Cy-Fair ISD officials are coming up with a plan to alleviate high enrollments at existing campuses with two high schools opening in the district over the next two years.
Officials released proposed attendance boundaries Nov. 16 to reflect the opening of Cypress Park High School before the 2016-17 school year and the unnamed high school No. 12 before the 2017-18 school year.
“This process has been going on months and months and will continue to the middle of January at least,” CFISD Superintendent Mark Henry said. “We tried to involve a group of people in the district that represents many different areas.”
Once new attendance boundaries go into effect, students in some neighborhoods will find themselves enrolled at different high schools. Proposals also include rezoning a handful of middle schools for the 2016-17 school year to keep feeder patterns in line.
“We wanted to minimize the changes,” said Teresa Hull, associate superintendent of governmental relations, communications and chief of staff. “We didn’t want to move kids just to move kids, but obviously some will need to move to populate the new schools.”
The district set up an internal committee of administrators representing different parts of the district and different areas of responsibility, Hull said. The committee worked with demographic research firm Population and Survey Analysts to come up with enrollment projections through the 2021-22 school year. PASA was also involved in determining the best locations for the new schools.
Effect on families
The committee based changes on a number of factors including campus feeder patterns, capacities, keeping communities together and the PASA enrollment projections, Hull said.
Potential rezoning was broken down by residential codes. Under current proposals, a total of 1,606 high school students and 1,028 middle school students would be affected in 2016.
“The rezoning will only apply to students entering ninth and 10th grades,” said Kristi Giron, CFISD’s director of general administration. “Students entering 11th and 12th grades will remain at their current high schools.”
Families with one sibling entering ninth or 10th grade and another entering 11th or 12th will get to keep both students together, Giron said.
The CFISD board of trustees reviewed a second option at a Dec. 10 workshop where only incoming 9th grade students would be rezoned to Cypress Park. This option would give the first class of juniors a chance to participate in all varsity team sports.
The district invited community members to provide feedback at a public meeting Dec. 14. Parent concerns range from navigating new bus routes, loyalty to schools children currently attend and placing students in an entirely new environment in which they will have to get acquainted with new teachers and make new friends.
“All the schools in the district are great, so that is not my concern,” said Mona Shires, a parent in the Willow Point community whose child is being rezoned from Jersey Village to Cy Ridge. “But in our neighborhood, there is an entire community of parents who know and rely on each other. The rezoning cut only a few families out, so we have to start over building those new relationships.”
On Jan. 11, the committee will send the board the final recommendations for boundary changes, Hull said. Board approval would take place Jan. 19 at the earliest.
Enrollment relief
Schools targeted for relief in 2016 include Jersey Village High School, Cy Lakes and Cy Falls in the southern part of the district, Giron said. Cy Ranch, Cy-Fair and Cy Falls are slated for relief in 2017.
“With [Cy Park’s] location in the south, we’re going to have a few more shifts in that area,” Giron said at the
Nov. 16 meeting. “The changes in the northern part will be a little more obvious with fewer shifts.”
PASA data suggests the new attendance boundaries will help decrease enrollments at the high schools where enrollments are approaching 3,500 students, such as Cy Falls and
Cy Ranch, both of which would be reduced by more than 300 students over the next five years.
By the 2021-22 school year, Cy Springs is projected to have the smallest enrollment under new boundaries at 2,844. The new high school No. 12 would actually serve the largest population, reaching 3,870 students in its first five years.
The speed at which the new high schools are expected to reach capacity has district officials already in the early stages of planning high school No. 14.
“Growth has slowed in the district mainly due to oil and gas [industry declines], but that won’t last forever,” Henry said. “We’re keeping an eye on the pace of growth and staying on the lookout for land we could build on.”
Attendance boundaries will not be changed for elementary schools leading into the 2016-17 school year, officials said. However, a similar process to adjust elementary schools to keep feeder patterns in line is expected to begin next year.
