I wonder how many people that were evacuated

[ChristmasElf]

will stay in Texas permanently and make Houston or Dallas their new home?

How will the Texas economy handle this in the long run? schools, traffic, taxes,housing, etc.

[DisneyLovingMama]

I think it's a very valid issue for not just Texas, but the whole country. I know DH's company is struggling with what do do with their employees - not just the immediate "how do we pay them, ensure their safety" questions, but the larger-scale "how do we absorb them into the rest of the company?". I'm sure lots of business are wondering the same thing. The repercussions of this disaster are going to go on for years.

[C.Ann]

Many of the people who have been interviewed have already said they will not go back.. Of course they don't know where they're going to go either because in many cases not only have they lost everything they own, but their jobs as well..

I don't think they'll all stay in Texas, but some of the other southern states will undoubtedly see a swell in new residents..

[seashoreCM]

Would the children of Houston (and also their parents) graciously accept classrooms with 35 students instead of 25? That means being able to raise one's hand and talk would be less often. After all, in any group of people, at most one can be talking, all the rest have to be listening.

Would the teachers be able to handle the 35 to 40 students per class with the aid of security persons outside who would remove those who talk out of turn let alone disrupt the classroom? Would the teachers be willing to handl that on their present salaries? (Correcting tests by having the studens exchange papers would help)

Could the Wham Bam Tram (google for the definition) handle all the newcomers as they go job hunting, even if they hop on board without tickets?

How many employers with jobs requiring task 1 and task 2 hire some workers who can do only task 1 and some workers who can do only task 2 as opposed to wait until someone who could do both task 1 and task 2 came along?

How many Houston judges would refuse to grant collection rights (executions) to Louisiana plaintiffs seeking to collect back debts from the new Astrodome inhabitants?

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

Workfare, an idea whose time has come. People go down to the welfare office to collect weekly checks, but must go there so many days a week and accept work assignments if any are available. Employers pay the welfare office for the time the welfare recipients are assigned to the respective jobs.

[goin2disneyagain]

Many of the people who have been interviewed have already said they will not go back.. Of course they don't know where they're going to go either because in many cases not only have they lost everything they own, but their jobs as well..

I don't think they'll all stay in Texas, but some of the other southern states will undoubtedly see a swell in new residents..
I heard many people say they weren't going back as well. They don't have anything to go back to. We have many evacuees here in Atlanta and all over the state of Georgia. We have set up several shelters here and I keep hearing on Fox News that some are hoping to be in Atlanta tomorrow. I am sure many evacuees will spread out all across the country. Places as far away as Detroit and Philadelphia are offering to take in people too.

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I'm quite concerned with this issue.

Texas public schools were already in a horrible mess. The governor called TWO special sessions over the summer to FIX school finance. Both sessions failed to reach a solution. Kids started the school year without text books because the state ordered the books but never paid for them. Our school funding is so inadequate it has been ruled unconstitutional. We are 38th in the nation for education, maybe worse. I really don't think adding THOUSANDS of kids with enormous social service needs will help anything. The state maximum for class size is 24. I will be FURIOUS if they waive that maximum and cram a bunch more kids into DS's class. There has to be a better way.

Gov. Perry said Texas would take 75,000 evacuees. Last I heard we have over 200,000. The people I have seen on TV seem to think it is a perfect idea to just stay here. Dallas is one of the top cities in the nation for murder and I bet we are right up there for other violent crime as well. Our police are now on more or less permanent duty. No vacation time for any of them, no time off for any of the Sheriff's deputies either.

Our county hospital is completely overwhelmed on a daily basis. They just passed a ruling that the county hospital is now responsible for handling ALL of the medical care for the jail. That is a CRUSHING responsibility for them, and now they are looking at prisoners from LA being transferred here. They are horribly underfunded. They provide FREE medical care to all of the indigent people, many of whom are illegal immigrants.

We already have a serious problem with homeless people. About a month ago one guy stabbed another guy to death about a mile from our home. Many of the homeless are mentally ill. The city has gone round and round with how to provide services but they can't agree on anything.

I have mentioned on other threads that I am VERY worried about the number of sex offenders and other criminals wandering around unaccounted for. Not all of those 200,000 people are good people. The bad ones won't take long to find each other and start making trouble. If a criminal claims to have no ID he can easily just make up an alias and go skipping on his merry way. Do I want that guy living next door to me? Or some guy who was making his living in the very lucrative field of "street pharmaceuticals"? Nobody knows for sure who these people really are. That scares me.

