS, but I'm trying to think of some ways HISD could get around this: Ask for about half of the property (the half with the giant building), leaving the city to develop commercial next to BHS and multifamily on the site of the old BHS For the board members who are against the deal, see if there's a quid pro quo that they would like. Things get through that way in politics. Also see if there are some close-in-town properties HISD doesn't need anymore that it could sell. For example the old Dodson Elementary property, as Energy Institute is moving from there to Southmore. HSLJ is going up next to it but I don't think HISD has any future uses for Dodson.

It would be cool if they could have a multipurpose building with a grocery store on the first floor and offices and/or staff residences on the others. I think having more multi-use buildings would make things more efficient.

Bellaire's zone is a bit "deeper" than the Pershing and Condit zones, and there are some complexes zoned to Long Middle that are also zoned to Bellaire high. http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Bellaire_HS.pdf Having said that it does remind me of how odd Westside High's zone is a bit strange http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Westside_HS.pdf

So as we know Chevron's vacating its Bellaire campus, which was its research lab. A few possibilities: * 1. New offices/businesses: Bellaire city officials may prefer this as they want the taxes. Could be new corporate offices, a mini-mall, etc? * 2. New houses: Like Southside Place did with the old Shell building they could replace 'em with townhouses - could help recoup some tax money * 3. New schools: HISD may be chomping at the bit to rebuild Bellaire High. All this land is now available. Hmmm.... HISD thought about it, but it would make the budget for rebuilding Bellaire higher. Since I'm not in the Houston area at the moment I don't know what the officials are thinking... P.S. HISD may be concerned about the high sticker price of the Chevron campus. While I believe they should NOT sell the former Gordon campus, as they should reopen that for West U Elementary relief, they should, if committed to the Chevron site, sell the former BHS campus... AND the old Dodson Elementary. HISD is smart in locating magnet schools in central Houston but I think they could make a killing selling the EaDo campus. That could help fund a new Bellaire High. Mike Lunceford said in October that he would no longer support that idea but maybe he could reconsider. HISD wouldn't have to tear down the old 10 story building: they could renovate it like what was done to North Atlanta High School.

I bet they moved out there because it's close to BP's campus and the Energy Corridor. I would like to see a map of the Briish expats in Houston. I wonder if more private schools will sell their inner city plots and move out to the burbs.

Good question! The school district agreement for Lake Shores was signed in 2011 and the NPR story was done in 2012. It's 2014 and AFAIK it's still going on. Also maybe we can check on the Maine school districts which do this.

That's right. The universities want the Chinese students since they pay full price tuition. Now some public school districts in the US have gotten the same idea...

For schools closed 2004 or later: Zoned schools closed without replacement: * Allen Elementary (2009) * Chatham Elementary (2006) * Clinton Park Elementary (2005) * Dodson Elementary (2004) * Douglass Elementary (2005) * Easter Elementary (2006) * Eighth Avenue Elementary (2004) * Fairchild Elementary (2007) * Anson Jones Elementary (2006) * J. Will Jones Elementary (2009) * MacArthur Elementary (closed circa 2011) * McDade Elementary * Milam Elementary (2004) * Rhoads Elementary * Ryan Elementary (2005) * Turner Elementary (2009) * Will Rogers (2006) - St. George Place opened nearby but I wouldn't say it is an exact replacement Zoned schools closed and replaced with magnet schools: * Jones High School (2014) * Ryan Middle School (2013) Zoned schools closed with other replacement * Bellfort Academy (consolidated into Lewis ES, repurposed as a PreK) * Argyle Elementary (2005 - temporary school made while Foerster was expanded) * Sanderson Elementary (2006) - Converted into Cook ES

Its true that one school closed altogether last year but many others in the central city have closed before. Only one NFISD school closed after HISD acquired NFISD. The other NFISD schools closed before.The Chinese pay tuition to go overseas that can cover every expense. There is a reason American high schools and colleges want them to pay full price. NFISD is very property poor.

HISD overall has been losing students although in some areas it is gaining students (in places away from the center city).I am aware that North Forest had poor performance but by infrastructure I meant the state chose HISDbecause it could easily absorb NFISD. Smaller districts may have had more difficulty with absorbing NFISDbut for HISD NFISD was a drop in the bucket. .

