The Fort Bend ISD school board unanimously approved Jan. 26 a comprehensive districtwide plan to realign its feeder pattern and attendance boundaries.

FBISD administration designed the plan to balance enrollment, accommodate future population growth, seven new schools and ease overcrowding in one of the state's fastest-growing districts. The district is expected to gain 6,500 students over the next five years and 11,640 students by 2025, according to FBISD officials.

"The board's action marks the first time Fort Bend ISD has taken comprehensive measures to address growth districtwide," FBISD Superintendent Charles Dupre said. "By proactively handling growth, we are now poised to continue on with the district's mission."

Plan development

FBISD administration officials began work to better align high school feeder patterns, reduce the number of feeder splits and establish revised attendance boundaries in August 2014 after the board adopted a policy defining the purpose of establishing attendance areas. For several months, FBISD officials used the policy as a guide as well as enrollment projections from an independent demographics firm—Population and Survey Analysts to formulate the best plan for realigning feeder patterns and boundaries. The district also relied on community feedback throughout the process.

Throughout last fall, FBISD administration worked with consultant firm DeJong-Richter to develop two proposals for realignment options—dubbed Scenarios A and B—and presented both to the community for feedback through community forums and online questionnaires.

Information from the more than 18,000 completed community surveys was considered in the formulation of the administration's final recommendation to the board, which was presented at a Jan. 12 meeting, Dupre said. FBISD officials also used an updated enrollment projection demographics report by Population and Survey Analysts to create the final recommendation. With the exception of two amendments passed during the Jan. 26 meeting, the adopted plan remained mostly unchanged from the final recommendation given by the administration.

As a result of significant population growth in the northern and western regions of the district, the adopted plan will shift high school enrollment toward the southern and eastern portion of the district. In an effort to reduce feeder splits—when students divide between two or more schools in transition to the next grade level—the plan reduces the number of elementary to middle school splits from 34 to eight and middle to high school splits from 16 to seven.

"It is important to keep in mind that in the future—provided we stay on the trajectory we are on in the master plan—that we would be reducing these splits further, as new middle schools come online," said Beth Martinez, FBISD executive director of organizational development.

Implementation

In addition to better aligning high school feeders, the attendance boundary changes approved Jan. 26 also created new attendance zones for Elementary School No. 46, which opens this fall in the Aliana subdivision and Elementary School No. 47 in the master-planned community of Riverstone, which is set to open at the beginning of the 2016–17 school year.

The adopted plan also requires attendance boundary changes in the 2015–16 school year for 15 elementary schools, 13 middle schools and all 11 high schools. An additional three elementary schools will undergo boundary changes at the start of the 2016–17 school year with the opening of Elementary School 47.

Students in elementary and middle schools affected by the changes will attend their new school in the upcoming school year. However, students entering fifth or eighth grade can elect to stay at their current campus but will not be eligible for district transportation. FBISD Communications Director Nancy Porter said this allows students in their final year in elementary or middle school to finish where they started.

Students entering grades 10–12 will remain at their respective campuses until graduation. Incoming freshmen who have older siblings in high school will be allowed to attend the same school as their sibling, with district transportation provided until the older sibling graduates.

Academies

Although academic program placement was not a consideration during the development of the district's adopted plan, academic programs directly effect the plan's implementation, Dupre said.

Per the plan's implementation, in the upcoming school year, two high school academies—the Global Studies Academy at Clements High School and the International Business and Marketing Academy at Bush High School—will be relocated to Travis High School. Academy students entering grades 10–12 will complete their programs at their current campus and incoming freshmen will begin their academy studies at Travis High School.

An initial recommendation by administration would have moved the Engineering Academy from Elkins High School to Dulles High School. However, after enrollment projections were reconsidered, the board amended the plan Jan. 26 to keep the program at Elkins High School.

"In the future, there might be more need for capacity at Dulles High School to relieve Kempner High School if it gets overcrowded again," said board trustee Dave Rosenthal, who proposed the amendment. "So [keeping the Engineering Academy at Elkins High School] would alleviate that."

The board also amended the plan to consolidate the entire Woodstream neighborhood in First Colony to attend Colony Meadows Elementary School and Fort Settlement Middle School.

The adopted plan is a living document that can be updated to address changes, including student enrollment, projected enrollment, building capacities and construction timetables. Dupre said should any future changes to the plan be needed that the district would request input from the community before making any decisions.

"The continued review of feeder patterns and boundaries with community input is essential in order to manage student enrollment to ensure maximum awareness and input from the public prior to determining alternative student enrollment options," Dupre said. "We believe this plan serves each student of FBISD, and with the annual review of enrollment projections, the plan can stand the test of time."