until 2010, Jones failed to meet academic standards. That year, Terry Grier, the superintendent of HISD, proposed converting Jones into an all-magnet school. During that year around 900 pupils in the Jones attendance zone, about 2/3 of the high-school-age children in that area, choose to attend another HISD school. In 2010, the school received a science, technology, engineering and mathematics program funded by a federal grant. $2 million was allocated to teacher training, computers, and science laboratories. However, the program did not attract many students who did not live in the Jones attendance boundary. In 2010 Grier added the school to the Apollo program. This meant the school day at Jones was extended and that the school received a new principal, a new set of teachers, and new mathematics tutors. HISD originally stated that Jones would get a new campus as part of the 2012 bond. In March 2013, the HISD school board were scheduled to vote on school closures, but community members asked board member Paula Harris to stand with them against the consolidations. In 2014 HISD announced that the school board will vote on whether to close Jones and four other schools. Grier argued that Jones needs to be closed so the campus can be used to house another school as its new campus is being constructed. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, about 2,000 high-school-age children live in the Jones attendance zone, but fewer than 500 attend Jones. Paula Harris, an HISD board member, stated her opposition to closing Jones. On March 13, 2014, the HISD board voted 6-3 to keep the Jones campus open and convert it into an alternative career-readiness school for students throughout HISD. In the new Jones, students may earn associates degrees. Jones will no longer be a zoned school, and its athletics programs will be discontinued. Students wishing to play for athletic teams would try out for teams at their zoned schools. Students in its attendance boundary will be rezoned to Sterling High School and Worthing High School. The board meeting regarding the closure of Jones was held at 4 PM. The school district opened an overflow room due to the large number of people attending; people in the overflow room saw the meeting through a television. During this meeting, Manuel Rodriguez, a board member, introduced the modified motion to convert Jones. The audience had a positive reception when Rodriguez stated that