Elementary-age children who live in the Bridgeland community—current and future—will attend Pope Elementary beginning with the 2013-14 school year, after Cy-Fair ISD trustees approved attendance boundaries Dec. 10 for the new school.

Pope Elementary will relieve high enrollments from neighboring Warner Elementary across Fry Road, which had an enrollment of more than 1,800 students at the beginning of the school year. One year ago, trustees approved opening dates for three new schools, including Pope, to address projections that several campuses will be overcapacity in the coming years.

"The reason we're recommending this is because it keeps the whole neighborhood together, the drive times are minimized, and we are also projecting that we'll have fairly equal enrollments between Warner and Pope," said Blanca Cooper, manager of planning services for the district.

Projected enrollments for the 2013-14 school year put 908 students at Warner and 903 at Pope, according to CFISD.

Residents in one section of Blackhorse Ranch South, another community adjacent to Bridgeland, live on the western side of Fry Road and submitted several comments asking to be within the Pope Elementary boundaries, Cooper said.

"The issue was that, yes, they are on the west side of Fry, but that's 240 additional students, and based on our enrollment projections and how rapidly Bridgeland will grow, that would be a detriment to Pope Elementary," Cooper said.

There are 722 CFISD students in Bridgeland currently, and last month there were 713, Cooper said.

"That's nine extra students just in one month," she said. "Once the Bridgeland community has the Grand Parkway that's going to travel right through it on the west side, we do believe there will be rapid growth."

The community of Bridgeland is split between three school districts—Cy-Fair, Katy and Waller—with about a quarter of the development completed, Cooper said.

"In our section we will have [a total of] 3,000 to 3,600 students, so in five years we'll be ready for a new elementary to relieve Pope," she said.

Students who currently attend Warner and will be in fifth grade next year are allowed to remain at that school if a parent provides transportation, Cooper said. Additionally, students from both elementary schools will attend Smith Middle School and Cy-Ranch High School.