As the new school year approaches, more than 600 ninth-graders are preparing to walk through the doors of Cypress Park High School on Aug. 22 to kick off the school’s inaugural year.

Cy-Fair ISD’s 11th high school will be the first campus of three to open within the district’s first-ever multischool educational village, set to be completed in 2023. Located at FM 529 and Westgreen Boulevard, the four-building project includes a three-story academic wing, a venue for fine arts and indoor athletics, a dining facility that will eventually be shared with the future elementary and middle schools and a central utility plant building.

Following the CFISD tradition of naming schools after geographic landmarks, Cypress Park High School was named for the Grand Parkway, CFISD Superintendent Mark Henry said.

“Similar to how the Grand Parkway is bringing physical growth and opportunity to the western boundaries of our district, Cypress Park High School will provide significant educational expansion and benefit to the residents and students of CFISD,” Henry said in a press release.

District growth

Kristi Giron, CFISD’s director of general administration, said the District Boundary Committee created new attendance lines in January to populate the high school. This will relieve Cypress Lakes and Cypress Springs high schools for the 2016-17 year and additional schools in the coming years, she said.

Cy Park will have capacity for 3,000 students, but only ninth-graders will be required to move to the new high school for the 2016-17 school year.

In 2017-18, CFISD officials expect an enrollment of 1,197 students at Cy Park, followed by 1,799 for 2018-19 and 2,464 for 2019-20 once all four grade levels are enrolled.

Students who started ninth grade in 2015-16 will get to remain at the campus in which they started until graduation, Giron said.

“The decision to open Cy Park with only ninth-graders the first year was made primarily for [University Interscholastic League] reasons,” Giron said.

Because Cy Park is opening with only ninth-grade students, there will be no team sports on the varsity level for the next two years. However, junior varsity sports will be offered, and new students can compete in individual sports if their levels of proficiency indicate eligibility, CFISD Athletic Director Ray Zepeda said.

“I think the advantage for kids going to Cy Park is that they’ll get a lot of individualized coaching and can grow as the school grows,” he said.

With Bridgeland High School set to open north of Cy Park the following school year, CFISD will split into two competitive districts in UIL’s next realignment for the 2018-19 school year, Zepeda said.

“This will increase our chances of making playoffs in postseason competition,” he said. “With 10 schools in the district, it’s very hard to qualify for the playoff level.”

Educational village

Voters approved an $807 million bond referendum in 2007 to fund the $128 million Cy Park as well as three new elementary schools and the district’s 12th high school, Bridgeland High School.

The educational village concept was designed several years ago as part of a master-planned site on nearly 180 acres of land, said Roy Sprague, associate superintendent of facilities, construction and support services for CFISD. The process involved the construction of Westgreen Boulevard up to FM 529 and an additional roadway to separate the athletic fields from the high school.

Having all three schools on the same site will make the transition from one school to the next easier for students, Sprague said.

“Teachers can introduce students to their new schools and help with that transition,” he said. “It’ll bring lots of mentoring opportunity.”

The future middle and elementary schools are scheduled to be completed in 2020 and 2023, respectively.

“It’s an advantage for students and families in that your child can start kindergarten at that site and go all the way through 12th grade,” Henry said.

Initially, the middle school was set to be completed in 2019, with the elementary school following in 2020. But after a recent update to PASA’s annual demographic study, those dates have been pushed back.

“Growth has slowed down due to oil pricing,” Sprague said. “We’re still growing, but at a slower rate than before. That could change if economy and growth rates change.”

Once the multischool site is complete, the campuses will be situated in a circle design with a park area to support all three. From a security standpoint, this layout will create a natural barrier to keep staff and students safe, Sprague said.

A central commons building has one large kitchen to serve all three schools. During the day, folding wall partitions will separate elementary, middle and high school students in the dining facility, but after hours the multipurpose space can be opened up for meetings and other school events.

The educational village will also be more cost- and energy-efficient because of the central utility plant building that will serve all three campuses, Sprague said.

Sprague said construction of the district’s fifth transportation center, agricultural barn for Future Farmers of America programming and the Good Neighbor Healthcare Center—a federally qualified clinic set to serve students, staff and the community—will be ongoing on the east side of Westgreen Boulevard.

“Our goal is to complete [these projects] by the first quarter of 2017,” he said.

In addition to the new facility, crews are installing a traffic signal at the corner of Westgreen Boulevard and FM 529, Sprague said. The new signal is set to be operational by the first day of school.

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Principal’s vision

Chris Hecker was named Cy Park principal last October and moved into the role in January. Since then, he has hired staff and coordinated with the district to ensure the school’s opening is a smooth process.

Hecker said his primary goal for this first year is to establish a culture of excellence at Cy Park.

During the spring semester, administrators visited each of the three middle schools that will feed into Cy Park—Hopper, Kahla and Thornton middle schools. Those schools identified leaders moving up to the new high school who helped develop the school crest and a ballot for students to select a mascot, ultimately choosing the Tigers.

“We want the students to know they’re part of a community and that this is really their school,” he said.

Hecker has served in various roles for 19 years, starting in 1997 as a teacher and coach at Langham Creek High School. He helped open Cypress Woods High School as an assistant principal followed by a stint as director of instruction before being named principal at Dean Middle School.

Helping launch Cy Woods and serving economically disadvantaged students at Dean were the most valuable experiences to prepare him for this new role, he said. Seventy-four percent of Cy Park students will receive free or reduced lunch pricing in the school’s first year, with eligibility determined based on family size and financial need.

“One of the things we really stress is that service is a huge need for our community,” Hecker said. “Not only do our students contribute now—once they’re graduates, we want them to be fully equipped to be productive members of society. It all starts in high school: understanding we all play a vital role.”