At the regular meeting of the FISD Board of Trustees on Monday, November 9, members approved the zones for Lone Star High School and Purefoy Elementary school scheduled to open in the 2010-2011 school year. They also approved tweaking 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 will be made on Sonntag Elementary on December 14. Decisions for the three middle schools - Cobb, Hunt and Maus will be finalized in the spring semester.

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. 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.

An opportunity for citizen input on draft zones for Maus, Hunt and Sonntag zones was extended at the November 9 board meeting. Two residents of the Reserve at Westridge spoke regarding the possibility of staying at Mooneyham until the next elementary school opens in that area near them so that they do not have to move twice.

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 proposed 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 would change slightly with the current draft zone for Cobb. Marina Vista will now feed Corbell, which would 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).

A letter will be coming to all future Lone Star students the week after Thanksgiving break.

Sonntag Elementary, located at 2001 Reagan Drive, McKinney, is projected to enroll 641 students in the fall. Sonntag Elementary is needed to bring relief to Mooneyham and Ashley Elementary. This draft 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 proposed to attend Sonntag are as follows:

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

Mooneyham Elementary would be home to Heights at Westridge and Villages at Willow Bay.

Ashley Elementary would 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

Cobb Middle School is scheduled to open in 2010 to relieve Griffin Middle School. The draft zone has most of Pink (north of Eldorado attends Stafford) and Purefoy and a small portion of Carroll (Shaddock Creek Estates Phase 1-4) 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.

Maus Middle School will relieve Roach Middle School. The draft 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 would 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 draft zone has Spears, most of Allen and a small part of Riddle (south of 121 and west of Preston Road) attending Hunt. Pioneer Heritage would serve all of Sparks and Bledsoe and a portion of Allen (Pearson Farms I and Village Lakes). Hunt and Pioneer Heritage and part of Staley will feed Frisco High.

The middle schools were discussed at the October meeting in the context of economic factors and growth trends that could potentially impact the opening of the schools. If growth continues and current projections hold or increase, indications are that the schools will open next fall as scheduled. Due to current economic conditions and the fact that the updated projections for next year show enrollments in the range of 1,144-1,194 students in the current middle school zones (if the new schools were not scheduled to open), the plan is to move forward with the rezoning process, presenting draft zones to the public and taking input, but to not make the final decision on the zones and the opening of the schools until the spring semester. District officials in recent years have allowed middle school enrollments to reach 1,125 before capping enrollment; new students moving in then attend the nearest middle school not at capacity (that is hopefully in the same high school feeder system). In a year when the district is looking at opening six schools (one high school, two elementary schools and three middle schools), it is important to look closely at all factors and to take the most conservative and measured approach until more information and up-to-date data is available. We know that opening a middle school with less than 500 students is very difficult from a programmatic standpoint. As the district continues to look at numbers and data, officials may also consider the possible need to disallow transfer requests in the first year of opening a new school. Mass transfers to stay at an existing school, even though space is available, could greatly impact programming at the new school. At the November meeting, Dr. Reedy reported on growth in the zones since October. In the Pioneer Heritage area, there has been a gain of five students; in the Griffin area a gain of five students; and in the Roach area a gain of 8 students.

• Currently there are 1,010 students at Pioneer Heritage Middle School and there are 1,087 students in grades 5-7 (next year’s 6-8 graders in what is now the PHMS zone plus the area below 121 and west of Preston). This does not consider growth projections.
• Currently there are 902 students enrolled at Roach and there are 1,008 students in grades 5-7 living in what is now the Roach zone (next year’s 6th-8th graders). This does not consider growth projections.
• Currently there are 976 students at Griffin Middle School and there are 1,122 students in grades 5-7 (next year's 6-8 graders in what is now the Griffin zone plus Marina Vista). This does not consider growth projections.

If you have questions or input you would like to give regarding the options for Maus or Hunt Middle School, please contact Rick Cohagan at cohaganr@friscoisd.org or 469-633-6356. Dennis Brent is the contact for Sonntag Elementary and Cobb Middle School and can be reached at brentd@friscoisd.org or 469-633-6207. They will continue to compile all input and the Board will receive weekly updates of citizen comments.