Education
TISD opts to expand Creekside junior high
Searching for solutions November 2021: Voters approve Tomball ISD’s $494.46 million bond, which includes an elementary school on Juergen Road. April 2023: Parents express concerns after TISD changes the elementary school to an intermediate school at Tomball Innovation Center. October 2023: A feasibility study finds a possible stand-alone fifth- and sixth-grade building at Creekside Park Junior High would not work. Nov. 13-14, 2023: Families from the Creekside Park-area community protest TISD’s plan. Dec. 15, 2023: TISD announces a plan to build a fifth-grade addition at the junior high. Jan. 9, 2024: TISD names Huckabee as the architect for the expansion.
On Jan. 9, Tomball ISD’s board of trustees approved the architect for the Creekside Park Junior High School fifth-grade expansion, which was announced in mid-December after the district opted to expand the campus instead of building a new proposed intermediate school. In case you missed it Trustees approved Huckabee as the architect for a two-story, fifth-grade expansion of the junior high, which is expected to open in the 2026-27 school year. Huckabee’s services will be paid for using 2021 bond funds, according to TISD documents. The altered plan will save the district about $20 million and addresses concerns about the previously proposed $54.6 million Intermediate School No. 5 increasing commute times from the Creekside Park area, according to a Dec. 15 email to parents and district staff. However, increased traf- fic congestion may be a challenge, board Assistant Secretary Michael Pratt said Jan. 9.
“So [with] all of the emails that we expect will come … because of the traffic and because of the congestion, we hope that this memory won’t be lost of what this experience was like, and we ask for patience,” Pratt said at the meeting. The backstory Originally proposed as an elementary school, the campus was set to be built at the Tomball Innovation Center at Hufsmith-Kohrville Road and FM 2920. TISD later changed the campus to an intermediate school to relieve capacity issues for Creekside-area schools, causing protests regarding travel time and safety for students. What they’re saying “We are so thankful that you all are considering a different option, and I genuinely believe that if we can keep that school in Creekside, you are changing the lives of our children,” Creekside-area parent Julie Peschang said at the Jan. 9 meeting.
K
S I D E G R E E
Creekside Park Junior High
AUGUSTA PINES DR.
KUYKENDAHL RD.
N
SOURCE: TOMBALL ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Powered by FlippingBook