Several south Montgomery County schools will see additional space added in 2020-21 as a result of the bond. College Park High School is slated to get a 10-classroom addition via $9.86 million of bond funds, while an addition to York Junior High to increase classroom and cafeteria capacity to 2,000 students is budgeted at $15.5 million.
Other local bond projects include the construction of The Woodlands High School Career & Technical Education center as well as engineering and science labs additions, budgeted at $11.19 million.
Oak Ridge High School is also getting a $44.6 million major systems overhaul.
At its Dec. 17 meeting, the CISD board of trustees discussed possible changes to its attendance boundaries as a result of the upcoming opening of Stockton Junior High School in the Conroe High School feeder zone. Although that school is being built with funds from a 2015 bond, the feeder zones for elementary schools in The Woodlands and College Park feeder zones will also come under scrutiny in 2020 as the district responds to student population growth throughout the region.
Deputy Superintendent Chris Hines, who has been leading the attendance boundary committee in crafting possible changes and soliciting community feedback, said there are opportunities to balance overcrowding in several schools by using capacity in other buildings.
“We know we have some schools with a bit of room, and we know we have schools we need to find solutions for,” Hines said in November.
For example, Ride Elementary School is at 131% capacity and is currently using 12 portable classrooms, according to a Dec. 17 CISD presentation.
Other elementary schools in southern Montgomery County over 100% capacity include Lamar, Glen Loch and Powell schools. Bush Elementary School is projected to be at 136% capacity by 2025 due to new development planned along the FM 1488 corridor.
Meanwhile, four schools—Deretchin, Galatas, Buckalew and Tough elementary schools—are at 74%-86% capacity, according to the presentation.
The next public information sessions on College Park and The Woodlands elementary schools will be held in late January to present several zoning scenarios, and recommendations will be presented in February.
This article ran in the January 2020 edition of The Woodlands. Read the full e-edition here.
