Pflugerville ISD is undergoing efforts to realign enrollment zones at Highland Park, Murchison and Rowe Lane elementary schools as the district prepares to open its 20th elementary campus.

Elementary School 20, which is under construction, is slated to open in fall 2014. Its location, south of Gattis School Road and west of Priem Lane, will help ease capacity concerns at the other three elementary schools as the district's area north of SH 45 and west of SH 130 continues to grow.

"It's an opportunity to ease that area," PISD Deputy Superintendent Troy Galow said. "All indicators are that growth is going to continue to the north and the east of our district. It's definitely a hot spot for us."

The new school will have an overall capacity of 850 students, but administrators expect an enrollment of around 570 when ES 20 opens. The population will include approximately 115 students from Highland Park Elementary School, 290 from Murchison Elementary School and 165 from Rowe Lane Elementary School.

One concern officials are hearing on redistricting is the proposal does not give enough relief to Rowe Lane Elementary School, which currently serves 891 students. Galow said ES 20 does not plan to take more students from the school because the area around Rowe Lane, as well as nearby areas such as those zoned for Riojas Elementary School, are still growing and may need an additional elementary campus in the future.

"We feel confident [ES 20] is going to handle the growth north and west of [SH 130] for the foreseeable future," he said. "However, the area between Rowe Lane and Riojas [Elementary School] is our best guess for the next area that's going to need relief. Based on our projections, Rowe Lane will fill up again."

If a new school is built near Rowe Lane and Riojas elementary schools, the district will have to look at redistricting again, creating the possibility of sending students back to campuses they had been zoned out of with the creation of ES 20.

"What we're trying to do is establish some attendance zones that will be usable over time so that we can get students into a home school and they don't have to be moved more than necessary," Galow said. "With growth comes shifts in zones. During this growth process, we have to manage our zones to maximize building utilization."

Many of the new students at ES 20 will continue to receive busing to school, Galow said. The district, which already runs buses through the new elementary school's attendance zone, will stagger bus pick-up and drop-off times to accommodate taking students to the additional campus.

The district held informational meetings and gathered feedback from affected families during presentations at Highland Park Elementary School on Oct. 24, Murchison Elementary School on Oct. 28 and Rowe Lane Elementary School on Oct. 29.

Jessica Rotz, whose son is a first-grader at Rowe Lane Elementary School, said she was initially concerned the proposed redistricting would not give enough relief to the school, but her concerns were eased after hearing the district's presentation.

"We are definitely looking for relief in terms of capacity [at Rowe Lane], so we welcome [the redistricting]," she said. "I was glad to see plans to try and not impact some of the same kids more than once, in terms of moving them to [ES] 20 now, but as we grow, having to move them again."

Galow said the district has also fielded concerns from parents wanting their students to be put in elementary schools that feed into specific middle and high schools.

"We had a number of parents who want to be certain their student will go to high school A or high school B, and we can't guarantee that," he said. "Growth is coming, and what the future zones might look like, we don't know."

PISD staffers presented the redistricting plan to the Pflugerville board of trustees Nov. 21 and hope to receive final board approval in December.