The board of trustees on Nov. 21 held a discussion on recommendations from the Growth and Planning Committee regarding feeder pattern changes.
The overview
According to the meeting agenda, the recommendations from the committee included:
- Rolling Meadows Elementary School attendance zone split at Kentucky Street
- Coronado Village Elementary School staff and students relocate to Selma Elementary School
- Dual language moves to Selma Elementary School
- Spanish immersion moves to Selma Elementary School
- JSTEM moves from Judson Middle School to Kitty Hawk Middle School
- High schools would each have two campuses feeding into them
What they’re saying
Trustee Monica Ryan began the discussion with concerns on the enrollment numbers being lower for the middle schools.
Ryan said that data she received from the demographer shows an estimated 4,545 students attending middle schools in Judson ISD during the next school year.
If those number predictions are accurate with the district having six middle schools, the capacity for each school would be around 59%, Ryan said.
“These projections aren’t really accounting for vouchers passing yet, and that is also going to have an impact on our enrollment, potentially at every level,” she said.
Trustee Debra Eaton highlighted that the two campuses being opened were decided upon at a time when the district was expecting growth to support those schools.
“When we made the decision, the numbers were adequate to feed into having another middle school and moving forward with that,” Eaton said.
Trustee José Macias recommended holding an in-depth workshop to allow the board the time to consider the best decision for the district when it comes to attendance zones.
“The board needs to really have in-depth conversations about topics like this,” he said.
This meeting proposal was supported by the majority of trustees, with board President Suzanne Kenoyer and trustee Stephanie Faulkner saying the board needs to put trust into the work the committee and the staff has put into the new attendance zone recommendations.
Faulkner said that while the district is facing lower attendance, the future of the district should be considered, which includes having enough campuses open to accommodate future growth.
“As a board, we have to have a lens for an entire school district,” Faulkner said. “We have to set our personal thoughts and experiences aside, and look at academics and expenditures, and we have to think about not just the immediate timeline, but the future.”
Moving forward
Superintendent Milton “Rob” Fields III emphasized the importance of a decision being made in December, saying it would lead to timeline challenges if action was taken at a later date.
“If we don’t start moving forward on this by December, and we are able to start getting stuff done by January, it is going to compromise our ability to get these campuses open by 2025,” Fields said.
District staff said the December timeline is important due to staff having to work on changes to the registration process, transportation routes and the opening of two new schools.
The full discussion can be viewed here. Information on the proposed maps can be found here.
