Dozens of other attendance boundaries were also altered to relieve overcrowded schools such as Bridgeland and Cypress Ranch high schools; better utilize campuses operating under capacity including Cypress Falls and Langham Creek high schools; and better align feeder patterns, district officials said. A committee of 18 district officials representing curriculum, athletics, transportation and other departments developed the recommendation.
Community feedback
The agenda item had been discussed for five consecutive meetings starting Nov. 14. Board members listened to hours of public comment in addition to reviewing community feedback submitted via an online form. Leslie Francis, assistant superintendent for communication and community relations, said over 5,500 forms were submitted between Nov. 15-Jan. 12.
“I know that it’s not easy. There are certainly a million and one different ways that you could possibly accomplish this,” Chief of Staff Teresa Hull said Dec. 8. “It’s unfortunate that I do think that this is a situation we’re going to find ourselves in over the next few years as the district completes its buildout, but we still have to address growth in different areas and we have to balance some of those enrollments.”
Residents from a few neighborhoods—including Bridge Creek, Towne Lake, Hidden Arbor and Stone Gate—made up the majority of feedback shared at board meetings over the past two months.
Parent concerns included the potential of neighborhoods being split up and being moved from schools they were told their children would attend when they purchased their homes. Others expressed concerns for students’ mental health when faced with the uncertainty of a new school—especially after having recently endured the pandemic and other stressful situations.
“We all have recently uprooted our families and moved here from all over the country. Then we were notified that our children would be uprooted again from both their elementary and high schools and not be continuing on with their friends and classmates,” Bridge Creek resident Bandita Sai said.
Trustee Debbie Blackshear acknowledged making boundary changes was her least favorite part of her job as a trustee due to the painful nature of the process. She also explained shifts in the district’s attendance boundaries are to be expected in a fast-growing district such as CFISD.
“I am so sorry for those of you that your realtors told you that your child would attend a certain school. ... They can’t promise that,” she said.
Trustees empathized with the emotions parents and students expressed throughout the past several meetings. Board President Tom Jackson shared his own experience his children went through in overcrowded CFISD schools.
“My son, the first week of his sophomore year, stood in his math class. There were no desks. ... And for [Cypress] Ranch and Bridgeland [high schools], they are significantly overcrowded. Something has to be done,” he said Jan. 9. “And the capacity ... is felt most keenly in the cafeteria. I remember my son having lunch at 10 in the morning. The cafeterias simply are not built large enough for the number of students when we have a population surge.”
The final decision
By the time of the vote Jan. 12, the board had narrowed the final decision down to two options: approving the recommended boundary changes as proposed by district administration or pausing the rezoning of Stone Gate residents from Cypress Ranch High School to Cypress Falls and make a decision on that specific part of the plan next year.
This idea of a pause came about at the Jan. 9 meeting. Dozens of residents showed up to ask the board to keep them zoned to Cypress Ranch. Several residents mentioned Stone Gate is more established and does not have as many new families moving into the neighborhood as some other parts of the district do. Others proposed a pause on the decision, noting economic uncertainty of the next year may influence the projected enrollment levels.
Director of General Administration Kristi Giron said at this time, Cypress Ranch already has 24 “floating” teachers who do not have a home base at their school due to capacity levels.
Trustees Blackshear, Jackson, Julie Hinaman and Gilbert Sarabia approved the administration’s recommendation, which did not include the pause. The board’s three newest members, Lucas Scanlon, Natalie Blasingame and Scott Henry, voted in opposition.
“We’ve heard it come up numerous times—we want to minimize disruption, but we also have financial responsibility to use our assets well, and so as a board ... we get the super fun job of making that hard decision. ... One of the things that I want to make sure that I’m paying attention to is the weight that I provide to the voice of the community,” Scanlon said.
Learn more about the new attendance boundaries and how they came to be here.
