From the cover
Alvin ISD sets new boundaries as enrollment grows
BY JAMES T. NORMAN
New elementary school boundaries
The context
The overview
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Enrollment growth is expected to cause seven of the district’s schools to hit capacity by the 2024-25 school year with the current boundaries, documents show. The boundaries—along with the new schools— are part of the plan to help remedy that challenge.
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To keep up with an expanding district, AISD o cials approved a new set of boundaries for the 2024-25 school year. The new boundaries, which were approved in December, changed the district map for elementary and junior high schools to account for a pair of new campuses opening in the upcoming school year. Those new schools are Barbara Bennett Elementary School and Iowa Colony Junior High School. Meanwhile, a number of AISD campuses are either reaching or have surpassed capacity, said Wil Kennedy, Iowa Colony’s mayor and a member of the district’s boundary advisory committee, at a November board meeting. The new map will replace a set of boundaries approved just one year ago, as the district has continued to see growth, Assistant Superintendent Rory Gesch said. That growth has included more than 1,000 new students in each of the last several years— and projections show not much in the way of slowing down. Projections from demographer Zonda Education presented at an October board meeting show AISD could add 5,000 more students by 2030—meaning the district could total more than 34,000 students. The new maps will a ect nine schools across the district, documents show. High schools will not be impacted. “We’re trying to maximize the use [of our facilities],” Gesch said. “Even through [the pandemic in recent years], we were able to stay steady, even when several districts lost enrollment.”
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Annual districtwide enrollment change 2018-19 2019-20 *2020-21 -16
288
+1,093 +1,077
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1 Stevenson/Disney 2 Alvin 3 Nelson
8 Nichols Mock 9 Bennett
15 Savannah Lakes
+1,079
2022-23 2021-22 2023-24
16 Duke
11 Meridiana 12 Sanchez 10 EC Mason 13 Jeter 14 Pomona
+1,103
17 Brothers
6 Hood-Case 4 Hasse 5 Passmore
+1,052
18 York 19 Marek 20 Wilder
*AISD ENROLLMENT DECLINED IN FIRST FULL YEAR OF COVID 19 PANDEMIC. SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY COMMUNITY IMPACT
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New junior high school boundaries
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What they're saying
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“The purpose of revising school boundaries is to optimize school facility usage and to accommodate growth patterns. ... Alvin ISD has campuses that are currently at or overcapacity, while some have available capacity.” WIL KENNEDY, IOWA COLONY
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288
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MAYOR AND MEMBER OF AISD SCHOOL BOUNDARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
1 Alvin 2 Fairview
4 Ca ey 5 Harby 6 Manvel
8 Ryan 9 McNair 7 Rodeo Palms
3 Iowa Colony
SOURCE: ALVIN ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT
Looking ahead
will meet up to ve times in the coming months leading up to that deadline. The rst meeting will take place Feb. 12, with following ones scheduled in March, April and, if needed, May, Rives said. They will be open to the public. “It’s going to be listening to the community voice about what we need and if we need another bond, and when that would be timingwise,” Gesch said.
Among something that could come out of the group is the recommendation for a bond, which would be presented to the board “no later than June,” documents show. However, whatever the recommendation, the district’s board will maintain the nal say in any projects, funding or structure of a potential bond, if it were proposed. In the meantime, the committee, which will be made up of between 75 to 100 citizens,
The two new schools are the last projects from the district’s 2018 bond, Rives said. AISD’s board in December also approved the creation of a new citizen’s advisory committee, which will conduct a review of several aspects within the district, according to district documents. Those include: • Educational programs • Enrollment trends • Current facility capability and conditions
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