272 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 10 event, and it kind of got bigger than I think anyone on the board ever expected it to get.” Beginning with a community party in HEB ISD’s stadium parking lot, families will be given books to start them on a summer reading journey. From there, participants can track their summer reading, earn prizes, and attend library events. “That just keeps kids interested in reading and we feel it helps us tackle the summer slide that you see in so many districts,” he says. Cole adds that a partnership between the city libraries and HEB ISD has also resulted in an initiative to bring books to lower-income areas during the summer months. She says this collaboration ensures that these children aren’t at a disadvantage, and “that there’s no reason that they can’t continue to expand their reading over the summer, just because mom and dad are working, and they can’t get to the library.” A mobile STEM bus has also been built, through the efforts of community librarians, who obtained a grant for the project. The bus, known as the ‘Think Tank,’ visits city and school libraries throughout the year, providing an opportunity for children to participate in a variety of fun STEM activities, which they unload at various locations. “That location may be one of our schools, and it may be somewhere in the cities because it is a collaboration,” acknowledges Superintendent Harrington. “This is a very unique place, we are HEB, and they are HEB and we’re all together. Hurst, Euless, and Bedford, we do almost everything together. It’s not just the school district versus the cities, it’s all three cities and the school district all coming together all the time.” Facilities Upgrades to Support Growth To keep the district moving forward, the HEB ISD board has initiated a bond election due to the findings of a comprehensive evaluation of the district’s infrastructure and facilities. “We have a plan to redo both of our high schools and rebuild from scratch,” reports Harrington.
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