Tomball ISD will be implementing the original rezoning plan for The Woodlands area, Plan A, for the 2022-23 school year, TISD Chief Operating Officer Steven Gutierrez said during a workshop meeting May 9.
TISD formed a rezoning committee in April to consider other options after Plan A received pushback and criticism from TISD parents and The Woodlands Township officials, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported.
The district has been considering boundary changes affecting Creekview, Creekside Forest and Timber Creek elementary schools to alleviate overcrowding at Creekview Elementary. Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora previously said Creekview Elementary is at 115% capacity.
Plan A sends some students at Creekview Elementary to Timber Creek Elementary on the opposite side of Kuykendahl Road from their homes, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported.
“All the plans that were proposed, even the counter plans proposed by the largest community impacted had groups of students still crossing Kuykendahl Road; that [safety] issue was never fully addressed,” Guiterrez said during the meeting.
Guiterrez said Creekview Elementary will still be over 100% capacity after this rezone goes into effect. Capacity will not drop below 100% until the 2026-27 school year when the new elementary school, funded by the district’s 2021 bond package, opens at the Tomball Innovation Center at Hufsmith-Kohrville Road and FM 2929. In addition, in the 2024-25 school year, Timber Creek will join Creekview Elementary at being over 100% capacity, according to the district.
The rezoning committee met three times and was made up of 19 voting members—10 parents and nine staff—and five nonvoting members, including Salazar-Zamora, Board President Kathy Handler and three staff, according to Gutierrez.
After looking at several options and attempting to address safety solutions to issues at hand, such as students crossing Kuykendahl Road, the committee voted and chose Plan A as it distributes students most evenly and provides the greatest relief immediately to Creekview Elementary, Guiterrez said.
To help prevent students from having to cross Kuykendahl, Gutierrez said the district is offering busing to all students. Trustee Justin Unser asked Gutierrez if there are enough bus drivers to offer these additional transportation services.
“That’s going to be a constant struggle,” Gutierrez said. “We’re not fully staffed at what we need to be, but the plan with the tiered bell schedule will help alleviate some of the strain on the current system. That is a challenge; I’m not going to say that we have it fixed, but I think that we’ve done everything internally that we can to make it as efficient and smooth as possible ... Even though we’re short[-staffed], we’re going to make it happen.”
