New attendance zones for Friendswood ISD in consideration after 2020 bond projects completed

With a new school being finished from the 2020 bond, Friendswood ISD has proposed new attendance zones for the 2023-24 school year.

The new boundaries were presented at the April 25 FISD board of trustees workshop and will be voted on later as an action item during a May meeting, according to trustees.

The building of the new Cline Elementary, which is located in the West Ranch master-planned community and is replacing the current Cline Elementary on Briarmeadow Avenue, is one of the main reasons for the new attendance zones.

According to zoning maps presented at the workshop, the area around the current Cline Elementary would be zoned to Westwood Elementary and Bales Intermediate School. FM 528 would serve as the major dividing line between being zoned to Westwood Elementary and Bales Intermediate, Windsong Intermediate or Cline Elementary.

Parents have the ability to request for their children to attend a different school that they are not zoned to, but it is an annual request that has to be approved each school year. There are also special circumstances for children of teachers who would be zoned to a different school than the one that their parent teaches at.

Many of the board members emphasized the importance of considering how these attendance zones will affect the elementary students, particularly those who would be moved before their fifth-grade year.

“It's our responsibility to study [the new attendance zones] before we actually vote,” Trustee Rebecca Hillenburg said.