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Correction to This Article
An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect name for the Astrodome. It is not called Reliant Stadium. That is a separate complex in Houston.
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Area Braces For Influx Of 25,000 Refugees

New Orleans
High winds and heavy flooding devastate the greater New Orleans area following Hurricane Katrina. (Vincent Laforet -- Reuters Pool Photo)
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The Houston Independent School District, which started classes on Aug. 15 and has 209,000 students, announced that it would temporarily enroll students evacuated from their homes.

"We're a large district, and we're accustomed to doing things on a large scale," said Harry Abbott, the school district spokesman. "We feel like we have the resources and the space."

Many of the system's 305 schools have excess capacity, Abbott said.

Under Texas law, the newcomers will qualify as homeless students for 30 days, without needing their academic or medical records transferred. But after that, things could get complicated.

"We know there's a good chance these kids might be here a couple of months or more," he said.

Since the Astros left for the Minute Maid Park, the Astrodome has been pressed into service sporadically for high school football games, trade shows and the annual Livestock Show and Rodeo.

But the city is debating a permanent use.

"Thank God it's being put to good use and helping people going through a tragedy instead of becoming a bingo hall," said Mary Joyner, a reservation agent at the Hotel Icon downtown.


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