A new elementary school and a new junior high school, funded by the $275 million bond referendum voters approved in 2017, will be located at the district complex underway at Cypress Rosehill Road and the Grand Parkway.
TISD hosted a public forum Nov. 14 to hear resident feedback on the proposed rezoning maps, which were created by the TISD District Zone Committee. Chief Operating Officer Steven Gutierrez said the committee was scheduled to meet the week of Nov. 18 in a closed session to make final map recommendations.
Intermediate and high school boundaries will not change at this time, he said.
“We have not officially proposed these plans to the school board. These are still in draft form,” Gutierrez said during the forum.
Rezoning plans propose relieving Wildwood, Lakewood and Willow Wood to about 80% of their building capacities to leave room for anticipated enrollment over the next decade, as the campuses are currently overcapacity, according to district information. The students pulled from these campuses will populate the new schools.
Redrawing boundaries
Many of the residents in attendance at the forum spoke on behalf of neighborhoods affected by the proposed maps, including Hayden Lakes, Lakes at Northpointe and Rosehill Reserve.The proposed maps as of Nov. 14 rezone Hayden Lakes from Wildwood to the new schools.
To relieve Lakewood, the gated section of Lakes at Northpointe—called the Enclave at Northpointe—would be moved to Wildwood, according to proposed maps.
“We are within a 1-mile radius of Wildwood Elementary, and I really am asking myself also why is a school that is overcapacity relieving another a school ... and why are we relieving it to 80% undercapacity ... when our children have just as much right to be at that school as future children?” said Rose Mansour, a Wildwood parent and Hayden Lakes resident who spoke during the forum.
Parents at the forum said they are concerned about splitting the Lakes at Northpointe neighborhood, as the Enclave and Lakes at Northpointe share an access point from Spring Cypress Road.
The maps also propose part of Oakcrest North remaining at Wildwood while the western half is rezoned to the new schools, and all neighborhoods currently zoned to Rosehill west of Telge Road on the southside of FM 2920—excluding Rosehill Reserve—are proposed to move to the new schools as well.
Travel concerns
During the forum, parents advocated for the district to consider students’ safety in the rezoning decisions, as buses will travel on the Grand Parkway to the new district complex. Parents said their safety concerns stem from buses not having seat belts, the high speeds on the Grand Parkway and the lack of a frontage road.“We do have buses that have seatbelts. Those are the last 20 that we purchased. Any future buses that we do purchase will come with seatbelts,” Gutierrez said during the forum. “The Grand Parkway is the most direct route to the new school. ... There are others. I’m not saying they’re efficient, but there are other ways.”
Parents also said the increased travel times to the new campuses is a concern, as the district complex is on the far west end of the district.
“It’s also unfortunate that this plan has children moving over 5 miles from their home and in the opposite direction of civilization,” Mansour said during the forum.
Gutierrez said he anticipates the board of trustees to vote on the recommended rezoning maps Dec. 10, and the district will begin its communication campaign to inform affected communities in December and January.
“As an educator and a parent myself, I understand some of the concerns you’re stressing, the sentiment for what you’re used to and what your child might be used to, and for that, I apologize that that’s happened,” Gutierrez said during the forum. “But the reality is we do have two schools that we’re opening, and we need to move students into those schools.”
Feeder patterns
While new elementary and junior high boundaries are proposed, intermediate and high school boundaries will stay the same at this time, district officials said. This means some campuses may be split between a Tomball Memorial and Tomball high school trajectory.Proposed feeder patterns include:
- Wildwood Elementary School + Northpointe Intermediate, Oakcrest Intermediate + Junior High No. 4 + Tomball Memorial High School
- Elementary No. 11 + Oakcrest Intermediate, Tomball Intermediate + Junior High No. 4 + Tomball Memorial High School, Tomball High School
- Lakewood Elementary + Northpointe Intermediate + Willow Wood Junior High + Tomball Memorial High School
- Rosehill Elementary + Tomball Intermediate + Tomball Junior High + Tomball High School
View the proposed boundaries for junior high schools in southern TISD below.
