Chief Communication Officer Tim Savoy presented the board with the seventh draft map option Nov. 18.
The details
The board discussed previous map drafts at its Oct. 21 and Oct. 28 meetings. Per district documents, Map Draft 7 consists of moving some students:
- From Hemphill, Fuentes and Uhland Elementary to Ramage
- From Uhland to Fuentes and Science Hall Elementary
- From Camino Real Elementary to Uhland
“[Rezoning is] disruptive for folks and their routines, so it’s a challenge and it’s a tough thing, but I’ll tell you it’s a good problem to have,” Savoy said. “The flip side of that is because of our growth, which causes in many respects the changing of the zones, we have the ability to offer so many more [programs] to our kids.”
Keep in mind
While Map 7 does not make any changes to the Sunfield Elementary zone, district officials say the school is growing rapidly.
Voters may have an opportunity in May to vote for a bond that could include building a new elementary school to alleviate population growth at Sunfield.
Instead of rezoning the school now and possibly again in the future, the recommendation is to wait for the results of the bond and see what next steps will be necessary, per district documents.
Also of note
Separate from the attendance zone map process, trustee Courtney Runkle said many McCormick Middle School staff have expressed concerns with increasing enrollment at the campus.
“When you look at the rest of the facilities across that campus, they’re too small for the number of kids that are there,” Runkle said. “While we’re addressing it on the bond, that doesn’t address the fact that we have teachers that are telling us that they can’t build meaningful relationships. They can’t track that data.”
Savoy said officials are recommended creating a voluntary transfer program called Hays Choice Transfer that would seek voluntary campus transfers before having to implement “cap and overflow,” or when a school reaches capacity and new students moving to the area are required to attend the next assigned school.
The program could be implemented to provide transportation for students interested in moving from McCormick to Dahlstrom Middle School in 2025-26.
“I know that there were some comments where they had some feelings about, ‘You’re asking people to volunteer, and that’s splitting up the community,’” Savoy said. “The sad truth is when you have to pull a group of kids out of a school, you’re splitting it one way or another. Our hope is by offering volunteering, we’re giving people a choice instead of forcing them to leave the school.”
Stay tuned
The board is expected to vote on the final map draft at its Dec. 16 meeting.
Community members can still submit feedback on the maps using the district’s Zone Talk survey here.
