In a rare 4-3 split vote, the Cy-Fair ISD board of trustees voted in favor of Bridgeland High School as the name for the district’s 12th high school. The decision was reached at the June 27 board meeting. This high school, set to open in August 2017, will serve 3,000 students and is currently under construction along the Grand Parkway near where Bridgeland Creek Parkway and Mason Road will eventually run. Superintendent Mark Henry said part of the deal to acquire the land for the school between CFISD and the Howard Hughes Corporation included an agreement to include Bridgeland in the name. “I am proud to say that we were able to acquire that very valuable land at about half of what it would have cost us if we had to pay full price,” Henry said. The district reportedly saved $13.5 million dollars in the agreement, which can be traced back to 2007 when the board initially started pursuing the high school. Debate between trustees centered on maintaining the Cy-Fair spirit within the name while still abiding by the agreement with Howard Hughes Corporation. “I have a problem with naming a high school after a development and that is my biggest contention,” trustee Bob Covey said. “I am certainly proud that Bridgeland worked with us and it is obvious that anyone who offers us that kind of a savings is someone who needs to be commended… but I don’t really agree with just naming it Bridgeland High School. I would lean more to naming it Bridgeland Creek.” Trustees Tom Jackson and Christine Hartley agreed with Covey, citing the need to maintain a tie to the district and not just a neighborhood. Hartley suggested the name of Bridgeland Creek High School as an alternative. Debate resulted in a divided vote for the board, with trustees Covey, Hartley and Jackson voting against the name and trustees Debbie Blackshear, Darcy Mingoia, John Ogletree and Don Ryan voting in favor of the name. Ryan said that, in light of the current financial situation, district operations would have to change going forward. “I think 20 years from now, probably 20 months from now, people aren’t going to really [give] a big hoo-haa over what the name of that high school is,” Ryan said. “I think as we move forward with our school sites, things are going to be a little bit different than my previous time on the board.”