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Board Approved Parameters

Board Approved Parameters

Board Approved Parameters (In Priority Order)

  • Create/maintain a feeder system which allows as much as possible for elementary students to move to the same intermediate together.
  • Have students attend the school closest to where they live.
  • Keep neighborhoods/subdivisions together.
  • Utilize facilities in the most efficient way possible.
  • Consider options for parent/student choice, including grandfathering.
  • Have a reasonable drive time for students to get from home to school.
  • Create/maintain a feeder system which allows as much as possible for intermediate students to move to the same middle school together.
  • Minimize transportation requirements and costs as much as possible.
  • Maintain a commitment to long?range planning decisions.
  • Balance enrollments among the schools.
  • Eliminate or avoid the use of portable buildings.
  • Leave room in a school for potential growth.
  • Retain a reasonably balanced racial/ethnic/economically disadvantaged relationship in all schools.
  • Consider the effects of boundary adjustments on instructional programs at all schools.
  • Use natural boundaries, such as major streets and roadways as lines for attendance boundaries.

Historical Background

As part of the May 2009 election, voters approved plans and funding to build a new elementary school on White Chapel Boulevard north of Dove Road. In an effort to avoid the operational/staffing costs of a new sixth elementary school, citizens on the Long Range Facility Planning Committee (LRFPC) recommended CISD build a new fifth elementary school – Walnut Grove Elementary - creating a larger, replacement campus for students attending Durham Elementary School and some students attending an overcrowded Johnson Elementary School. This plan ultimately created additional intermediate school space when Durham Intermediate expanded into the classrooms vacated by Durham Elementary. No changes were necessary to the district’s intermediate, middle or high school zones.

Current Situation

Overcrowding - New growth and housing developments in the north zones of CISD now require the Board and Administration to consider setting new attendance zones to relieve crowding at Walnut Grove Elementary and Johnson Elementary School. The overcrowding at these two campuses just happens to coincide with a lower elementary enrollment in the Old Union zone. The district’s intermediate, middle and high schools are projected to have ample space to handle future growth. However, any changes to the elementary zones could have an impact on the feeder system to date. It is noted that some students at Walnut Grove are no longer attending the elementary school closest to their neighborhood after Durham Elementary essentially relocated north of Highway 114 on White Chapel Blvd.

Preschool Program - CISD has options when it comes to serving the district’s preschool population. Currently these students attend either Carroll Elementary or Rockenbaugh Elementary, and total 11.5 sections using 12 classrooms for the preschool program. CISD could serve preschool students at each elementary, at several elementary schools or at a centralized location like the former Durham Elementary building.

Split Feeder Zone for CES - The district’s Strategic Planning Committee has suggested in one of their more than 300+ Action steps (under Strategy 8) that CISD consider establishing feeder elementaries that feed into one intermediate school. In other words, if at all possible, it has been recommended that CISD make it a priority during the rezoning process to keep Carroll Elementary School students together through grades 5-12. They are currently split when they reach the intermediate school level (grade 5) by the FM 1709/Southlake Blvd. boundary. Those living south of FM 1709/Southlake Blvd. go to Eubanks Intermediate and Dawson Middle School and those living north of FM 1709/Southlake Blvd. go to Durham Intermediate and Carroll Middle School.

Summary

The Administration believes attendance rezoning is necessary to address these top three issues:

  1. Overcrowding at WGES/JES and lower enrollment at OUES
  2. Preschool classroom utilization
  3. Split CES zone for intermediate/middle school feeder system

Process/Purpose

The purpose of the Attendance Rezoning Process is to provide a standard planning procedure to use each time it is necessary to redraw district attendance zones. The primary goal of the process is to provide all stakeholders who may be affected by rezoning with an opportunity to have input into the decision-making that affects boundary changes. Rezoning is typically done looking at both short-term and long-term effects on the district’s students, staff, and neighborhoods, in addition to considerations for transportation, building capacity and the overall long-term building/enrollment plan.