Our police chief was on TV last night talking about the importance of keeping the rival gangs separated so we don't have a huge outbreak of violence. Great. Out of state gangs who might bring their fights here in addition to the fights that are bound to break out between the local gangs and the out of state ones. I am sure the local drug dealer isn't going to want to share his turf with the new kid on the block, and that sort of thing WILL happen.

Once the shock wears off a bit people will stop feeling so warm and fuzzy about total strangers. It keeps coming back to the fact that not all of the victims are good people. The hurricane didn't just wipe out the homes of the good, honest, hardworking people. And we have no way to determine who is who.

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I agree with everything said.

It is great to welcome all these people...but I think it may end up coming back to haunt later on.

For now--the key is to faciliate their recovery from disaster, facilitate getting them back on their feet. For some--they will be absorbed into the welfare system of whatever location they ended up in.

[stevenpensacola]

I wonder if this might be a chance for some of these folks to break the cycle of poverty they've been caught in their whole lives...?

[Boston Tea Party]

I'm quite concerned with this issue.

Texas public schools were already in a horrible mess. The governor called TWO special sessions over the summer to FIX school finance. Both sessions failed to reach a solution. Kids started the school year without text books because the state ordered the books but never paid for them. Our school funding is so inadequate it has been ruled unconstitutional. We are 38th in the nation for education, maybe worse. I really don't think adding THOUSANDS of kids with enormous social service needs will help anything. The state maximum for class size is 24. I will be FURIOUS if they waive that maximum and cram a bunch more kids into DS's class. There has to be a better way.


Actually, the class size maximum is 22 up to grade 4. After grade 4, there is no maximum.

Any district that gets 50 or more refugees can file for a waiver of the class size limits.

May I suggest that you write your state senator or representative? Hell, throw Perry and Dewhurst in there as well.

And, no, I really don't want to grade more papers or have 40 kids in my trailer. My school is already overcrowded hence the trailer. What option do I have? :confused3

[Deb & Bill]

Right now, a lot of the refugees have no idea what they will do. I was telling some of our employees who were rescued from our hospital in New Orleans that our organization would take them to another community if they wanted to go. Lots of them just didn't know. Talk about stress.

I think lots of them would like to go back when they are able.

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Obviously Perry doesn't give a rat's rear what I think or he would have figured out a way to DO SOMETHING about school finance before now. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn also do not care if my child's classroom is overcrowded. Their kids go to private school. Besides, I am a Democrat so I don't count.

So far our school only has one child enrolled from LA. The PTA has been sending e-mails daily to keep us up to date. I just don't see how they can work out the logistics for kids to go to school while they are living in the sports arena. It would make far more sense to teach them onsite than to try to bus them all over the city!

I am quite certain as time goes on there will be plenty of really scary situations cropping up because throwing several hundred thousand people into another state with little or no thought can't lead to good things.

[Boston Tea Party]

Obviously Perry doesn't give a rat's rear what I think or he would have figured out a way to DO SOMETHING about school finance before now. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn also do not care if my child's classroom is overcrowded. Their kids go to private school. Besides, I am a Democrat so I don't count.

So far our school only has one child enrolled from LA. The PTA has been sending e-mails daily to keep us up to date. I just don't see how they can work out the logistics for kids to go to school while they are living in the sports arena. It would make far more sense to teach them onsite than to try to bus them all over the city!

I am quite certain as time goes on there will be plenty of really scary situations cropping up because throwing several hundred thousand people into another state with little or no thought can't lead to good things.

We agree on several points.

A) Perry doesn't give a crap about Texas schools unless they are going to help his hair look good.

B) It would make a LOT more sense to have school at the large shelter locations. BTW, I have news: Abraham Maslow. Those in charge really ought to check him out. :rolleyes: These children will NOT be learning. They have been traumatized and need help. We can't just pretend everything is normal.

These are uncertain times for ALL involved. :guilty:

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We already had a PTA meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning, and I can't think of a better time to have one! It will be good to hear the thoughts of the other parents. If it looks like our school will be inundated with Katrina victims then perhaps we should write a letter of protest with ALL of our names on it. I know lots of those families are Republicans - maybe some of them have some political connections! Gee, I bet Hinojosa is glad he got picked to be the new DISD superintendant! What interesting times he lives in!

Perry is worthless, but he does have good hair. :rotfl: Unfortunately his wife always looks like she has a cattle prod in an uncomfortable place. She should practice looking more gracious and welcoming.

Boston Tea Party -
Do you live here, too?

[Boston Tea Party]

Boston Tea Party -
Do you live here, too?

I live in the Houston area.

I don't understand why they don't figure out a way to have "school" in some of the area churches. They could set up and get some of the district subs to teach.

I guess there is no perfect solution. It's going to be hard on everyone involved.