A Water Line Break Disrupted Highland Heights Elementary on Wednesday - a Mother's Account, and Water Restored by Day's End
The HISD campus stayed open through a break that threatened restrooms and cooling. Officials say alternatives were provided and service was fully restored; one mother says her children's day looked very different.
HOUSTON - A water line break disrupted Highland Heights Elementary School on Wednesday, in a day that looked different depending on who is describing it. Families got a notification Wednesday morning that a break could also affect the building's cooling system, FOX 26 Houston reported; the campus stayed open, and officials told families they were providing alternative restroom facilities, handwashing stations, meals and drinking water while crews worked with the city on repairs.
Tranecia Handy Jackson, a mother at the school, told FOX 26 her children reported that the bathrooms were not working and that students were using bottled water not only for drinking but to wash their hands. She said her daughter had an accident after being unable to make it to a restroom and later vomited, and that she picked her daughter up from school. Jackson said she wished officials had given families more advance notice, or considered closing the campus until the problems were resolved - and that keeping students in the building raised questions about comfort, health and access to necessities.
By the end of the day, the school's account had moved on: a later message to families announced that water service had been fully restored, describing the disruption as an "unforeseen HVAC-related water issue," and confirmed dismissal would proceed as scheduled and classes would resume normally Thursday. FOX 26 reported it had asked Houston ISD for clarification about restroom access, the air conditioning and the decision to keep students on campus - and that the restoration update did not specifically address Jackson's account of her daughter's experience or the conditions students faced earlier in the day.
