The public got their first look Monday night at the attendance zones proposed for the four new schools opening in the fall 2015 in Frisco ISD. Above is the proposed attendance zone for the new Reedy High School and the projected student population at each school through 2017.
The new schools are needed to handle the continuing growth in the district. Opening next school year are Reedy High School, Trent Middle School, Pearson Middle School and Norris Elementary. Attendance zone changes are also proposed between Robertson and Boals elementaries and between Lone Star and Wakeland high schools to better balance student populations.
Superintendent Jeremy Lyon acknowledged the challenges ahead. At Monday’s meeting he described rezoning as a painful and difficult process. Before the board meeting had even concluded, social media was abuzz with negative comments about the draft proposals: disappointed, ripped away from their current campus, ruined lives, friendships torn apart, a debacle and a slap in the face to the students.
But Lyon also said the district is committed to a small high school model, and that won’t change regardless of how the proposals introduced Monday are revised in the coming weeks.
All of Frisco’s high schools are built and staffed with the same commitment to quality, same programming and the same square footage, he said. “In this conversation that we have, there are no haves and have-nots as you see in so many communities,” he said. “This conversation is about haves and haves.”
Board members will hold a work session on Oct. 28 to go through the proposals, discuss options and make changes. The public is invited to sit in on the discussions, but no public input will be taken during the workshop. Public input on the proposed changes will be accepted at a Nov. 10 board meeting.
Public input is also being accepted throughout the process by district staff, who are also available to answer questions. Emails and phone numbers are available on the rezoning page on the district’s website.
A final vote is scheduled for December.
Board president Anne McCausland invited people to share their thoughts with trustees, who will be driving through neighborhoods and getting familiar with the neighborhoods in the coming weeks. She suggested that people not just complain about the process but propose possible alternatives as well.
Lyon said that people often get lost in the maps and the numbers when talking about rezoning. “But you have to understand that to a parent, the most important consideration is the effect of the proposal on the educational outcome for their child,” he said. “What we are really discussing are children, parents and families.”
The rezoning proposals aim to balance the schools’ populations and relieve overcrowding. Without the opening of the new Reedy High school next year, for example, the student populations are projected to balloon past 2,400 at both Wakeland and Frisco high schools. The capacity for the district’s high schools is 2,100.
Click here to view all of the proposed attendance zone changes for the 2015-16 school year.
