In June 1997 Koonce was removed as principal, and Sandra Satterwhite took her position at that time. According to Fleck, "many Rice School parents turned against her because she had not found a way to enforce consistency on the quality of teaching at the school." At that time HISD replaced not only the principal but the entire management team. The district announced that the school was being moved to the alternative district, the HISD-wide district handling magnet schools. In 1997 the district negotiated with Rice University to strengthen the partnership. According to McAdams, HISD previously emphasized to Rice University that the Rice School was an HISD school and that the attitude damaged the relationship between the two entities.