COLLEGE
STATION INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD
WORKSHOP
August
30, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.
CSISD
Board Room
A.
CALL TO ORDER
President
Randall Pitcock called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and declared a quorum
was present with seven members present.
B.
DECLARATION OF QUORUM
In
attendance were President Randall Pitcock, Vice President Valerie Jochen, Secretary
Paul Dorsett, and Trustees Carol Barrett, Charlotte Slack, Garland Watson and Jeff
Harris.
President
Randall Pitcock announced that Dr. Eddie Coulson has been named one of five
finalists for Superintendent of the Year.
C.
WORKSHOP SESSION
C-1.
Receive report related to new attendance zones for College Station
Independent School District
President
Randall Pitcock welcomed everyone, made a statement to make sure the audience
knew that the purpose of the forum was to receive input from the community and
the Board Operating Procedures prohibit Trustees from answering, commenting, or
getting into a dialogue with speakers.
Superintendent
Eddie Coulson recognized Deputy Superintendent Clark Ealy who presented
information related to the rezoning process, the rezoning committee, as well as
the recommendation from the committee for new attendance zones for College
Station Independent School District.
The
process began back in March 2010 whereby the board held three community forums
to receive feedback on potential parameters for rezoning. The Board processed the feedback and adopted
three parameters for the rezoning committee.
The committee met seven times in eight weeks and spent a great deal of
time looking at a wide variety of scenarios 18 elementary, and 12
secondary. The committee finalized
recommendations on 5/24/10. The
recommendations were presented in August 2010, community forums on the recommended
zones are being conducted now September 8, 14, and 16. The Board will approve new attendance zones
in September or October 2010. The new
zones will take effect for Grades K-8 in August 2011, with the opening of
Greens Prairie Elementary School. The
zones for high school will take effect August 2012, with the opening of CS High
School.
The
Rezoning Committees charge was to: (1) study all the issues concerning
rezoning CSISD schools: 2010 Demographic
Study, statewide demographic trends, platting and development information from
City of College Station, school capacities, and projected enrollment in all
geographic areas of the district; consider all the effects the potential
changes could have on the district, neighborhoods, families and students; (2)
recommend to the Board: new attendance zones for 8 elementary schools, 2
intermediate, middle and high schools and grandfathering recommendation for
Kinder-8th Grade.
The
rezoning parameters given to the committee were: (1) Zone schools for a comparable composition
of students elementary zones are not comparable enough, need to improve the
disparity in percent low-SES and define comparable for secondary zones the
committee wrestled with this; (2) Establish feeder patterns for students in 5th
12th grade (intermediate, middle and high school); (3) Zone
schools for growth. Things that were not
parameters are: feeder patterns from
elementary to intermediate schools, making as few changes as possible, zoning
students to schools closest to their home/neighborhood this has not been a
parameter in any recent rezoning effort and CSISD has a history of zoning
students to schools farther away to achieve comparability.
Recommended
changes in elementary zones are:
Southwood
Valley Elementary losing Southgate Village Apartments and gaining
Foxfire/Wood Creek, Carter Lake, and Southwood Forest
Pebble
Creek Elementary losing Foxfire/Wood Creek and Carter Lake and gaining
apartments and townhomes around Windsor Pointe
South
Knoll Elementary losing area around Windsor Pointe and Rock Prairie
West/Timbercrest and gaining Emerald Forest, North Forest Sandstone
College
Hills Elementary losing Emerald Forest, North Forest and Sandstone and
gaining north of SW Parkway between Texas Avenue and SH 6\
Forest
Ridge Elementary losing Sweetwater and Sweetwater Forest, Woodlake, Castle
Rock, (Castle Gate Part II) and gaining none
Rock
Prairie Elementary losing everything west of Wellborn Road and Southwood
Forest and gaining a small portion of Edelweiss Gartens
Creek
View Elementary losing a small portion of Edelweiss Gartens, Sonoma and
Reatta Meadows and everything to the southern border of the district and
gaining Southgate Village Apartment
Greens
Prairie Elementary Gaining all land west of Wellborn Road from Rock Prairie
West, Robin/Merlin and Oakridge and Rolling Ridge mobile home communities to
the southern border of the district, Sonoma/Reatta Meadows/Castle Rock, Castle
Gate Part II, Sweetwater/Sweetwater Forest, Woodlake
The
Secondary Recommendation summary shows that the major decision came down to
where should Southgate and State Streets students go:
·
Walk to Oakwood, AMCMS and AMCHS or
·
Ride the bus to Cypress Grove, CSMS and CSHS
·
They cannot do what they do now (bus grades
5-8 and walk to Consol)
The
committee decided that it was more important for Southgate Village and State
Street students to have transportation grades 5-12, especially 5-8. Also, the recommendation tries to keep the
Oakwood/Cypress Grove percentages as close as possible.
Grandfathering
covers grades K-8. Any High School
movement is covered by the transfer guidelines.
Who would be eligible to elect to grandfather if their zones changes?
·
Those in the last year at a campus when
rezoning takes effect
o
4th, 6th and 8th
graders in 2011
·
A certain group of 3rd graders who
would have to go to three elementary schools if they lived in the same place
o
This would be a two year grandfathering for
these kids, allowing them to finish at their second elementary school
·
Siblings are not eligible
D.
ADJOURNMENT
Without
objection, President Pitcock adjourned the meeting at 8:11 p.m.
RANDALL
PITCOCK PAUL
DORSETT
PRESIDENT SECRETARY