New Caney ISD trustees approve rezoning for Woodridge Forest Middle School

Some students currently attending White Oak Middle School in New Caney ISD will have the option to attend Woodridge Forest Middle School in the 2020-21 school year. The NCISD board of trustees unanimously agreed on the attendance rezoning for Woodridge Forest Middle School at Jan. 30 school board meeting.

The schools are being rezoned because Woodridge Forest Middle School is undergoing a $8.2 million expansion that will increase the school's capacity from 1,140 to 1,500 students, said Scott Powers, executive director of public relations for NCISD, via email.

The expansion is funded by the district's $200 million bond referendum approved by voters in May 2018. The expansion at Woodridge Forest Middle School includes additional classrooms and expanded physical education dressing rooms.

The rezoning will also help alleviate crowding at White Oak Middle School, as the school's capacity is 990 and the current enrollment is 969, Powers said. Students living west of Hwy. 59 in the northern portion of the Oakhurst neighborhood will be most affected by the rezoning.

"The zone change impacts approximately 58 students in sixth grade at White Oak that would move to Woodridge Forest," Powers said. "Students in the elementary grades at Bens Branch who live in the area impacted by the zone change will attend Woodridge Forest when they begin middle school."

NCISD Deputy Superintendent Matt Calvert said current sixth grade students who wish to remain at White Oak Middle School have the option to fill out a student transfer form by Feb. 14. However, all current fifth-grade students in the zoning area will be required to attend Woodridge Forest Middle School in August.

Middle School Zones 2019-20 Middle School Zones 2020-21

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly said the Bens Branch neighborhood would be affected. It is the Oakhurst area.