Abstract

Hurricane Katrina greatly impacted the educational climate of Houston area school districts. Houston area schools enrolled over 20,000 new students who were evacuees from New Orleans, and reportedly have not received financial assistance from the federal government three months after the arrival of the evacuees. The addition of these students to the Houston area education system has had a significant impact. While discussion from the victims’ perspective is necessary and most critical, the experiences of others who were effected by Hurricane Katrina, are relevant and worthy of discussion. Thus, the scope of this paper is limited to the systems that need to be considered or put in place for such a disaster and not meant to address the personalogical factors and experiences of the evacuees. The purpose of this research is to explore the ramifications of Hurricane Katrina on the education system in the city of Houston, Texas. Nine public school employees have been interviewed from three schools in Houston, Texas. A qualitative methodology was used, and findings of this research yielded three themes: 1) increased class size, 2) shortage of teachers, and 3) inadequate counseling services. Suggestions are made for future research.