The opening of Round Rock ISD's Pearson Ranch Middle School in 2017 will require changes to the district's school attendance areas, but perhaps not to the extent a demographer has recommended.

Several hundred people attended an RRISD board of trustees meeting Thursday to see the first presentation of a recommendation to redraw the district's middle-school attendance areas before the new school opens in August 2017.

The proposal suggests changes to areas for all of the district's middle schools, but RRISD spokesperson Corey Ryan said the district wants trustees to consider changes to only the Cedar Valley, Chisholm Trail, Deerpark and Walsh middle school attendance areas.

"There are opportunities for us to make adjustments to this proposal moving forward,” Ryan said.


Trustees are expected to vote Nov. 17 on the proposed changes.

Ryan said the redrawn areas would ease overcrowding in RRISD's Walsh and Cedar Valley middle school areas.

The broad scale of changes in the recommendation spurred some parents opposed to redrawing the attendance areas to contact district trustees and circulate online petitions.

Concerns over the recommendation also brought a larger-than-normal crowd to Thursday's board of trustees meeting.

Tom Castro, a parent with two children attending Ridgeview Middle School, said that while it appears his children's attendance zone will not be affected, he still worries that with Round Rock's continuing growth, RRISD will need consider additional changes to school attendance areas at some point in the future.

When such changes require children to change schools, it uproots them from their friends and teachers, he said.

“If you continually break those social structures, it’s incredibly painful for them,” Castro said.

Ryan said the recommendation before trustees does not include any proposals to change attendance areas for RRISD's high schools or elementary schools.

Paul Tisch, board of trustees president, told attendees at Thursday's meeting that presenting the demographer's recommendation was just the first step of the process.

Still, with Pearson Ranch Middle School needing territory from which to draw its future students, changes to some schools' attendance zones are inevitable, RRISD Superintendent Steve Flores said during Thursday's meeting.

"Make no mistake, when we open Pearson Ranch, there will be students there," Flores said.

RRISD will host three public forums regarding the proposed changes.

Forums are scheduled for Sept. 21 at Cedar Valley Middle School, Sept. 28 at Chisholm Trail Middle School and Sept. 29 at Walsh Middle School. Each event will start at 7:30 p.m. in the schools’ cafeterias.

The district has posted details of the proposed changes online, where comments on the proposal can also be submitted to the district electronically.

Pearson Ranch Middle School will be will be located on Pearson Ranch Road next to the existing Elsa England Elementary School and RRISD’s Transportation West Center.

The middle school will also be next to the site of RRISD High School No. 6.