Veterans' Hill set to reopen

With the reopening, Superintendent Doug Killian announced his intent to offer Bischoffberger the opportunity to step back into her role as VHES principal, an invitation she plans to accept.

"I'm really excited," she said. "[VHES] is like my baby. We're doing what's right for the community [by reopening]."

An abrupt closure

VHES first opened in 2008 when the city of Hutto was experiencing rapid residential growth, and demographers predicted a swelling in HISD's student population.

However, in the following years, Hutto's residential growth slowed, and with it, the number of students enrolling in the district. When state education funding cuts hit the district in the 2010–11 school year and HISD faced a $4 million shortfall, staff and the board of trustees were forced to consider cost-saving measures. Closing VHES helped save the district approximately $1 million annually.

"Of the 10 years I've been on the board, this is the hardest decision I've had to make," said trustee Sheila Knapp when the decision to close the school was made in 2011.

Student population growth

Construction within the Siena development, which lies in Round Rock's extraterritorial jurisdiction but also within Hutto ISD's attendance zone, first spurred discussions on reopening the school in late 2012. The development is slated to add approximately 2,600 single-family lots and 1,500 multifamily units within the next 10 years.

"That neighborhood, if it's built up, even if 100 homes are filled up in the next couple of years, it's going to force us to reopen Veterans' Hill," HISD Public Information Officer Emily Grobe said in October 2012.

Currently, Siena has 37 homes finished or under construction with another 63 lots ready to begin building.

A presentation given to the board in October by Templeton Demographics also shows a rebound in Hutto housing sales overall. The district ranked 11th in Central Texas for number of new homes in the third quarter of 2013.

"There's a lot of developed vacant land, but still not enough to meet demand," Killian said. "Our housing is filling up."

With housing growth, Templeton is also estimating the district will have 6,290 students enrolled during the 2014–15 school year. Given the increase, the district's four current elementary campuses, which have a total capacity of 2,800 students, will be serving 2,707 students in prekindergarten through fourth grade.

"Growth never really left Hutto, but it's expected to double next year," said Ed Ramos, HISD assistant superintendent of finance and operations. "This year [the district] is at a 3 percent growth rate, and next year we'll be at a 6 percent growth rate."

The fifth-grade debate

The decision to reopen VHES has also provoked discussion on whether to move the district's fifth-grade students back to its elementary campuses. The grade was moved to the middle school level when VHES was closed to help ease elementary schools' capacities.

Brittany Cheatheam, a fifth-grade teacher at Farley Middle School, and Liza DeLeon, a fifth-grade teacher at Hutto Middle School, spoke at the board's Jan. 16 meeting in favor of keeping the grade at the middle schools. Both said it helps their students adapt to changing classes and allows them to participate in programs such as One Act Play.

"We have seen firsthand the benefit of students being able to transition into middle school with the current location of fifth grade," Cheatheam said. "We feel it benefits them academically by gradually exposing them to middle school expectations."

However, parent Kelsey Porter asked the trustees to move fifth-graders back to elementary schools, saying the students need more time to grow before being introduced to middle school. Porter said the board's decision on where to put fifth-grade students will have a significant impact on whether she keeps her children in the district's schools.

"I'm terrified of my [fifth-grade] daughter going into [middle school]," Porter said. "It's important to have kids stay in smaller schools as long as possible."

The board will decide where to hold fifth-grade classes in February, a decision that will help guide plans for building future schools.

According to an HISD analysis based on enrollment projections, if fifth grade is left at the middle school level, the district will need to open a sixth elementary school in school year 2019–20, a seventh elementary school in school year 2023–24 and a third middle school for school year 2020–21. If the grade is moved back to elementary campuses, the district will need to open a sixth elementary school in 2017–18, a seventh in 2020–21 and an eighth in 2023–24.

"We want to balance our attack on growth," Ramos said.

Preparations for reopening

Before VHES can open, the board still has several factors to consider, and community input will be an important part of the decisions made on the reopening, Killian said. One task will be drawing attendance zones for the five elementary campuses. Creating boundaries that can be used for several years so students will not have to transfer schools more than once will be a priority.

"In speaking with current middle-schoolers, some of them have been moved four to five times since starting kindergarten with the district," Killian said. "Whatever we decide, we want to try to minimize moving as much as possible and give our students some stability."

Teachers and staff will also need to be hired, though the number of hires will not be decided until attendance zones are established and the district knows how many students VHES will accommodate. Killian said previous VHES faculty will be asked if they want to transfer back to the school, and then positions will be open to other district employees who may want to transfer.

The district will then open any remaining positions at VHES and the ones vacated by teachers transferring from other district schools to public application.

The cost to reopen the school will come in at just less than $1 million, excluding salaries. The costs will come out of the district's fund balance, which has increased from less than $2.5 million to nearly $8 million in just two years.

In contrast to the tough decision to close VHES, district staff and trustees are hoping its reopening marks an era of growth and success in Hutto ISD.

"Opening Veterans' Hill will be a healing process," Killian said. "But I'm choosing to look at it like a rebirth. Hutto ISD is back on the rise."