Voters to decide on Katy ISD bond Nov. 5

The design calls for the stadium to be constructed on 50 acres of land on the north side of the existing Jack F. Rhodes Memorial Stadium. An earlier concept placed the stadium near Tompkins High School but it was jettisoned to avoid conflict with local homeowners, KISD Superintendent Alton Frailey said.

The current proposed location adjacent to Rhodes Stadium has brought some concern over parking and traffic, but school officials have been quick to defend it as an efficient way of sharing resources.

"We staff our activities with a strong support team," Frailey said. "The police department is a good piece of it—their efforts with traffic control and crowd safety. We feel like we can leverage that strong support team at one site, versus having to replicate it at two different sites."

The location also creates a venue uniquely suited for marching band and other competitions because it could host simultaneous events. There is even space above the locker rooms that could host choir competitions and banquets, Frailey said.

As for the traffic concerns, Frailey said recent road improvements to Franz Road, Katy-Fort Bend and Katyland Road, as well as Grand Parkway, will accommodate the traffic.

STEM Center

The $4.5 million science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) project center will provide space on the two-acre property just west of Miller Career and Technology Center off of Katyland Drive for students to construct larger projects and experiments, according to the bond proposal.

The district as a whole has not done enough to facilitate innovation and creativity among its students but this will be a step in the right direction, Frailey said. Each school may ultimately have its own space within the building where students can do their own projects.

"There are lots of things that we think our kids can create," he said. "With the resources that we have in the community, we think they can become leaders."

Similar spaces in other districts have been used to provide students with a place to build solar-powered cars, catapults, robots and other projects that allow them to apply what they learn in the classroom.

Robotics, in particular, seems to have caught the imagination of students and officials in the district. Twice in three months the board of trustees has publicly recognized the achievements of the CRyptonite Robotics team, based at Cinco Ranch High School. Team 624, as they are called, competed in this year's Texas Robot Roundup in Austin and won the overall competition for the second straight year.

Though it is an extracurricular activity for students in KISD, recent years have seen a broader push nationwide and statewide to encourage school districts to incorporate more STEM activities.

Project centers, or "maker's spaces," allow students an important opportunity to simultaneously apply classroom knowledge and develop valuable skills, said Dee Chambliss, Texas-Science Technology Engineering and Math program director with Educate Texas, a nonprofit group that promotes education initiatives.

"With what Katy is doing in terms of making a space where students can create, explore their own questions, and do their own research is right in line with what we know to be really important skills for students across the state and across different demographics to really adopt STEM skills that are necessary—not just content knowledge," Chambliss said.

Student Robotics Club President Bill Waters, in his comments to the school board at its meeting June 17, echoed the sentiment.

"I've done math and science classes but it's the robotics that truly lets me fully understand what I've learned as well as lets me apply it in the real world," he said. "It gives me purpose and drive for continuing my education."

He said the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competitions the team participates in are a conduit for many of the students to receive thousands of dollars in scholarship money. Some employers even look at the experience as a pool for employment.

Ag Complex

The bond's provision of $25 million for an agriculture complex funds construction of a pavilion and covered arena at the existing 125-acre Ag Facility on Katy-Hockley Road. Presently each high school has its own barn where Future Farmers of America students raise their animals for show and work on projects.

There is an existing building and arena about 6 miles away from the barns near the Merrell Center. The new arena will be larger, seating as many as 6,000 people. It will also have nearby separated pens for staging animals for auctions and rodeos. The larger property will allow more parking as well, said Stanford.

Early voting on the proposed bond is Oct. 21 through Nov. 1. The bond referendum will be on the regular ballot Nov. 5. Voters must bring a valid I.D.