Cy-Fair ISD trustees approved a tentative opening date for a future Cy-Fair ISD campus Jan. 22 and selected PBK Architects Inc. to design a 179-acre site on which three schools will be built.

Although there is little development in the farthest corners of Cy-Fair ISD, district officials have plans to open three campuses—one elementary school, one middle school and one high school—on a 179-acre site off FM 529 between the Grand Parkway and Fry Road.

"This is the area we are projecting to have substantial growth in the next few years," said Marty Edwards, director of general administration for CFISD. "Although the site isn't in a developing community, these schools wouldn't open until the 2016-17 school year, and the high school would open just as a 9th and 10th grade campus."

High School 11 is projected to open in August 2016 on the site, which will also house Elementary 55. A tentative opening date for Middle School 18 is still up in the air, as district administrators recommended trustees wait until later in the spring to decide, based on recent enrollment figures.

In 2007, voters approved bond funds that included provisions for 14 new schools, with four having already been built and opened, Edwards said.

"Opening dates [of the new schools] will be modified based on financial constraints and updated enrollment projects," he said. "We will continue to modify this chart in years to come and report to the board annually."

The board finalized opening dates for three future schools—Pope Elementary, Woodard Elementary and Dr. David Anthony Middle School—in December 2011, but openings for the remaining schools are consistently re-evaluated.

Future need for a new high school stems from growth primarily at Cy-Falls, Cy-Lakes and Cy-Springs high schools. Additionally, several middle schools—Cook, Dean, Hopper, Labay, Thornton and Truitt—are expected to be over capacity by the 2015-16 school year.

"Growth in the southern part of the district, particularly in the area of FM 529, Greenhouse and Fry Road represents the most pressing need for enrollment relief for our high schools," Edwards said.

For more detailed information on the new school site and future opening dates, see Community Impact Newspaper's Feb. 22 edition.