The early college high school is tuition free and provides all materials and books needed at no charge.
iSchool High partners with Lone Star College, which allows enrolled students to earn up to an associate degree or 60 transferable credits by graduation.
Creekside Campus Director Jose Jasso said iSchool High is an individualized program.
“The students aren’t necessarily going at the same pace,” he said. “They can exceed the minimum pace we set for them. We still have a trajectory to finish on time at the end of May like every other high school, but my students can go far beyond that.”
iSchool High is categorized as a public Texas charter school. Enrollment is capped at 150 students for the 2022-23 school year. Jasso said each year that number will steadily grow and ultimately cap out at 300 students.
“If we exceed our numbers at enrollment time, we do, by law, have to go into a lottery,” he said. “The only students who are ensured a spot with us are returning students.”
Jasso said because students in the Creekside community are zoned to Tomball High School, which is about a 20-minute commute, he said he believes iSchool High will fulfill an unmet need.
“Here, we are a part of the community,” he said. “We are embedded right in it. We also offer an alternative to the big high school. At 300, that’s even less than 10% of what people get at any of the surrounding high schools. However, we don’t offer sports. We primarily focus on academics.”
Jasso said any student in Texas can enroll in iSchool High.
“I have students coming over from Magnolia because they see the benefit of the program,” he said. “It can also be anyone close to the community. I have students who bike here because they live five minutes away.”
Classes are on campus from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Campus construction is set to be complete before the start of the spring semester. iSchool High is located at the LSC-Creekside Center, 8747 W. New Harmony Trail, Tomball.
“Our big thing is that we want to give students a different option,” Jasso said. “A lot of my kids come here specifically because they are trying to accelerate in order to graduate early, take some college classes and have more control of the programs they are in. As far as Creekside goes, we are really aiming to be the community’s high school.”
Students can enroll at the iSchool High Creekside website. Students are still being accepted for the current school year. Open enrollment for the 2023-24 school year will end Feb. 3.
