At the regular meeting of the Board on Monday, January 11, the zones for the three middle schools opening in 2010 were approved.

The district had been monitoring growth trends and economic factors at the local and national level to gauge impact on enrollment projections within the current middle school zones of Roach, Griffin and Pioneer Heritage prior to making a final decision on the opening and the attendance zones for the three new schools – Maus, Cobb and Hunt. Input had been taken throughout the rezoning process and the draft zones were the recommended zones. One modification was made to keep more of an area at Pioneer Heritage Middle School due to proximity.

In addition to setting zones, the Board approved limiting additional general public middle school transfers out of the six newly constituted middle schools for one year to ensure consistency in the enrollment numbers for the first year of opening the three new schools.

An additional communication is being sent following the final decision and information will also be updated on the website. Principals will be named in March and letters will be sent to next year’s students, who will also be involved in the mascot naming process.

The zones for Lone Star High School and Purefoy Elementary school scheduled to open in the 2010-2011 school year were approved at the November board meeting. Also approved was the Spears/Riddle Elementary zone to include the students south of 121 and west of Preston Road in Spears. That area is already zoned for Frisco High and will also be in the Hunt Middle School zone. There are currently three students in that zone. A final decision was made on Sonntag Elementary on December 14.

Each year in September, FISD receives updated fall projections. Those numbers are used to draw the draft zones for review at a Board meeting. Those proposals are communicated and input is taken from parents throughout the process, and at a public forum in the second month. A final decision is made in the third month. As staff develops the proposed plans, they take into consideration issues of student stability, effective utilization of space, proximity to the school, diversity of the student body and unity in the community. No one factor is more important than another in this process of formulating zones. As FISD grows larger, fewer schools are impacted by rezoning. When making boundary decisions, the district looks at what zones will hold for the longest period of time.

Final Zone

Purefoy Elementary, located at Teel and south of Eldorado, is projected to enroll 643 students in the fall. The school is needed to bring relief to Pink, Corbell and Robertson Elementary. This zone will bring relief to these three schools and the zones for Purefoy and Corbell will hold for the foreseeable future. It will also provide stability for at least two years for Robertson and Pink before an additional elementary will need to be considered to relieve those two schools, along with Carroll Elementary. The neighborhoods to attend Purefoy Elementary are Country Club Ridge, Eldorado Fairways and The Fairways.

Corbell Elementary will be home to Eldorado Estates, Marina Vista (from Robertson), and The Trails (west of Trails Pkwy., north of and including Gladewater and Wildfire).

Pink Elementary would remain the school for students in Griffin Parc, Knolls of Frisco, Newman Village, Shaddock Creek Estates (Phase 1-4 north of Cottonwood Branch Creek), and Traditions of Frisco.

Final Zone

Lone Star High, opening in 2010 with Grades 9-11, will serve all students north of Eldorado Parkway and west of Preston Road. This plan allows Lone Star to begin as a 3A high school as did Centennial, Liberty, Wakeland and Heritage High School, and if growth does not escalate, it could remain in that classification for two to four years. As the district has experience opening schools at a smaller size, there is a model for being able to offer equitable opportunities such as those available at all of the more established high schools. Stafford Middle School will feed Lone Star High School. (The Stafford zone is changing slightly with the current draft zone for Cobb. Marina Vista will now feed Corbell, which will primarily feed Cobb). With this zoning, the new Cobb Middle School (at Teel and Main), scheduled to open in 2010, will join Griffin Middle School and part of Staley Middle School (Rogers Elementary zone) to feed Wakeland High School (area north of Main, south of Eldorado and west of Preston). Karen Kraft is the principal of Lone Star High School. She was named in the spring and is located on site as the building is being used for some Wakeland High School classes. Principal Karen Kraft’s contact information is 469-633-5300 and kraftk@friscoisd.org. (All seniors will attend Wakeland High next year).

Final Zone

Sonntag Elementary, located at 2001 Reagan Drive, McKinney, is projected to enroll 565 students in the fall. Sonntag Elementary is needed to bring relief to Mooneyham and Ashley Elementary. This zone will provide stability for at least two to three years for these three schools before an additional elementary will need to be considered. The neighborhoods to attend Sonntag are as follows:

Eagle’s Nest
Fairways North at Westridge
Fairways West at Westridge
Greens of Westridge
Martha's Vineyard
Russwood Acres
Summit at Westridge
Villas at Westridge
Winding Creek Estates
Westridge on the Fairways
Windsor Meadows

Mooneyham Elementary will be home to Heights at Westridge, Reserve at Westridge (certain lots)and Villages at Willow Bay.

Ashley Elementary will remain the school for students in the following neighborhoods:

Custer Creek Farms
Frisco Heights
Sorano
Stonelake Estates
Stonelake Estates West
Villages at Willow Bay South
Villages of Stonelake Estates
Rural areas north of FM 3537 to Eldorado Pkwy., east of Coit Rd. to Custer Road

Final Zones

Cobb Middle School is scheduled to open in 2010 to relieve Griffin Middle School. The zone has most of Pink (north of Eldorado attends Stafford) and Purefoy and a small portion of Carroll (Shaddock Creek Estates Phase 5-6) and a small portion of Corbell (Eldorado Estates) attending Griffin, with the remainder of Corbell and Carroll (north of Eldorado attends Stafford) and all of Fisher attending Cobb. All of Cobb and Griffin will attend Wakeland High, along with a portion of Staley (Rogers zone).

Maus Middle School will relieve Roach Middle School. The zone has Tadlock, Sem and parts of Ashley (Sorano and Villages at Willow Bay South) and part of Mooneyham (Villages at Willow Bay) attending Maus. Roach will serve all of Sonntag and most of Mooneyham and Ashley. Roach and Maus and a part of Scoggins will feed Heritage High. (Seniors will still attend Liberty next year).

Hunt Middle School will relieve Pioneer Heritage Middle School. The zone has Spears, most of Allen and a small part of what is currently Riddle but will be Spears next year (south of 121 and west of Preston Road) attending Hunt. Pioneer Heritage will serve all of Sparks and Bledsoe and a portion of Allen (Pearson Farms I, Village Lakes and Park Place Estates and Grand Park area). Hunt and Pioneer Heritage and part of Staley (Bright zone) will feed Frisco High.