Humble ISD approved new attendance zones in March that shifted students along the Wilson Road corridor from Summer Creek High School to Humble High School.

The change means any student zoned to Humble Middle School will also attend Humble High School beginning in the 2016-17 school year, HISD superintendent Guy Sconzo said. Quest Early College will also be relocated to Humble High School from Summer Creek High School.

The new attendance zones do not affect students already in high school, and elementary and middle school attendance zones were not changed.

“This enhances communication between the high school and middle school so that teachers can best prepare students,”HISD Public Communications Director Jamie Mount said. “The revision also allows students to stay with friends they made in middle school.”

However, some parents said the plan unnecessarily increases the percentage of economically disadvantaged students at Humble High School.

“They have now taken us over 80 percent economically disadvantaged,” said David Hill, a Houston ISD high school teacher whose son attends Humble High School. “It has a huge impact on my kid who has three more years at Humble High School. Studies have shown that it’s much more difficult when dealing with those challenges and a lot of the other challenges of teaching.”

Hill said students should have been dispersed evenly between Humble and Atascocita high schools to keep the number of economically disadvantaged students below 80 percent at Humble High School. 

Humble High School will receive additional resources, like extra staffing to combat additional challenges, Sconzo said. The 2016-17 budget includes funding for more teachers, counselors and administrators at Humble High School.

“This additional staffing will allow us to provide new and enriching learning opportunities for students, including [college readiness] instruction for all freshmen and expanded career and technical education courses for all students,” Sconzo said.

The plan was approved by the board of trustees after a study conducted by The Student Attendance Advisory Committee concluded Humble High School could serve more students, Mount said. The Student Attendance Advisory Committee is composed of parents and community members from across the district.

The school’s enrollment is 1,600, but it could support 800 additional students, the study said.

With a potential school bond in 2018 and heavy population growth on the horizon, the attendance zones will continue to see tweaks, Sconzo said.