A plan that would send some students in The Woodlands Township to a Tomball ISD elementary school on the opposite side of Kuykendahl Road from their homes was met with opposition from parents and raised questions from the township’s board of directors. Officials said in March the rezoning decision could go before the TISD board of trustees April 12, but according to agendas posted for the April 11 workshop and April 12 regular meeting, the topic was not listed.
At a March 24 board meeting in The Woodlands, TISD Chief Operating Officer Steven Gutierrez presented information about two Creekside Park rezoning plans. Plan A would send some students attending Creekview Elementary School in Creekside Park to Timber Creek Elementary School, which is on the east side of Kuykendahl Road, while Plan B would not include those sections of Creekside Park in the Timber Creek zone. Several residents who spoke at the meeting as well as board members said crossing Kuykendahl Road was too dangerous of a proposition for students in a community that values walking and biking to school.
“All of us know how dangerous this could be as we have seen people hit and even killed,” said Shannon Irby, a resident who spoke at the meeting.
However, Gutierrez said even if Plan B is adopted, some students will eventually need to be zoned to Timber Creek because of increasing growth in the district, which is projected to enroll 24,000 students in 2026-27 and 26,000 by 2031-32. Creekview Elementary School is at 115% capacity this school year, while Timber Creek is at 82% capacity, according to TISD information.
The board previously discussed the intersection of Kuykendahl and Creekside Green Drive at a Nov. 18 meeting, and several improvements were recommended for the intersection to improve safety.
Officials at that time also discussed the feasibility of a pedestrian bridge across Kuykendahl, which board Chair Gordy Bunch said would remove the need to implement other solutions, such as crossing guards. A bridge was projected to cost about $1.1 million at that time.
Bunch asked Gutierrez if the district would consider hiring school crossing guards, which TISD does not employ.Gutierrez said rather than hiring crossing guards, the district has opted to provide busing for all students, which he said is not required by the state.
“There’s no way we can govern every possible way from an individual’s home to our campus to say we’re going to secure each one of those,” Gutierrez said.
Bunch suggested the board partner with TISD and Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey on the safety issue, whether that entails developing a plan for a bridge together or looking at other solutions.
Gutierrez said he would convey The Woodlands’ preference for the Zone B solution and other topics discussed at the meeting to the school board.
The Woodlands Township board of directors on March 30 unanimously approved a draft resolution supporting Tomball ISD’s Plan B. It also appointed directors Bob Milner and Ann Snyder as representatives in the event a task force could be formed between entities to determine a path going forward on improving crossing safety on Kuykendahl Road.
