Building for FISD’s unprecedented growth requires a blueprint of its own. It requires both long and short-term planning and balanced responsible management of time, money and resources. FISD has developed a number of decision-making processes to deal with rezoning issues.

The District employs in-house demographers, as well as an experienced outside consulting group, to monitor growth in neighborhoods, new construction and population trends. During the annual rezoning process, the following factors are evaluated when developing proposals:

• Capacity – In Frisco ISD, elementary schools serve 700-plus students in grades K-5, middle schools serve 800-1,000 students in grades 6-8 and high schools serve up to 2,100 students in grades 9-12. If school enrollment reaches 100 students over capacity or more, that campus may be closed to new students. Each situation is evaluated on a case-by-case basis and in recent years, FISD has allowed school enrollment to rise above capacity before providing relief in order to be as cost effective as possible and to allow more time to make the best decisions possible for students.

• Stability – FISD looks at zones that can stay in place for the longest period of time/minimizing disruption of the least number of students possible. Due to rapid growth, high numbers of students in certain neighborhoods and a commitment to smaller schools, some areas have seen more change on a more frequent basis. This has particularly been the case along the outer edges of the District.

• Effective utilization of space – FISD strives to provide schools of the size to offer a well-rounded program and opportunities while maintaining room for growth and not leaving other schools overcrowded or underutilized for an extended period of time.

• Proximity – The goal has been to move students closer to a school with each rezoning, particularly at the elementary level, but in order to effectively and efficiently utilize space that is not always possible. This is particularly the case in areas where FISD has schools in close proximity to one another. More than one school can become a consideration for a neighborhood/area due to location. This means that during the process of rezoning and addressing growth, students may be rezoned to an existing school or one that is not the closest to them in proximity.

• Community – Frisco ISD knows that schools are an integral part of creating connections and maintaining a sense of community. Leaders are sensitive to this important dynamic and are committed to providing equitable experiences throughout the District, which allows for a smoother transition when change occurs. The curriculum is the same throughout the District, the programs are consistent, the schools are very similar so they will feel familiar, and when a new school opens, at least one third of the staff will be veteran FISD employees. Although the District strives to keep neighborhoods intact as much as possible, many are just too large or too densely populated with students for this to be feasible. While FISD continues to consider future feeder patterns, the growth makes it increasingly difficult to have whole elementary schools feeding a particular middle school and then a particular high school.

For a historical perspective on rezoning issues in our District, read this article on attendance boundaries and zones from Frisco STYLE Magazine.

Each September, updated enrollment projections for each school are gathered and used to draw preliminary attendance zones for new campuses opening the following year. Preliminary attendance zones are typically presented to the School Board for review during the regular October meeting. Following the meeting, those proposals are communicated and input is taken from parents and students. Citizens may call, write or email their feedback and administrative staff will relay any communication received. Parents and students may also sign up to address trustees during a regular Board meeting, usually in November. Normally, a final decision is made in December after the Board has heard both parent and administrative input.

Regular meetings of the Frisco ISD Board of Trustees begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Board Room at the FISD Administration Building, 5515 Ohio Drive, Frisco, TX 75035. Meeting agendas are posted on the District website no later than 72 hours before the meeting. Live streaming video of regular meetings is available by visiting http://bit.ly/FISDlive.

It is not the most desirable situation, but in a fast-growth area trying to balance enrollments at schools, it is sometimes the case that students of one attendance zone at the elementary level may be assigned to different middle schools. Likewise, students at a middle school are sometimes assigned to different high schools. Perfect feeder patterns are not possible based on growth patterns.

Frisco ISD will continue to open schools to meet the needs of growth. This is particularly the case in the more active growth areas of the District.

By April, principals are recommended by the Superintendent to the Board of Trustees. The principals then will be responsible for selecting faculty and staff. Frisco ISD has a policy that outlines a procedure by which teachers may request transfer from one campus to another. Therefore, it is likely that some teachers at existing schools may ask for reassignment to the new campuses. The District, as always, will set parameters on the percentage of transfers allowed from one campus to another in the District, while also making certain that some experienced FISD teachers are assigned to the new schools.

Probably not. Changing schools is an emotional issue for all involved and is an inevitable issue to be addressed frequently in a rapidly growing school district like FISD. We continue to experience growth because people are still moving here and we have many young families with children who are not yet school age. We do have concerns with children changing schools multiple times during their elementary school years, which is why it is incumbent upon us to make the best, most well thought-out decisions possible. We hope these decisions will serve us well over time. Our guiding principle is to provide the best and most equitable opportunities for all children. Schools within the District have the same general class sizes, the same general curriculum and comparable facilities. Although the philosophies of the instructional leaders may differ slightly, the same programs are provided throughout the District and guarantee a quality education at all campuses.

Four schools are currently under construction, including Memorial High School, Lawler Middle School, Talley Elementary and Liscano Elementary. The schools were slated to open in 2017, but opening may be delayed as the District looks for budget savings after the failed TRE. It will cost more than $15 million to staff the new schools in 2017-18, not including additional costs related to opening schools, such as utilities, maintenance or transportation. The District expects to make a decision soon as it will impact the nature and scope of the fall 2016 rezoning process.

