Education
BY EMILY LINCKE & HANNAH BROL
Education Edition
2025
Readers, welcome to your annual CI Education Edition! This guide features a variety of education updates from your local public school district, New Caney ISD. In this special edition, you can see NCISD’s latest A-F accountability ratings, learn more about the district’s upcoming scal year budget and get insight on how arti cial intelligence is impacting the classroom. Our cover story this month dives into how district o cials are preparing to keep up with enrollment growth projections over the next decade. All of the stories featured in this year’s guide were written by our local team of journalists. Additionally, all of the advertisements are from nearby businesses who support our mission to provide free, useful news—show them your gratitude by supporting them. To keep up with education news throughout the month, visit communityimpact.com/newsletter to sign up for our free daily newsletter.
What's inside
See how New Caney ISD schools were rated by the state in 2024 25 (Page 10)
Kim Sommers General Manager ksommers@ communityimpact.com
Learn more about the impact of arti cial intelligence on schools (Page 11)
Check out New Caney ISD’s new cellphone policy (Page 12)
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Highlands Elementary opens for 2025 26 school year
engineering and math, Carlile said. Fifty students per grade level— rst through fth grade—were accepted at the campus for a total of 250 students, as previously reported. In the 2026-27 school year and after, transfer applications can be submitted for rst grade students. The background Highlands Elementary is NCISD’s 12th elemen- tary school, and it cost around $44 million to build, according to NCISD’s website. The construc- tion of the campus was funded by the district’s $695 million bond package, which was approved by voters in May 2023. “This is one of those times it’s just really cool to be in my position to see this [school] come from a vacant piece of land,” NCISD Superintendent Matt Calvert said Aug. 18. “This building is all for [the students] and the teachers in it, and so we just hope you enjoy your time here at Highlands Elementary.”
New Caney ISD o cials celebrated the opening of Highlands Elementary School with a ribbon cutting ceremony Aug. 18. The gist After about 16 months of construction, Highlands Elementary—a 110,000-square-foot campus —o cially opened Aug. 6 for the start of the 2025-26 school year. Rodr’ee Carlile—the former principal at Kings Manor Elementary—is leading the school after being named principal Jan. 6. “We’re not just opening buildings, we’re open- ing possibilities,” Carlile said Aug. 18. “At High- lands, ... our students will tackle real problems, lead with empathy and connect across cultures. Thank you to our board, ... our district leaders, sta , our families, our parents and the community for believing in what’s possible.” Highlands Elementary is a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Primary Year Program with a focus on science, technology
Highlands Elementary spans 110,000 square feet.
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