The program described in the NPR article is an exchange with a private school in Beijing but the students stay longer than a few months. Keep in mind that the Chinese students in the NPR article attend the American high school during the day and the only special education they get is from the Chinese tutors after school.High school-aged illegal immigrants come in with far less education and often have to make money for the family, so this is why HISD opened Liberty High School near Gulfton. The Michigan district officials state that the tuition from the Chinese students is a net positive for the district, so it should work as long as the Chinese are willing to spend money. This Michigan district is a tiny district that would have more relative infrastructure demands. HISD is far larger and can handle new infrastructure very easily which is why the state gave North Forest to HISD.Frankly state officials are fair game for pressure. I understand education is more about hard work and less about funding, but if officials try to totally neuter the public education system with budget cuts the districts shouldnt take this lying down. Do you think a corporate industry would?

Yes, and by graduating from a US high school it's easier for the student to enter a US university. There has been a dramatic expansion of universities in China but the US universities have better reputations.

Many school districts doing this have had overall declining student populations and see importing Chinese students as a way to make up for the losses in student population from the native-born Americans. School districts with burgeoning populations (Katy ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Conroe ISD, etc) will likely see no need to do this. I made it clear that it's not to "turn a profit" but to "make money" since, as you said, public school districts are not allowed to turn profits. But they can use this as a strategy to prevent cuts in state funding. The placement of Chinese students can also add foreign pressure against the state government (If Rick Perry has any Chinese business partners, they can "have his pecker in their pocket" as LBJ said).

That's a good point! The relationship in the NPR article started as one where the Chinese students spent a short time but the schools decided to do long term exchanges. HISD could have a similar relationship with the Dalian high school and have Chinese students live for years in the US and attending Lamar High School.

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/04/154008997/high-school-draws-chinese-students-tuition-dollars This NPR story talks about a Michigan school district that converted an old elementary school into a dorm so it could house international students from China. Their families pay tuition so the kids go to American high schools. Should HISD or other school districts in the Houston area do this? Maybe HISD can convert MacGregor or Stevenson elementary into dorms for Chinese students so they can attend Lamar? Other articles: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/06/02/news/bangor/chinese-students-pleased-with-maine-education-try-to-grasp-concept-of-free-time/ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/education/27students.html?pagewanted=all

I wonder why companies do that. Many airlines want to be headquartered at the very airports that are their hubs.

I'm interested in hearing more about the Houston Japanese community's preferences. I know that there is a Saturday school for Japanese held at Westchester Academy.

Garnet Coleman tried to stop this for a decade (and the Houston Press remarked how little the Third Ward changed in 2000-2010, at a time when Midtown turned over) but it's starting to happen...

I know Toyota has American employees at its Torrance office. It's a good question on how many Japanese and how many Americans they employ.

This building is 1405 Post Oak so it would be assigned to: Briargrove, Grady, and Lee/Lamar/Westside. I wonder how many families live in the supertall condominium buildings, or what kinds of bus stops are around them.

Toyota is moving its American headquarters to Plano: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140428/CARNEWS/140429860 What kind of development will the DFW area see? This may help Dallas develop its Japanese community. Currently there is a small Japanese community in the DFW area but it is not visible. Since Toyota is moving to Plano, how do you think this will affect whatever Japanese community DFW will have? Oftentimes there are temporary Japanese employees who move to the U.S. for three to five years with their families before coming back to Japan. There are some possibilities: Japanese nationals may enroll their children in Plano ISD schools and the district may start having services and information available in Japanese in addition to Spanish and ChineseThe part-time Japanese school might prosper. It holds its classes on Saturdays at Ted Polk Middle School in Carrollton. I doubt there will be enough demand for a full-time Japanese school.Area services such as hospitals, doctors, etc. may get services for Japanese people (translators, websites, etc.). In American suburbs with Japanese expats it's not uncommon to see businesses even having websites in JapaneseThere may be more Japanese grocery stores opening in the Plano areaI do not know if Toyota owns the houses the temporary Japanese employees live in, or if Toyota contracts with third parties. If it's the latter it may affect the rental market. If it's the former, Toyota may buy houses and/or condominiums for its temporary Japanese national employees. I can imagine Toyota would only buy houses zoned to "good schools".It would be interesting to see if this also affects the anime dubbing company Funimation, which is based in Flower Mound and was started by a Japanese-American man named Gen Fukunaga.