Prior to the beginning of the major growth in FISD, a group of citizens worked to help develop a plan for the size of schools. FISD knew it could not remain a one-high school town, so in anticipation of multiple high schools, staff members wanted to determine what that would look like. The overriding concern was keeping schools small so that students could have opportunities to participate and excel in activities and that they could form meaningful relationships with each other and with the adults in the school.

Each community has to pick what works best for its citizens – in Allen they chose to have one high school; Plano chose to have high schools with grades 9 and 10 and senior high schools with grades 11 and 12.

In Frisco ISD, the configuration and size of school chosen was to serve grades 9-12 at a size to house between 1,500 and 1,800 students. Since that time, to provide as much stability as possible, existing high schools have been modified to accommodate up to 2,100 students. This keeps schools small, allows for more growth prior to rezoning and has provided additional capacity in the District equivalent to adding another high school. (Six high schools with 300 student additions serves 1,800 more students).

The group also agreed to build elementary schools to accommodate approximately 700 students and middle schools to serve between 800 and 1,000 students.

In 1999, as FISD prepared to open the second middle school in 2000 and design work was underway for the second high school to open in 2003, a committee was formed to look at transition issues and to make a recommendation regarding the opening of multiple secondary schools. The committee was comprised of parents from all levels, staff from different disciplines and activities and representative School Board members. After much research and discussion, the Committee recommended that the District follow the more prevalent method of transitioning to multiple high schools by opening new schools with grades 9-10, which is the plan that was followed when FISD opened Centennial High School in 2003 (second high school). The second most common is to open with grades 9, 10 and 11, which the District utilized when it opened Wakeland High (third high school) in 2006 to again relieve Frisco High. Liberty (fourth high school) opened with ninth and tenth graders in 2006 (this was a unique plan at a middle school site the first year due to acceleration in growth on that side of town); Heritage opened with grades 9-10 in 2009; Lone Star opened with grades 9-11 in 2010; Independence opened with grades 9-11 in 2014; Reedy High School opened with grades 9-10 in 2015; and Lebanon Trail High School opened with ninth graders only in 2016 to limit impact on families impacted by rezoning with the opening of Independence.

When Frisco ISD opens a high school in an even year, staff members believe it is important to open with ninth grade only or grades 9-11 because of student opportunity. Opening a high school in an even year is in the first year of a UIL realignment and reclassification. If a school has just ninth and tenth graders in an even year, they would not be able to be in a UIL varsity competition district for two years. That means that those tenth graders would not get to compete at the varsity level in team sports and activities until their senior year. When a school opens in an odd year with students in grades 9-10, they compete at the varsity level in individual sports but not in team sports the first year, as it is in the second year of a UIL realignment and reclassification. In the second year when they have students in grades 9-11, they begin to compete at the varsity level in team sports.

All Frisco ISD schools offer the same quality academics and equitable programming and opportunities for students. Clubs and organizations are formed based on student interest.

When FISD adjusts attendance boundaries at the elementary and middle school levels, it impacts students at all grade levels, K-5 for elementary and 6-8 for middle school, so siblings living at the same address move together.

However, because new high schools do not open with all grade levels (9-12), it is possible that siblings may be split between high school campuses. Although the situation is not ideal, in order to avoid moving seniors and to efficiently utilize space, effectively allocate staffing and balance enrollments at new and existing high schools, some siblings have been split between high school campuses every time Frisco ISD has opened a new high school. This has been the case with each new high school campus, dating back to the opening of the District’s second high school, Centennial, in 2003.

Siblings split between two high schools, regardless of the number of children and/or number of years they are split apart, is a necessary action in order to ensure enrollment numbers at FISD high schools support the small schools model. This recognizes that maintaining the small schools model is a greater priority than the practice of creating exception rules that result in siblings staying together, regardless of the number of students or the years split apart. Making exceptions for families to accommodate all of their children staying at a single high school, despite rezoning changes, is both inconsistent with past practices in FISD and endangers the small schools model. Exceptions harm the integrity of the demographic planning process severely, as leaders cannot control enrollment, make accurate projections and track zone growth with a legacy of exceptions. Splitting siblings is a necessary fact of rezoning given the fast-growth environment hinging on a small school model for high schools.

Parents may submit a petition to transfer their student/s to another campus within the District during a three-week period each summer for the upcoming school year. Guidelines are in place to ensure consistency in whether the petitions are approved or denied.

Generally, requests for K-8 intradistrict transfer to campuses that are projected at less than 90% of capacity will be approved for any and all reasons. Capacity is 760 students at most FISD elementary schools and 1,000 students at most middle schools.

Due to the diverse and specialized allocation of staffing at high school campuses, building capacities and UIL considerations, all general public high school student transfer requests will be denied.

This issue was studied by a transition committee which determined that all high school general public student transfer requests should not be approved. The primary reason for this recommendation is to ensure that all FISD high schools have an opportunity to compete and to begin a quality program in all areas: academics, athletics and fine arts. In addition, this prevents any potential issues with UIL reclassification and protects the individual eligibility of students.

All authorizations for K-8 student transfers are for a one year period; petitions must be submitted annually. An approval for one year does not guarantee nor imply the approval of future transfers to the same campus or to the feeder campus.

Click here to learn more about the transfer process.