LISD approves zoning change

Residents in the east side of Lewisville ISD spent about two hours urging the board of trustees not to rezone a portion of Castle Hills into a different boundary.

But it took about 10 minutes for the board members to discuss why rezoning was the answer this time.

The board voted unanimously to rezone an area south of Hwy. 121 and the Meridian subdivision, meaning students in those areas will go to Ethridge Elementary School and Lakeview Middle School and The Colony High School instead of Independence Elementary School, Killian Middle School and Hebron High School. The change begins in the 2012-13 school year.

Students living in that area have always been zoned for The Colony, but until Monday, the district had approved transfer requests for Hebron.

Current fifth-graders at Independence and sixth- and seventh-graders at Killian will be allowed to request a transfer to remain in the Hebron system. Any sibling of a student meeting that criteria can do the same as long as the older sibling is still enrolled at Killian or Hebron.

The recommendation was made to address the potential overcrowding at Hebron as a result of expected future growth in the unpopulated area south of Hwy. 121 and north of State Highway 544/Parker Road.

The city of Carrollton has rezoned 300 acres to single family/detached and multi-family in the Hebron zone. Also, there is a 350-unit apartment complex under construction and 400 lots set for development in the same area.

The southern boundary for the new The Colony zone is generally described by LISD as: the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, following Hwy. 121 east to the single pole high-density power lines east of the Castle Hills North development, following the power lines south to Hwy. 544/Parker Road and travel east along Parker Road to Plano Parkway.

The eastern boundary is described as: beginning at the intersection of Parker Road and Plano Parkway, traveling north on Plano Parkway to Windhaven, turning east on Windhaven to the present attendance boundary line of Arbor Creek Middle School, following the Arbor Creek attendance boundary north to the northern boundary of LISD.

The northern boundary is described as the northern boundary of LISD east of the Elm Fork.

The western boundary is the Elm Fork.

Resident after resident from Meridian asked the board not to go forward with the rezoning. They cited several reasons, such as not wanting to move their children away from their school friends, as well as not harming the school's cohesiveness.

One mother worried that years of volunteer work to build Independence and Killian would be wasted if students were suddenly sent to another school.

Another resident simply didn't want to go through another rezoning.

"We have gone through three rezoning decisions in five years in Meridian," said resident Nitin Shukla. "We just want stability for our children. Each year, we have no idea where their schools will be."

Tommy Ellington, executive director of student services, clarified that by saying Meridian had been rezoned twice, giving those students three schools in that span.

"The only thing we're rezoning is the middle school and the elementary school," Ellington said. "And the only reason we're doing that is to give them a true feeding pattern so that they don't go to a Hebron elementary school and a Hebron middle school and then go to The Colony High School, where they've always been zoned. So we're doing this to provide a smoother transition for the families in that area."

Board member Tom Ferguson said rezoning is simply needed when considering the available space for development in that part of the district.

"On the east side, we're going to be growing, and there will be more rezoning," Ferguson said.

Board members Brenda Latham and Jeff Knapp said they each received a lot of emails from Meridian residents requesting the rezoning. Only two residents spoke in favor of it at Monday's meeting.

Residents who opposed it also said they wanted the best education for their children, which they said they would get at Independence, Killian and Hebron.

Dr. Stephen Waddell, superintendent, said pointed out that the SAT scores at The Colony were actually higher than those at Hebron.

Also at the meeting, the board received an update on a staffing model that is being designed to make sure the proper number of employees are at each campus. This comes as a result of a recent efficiency study was performed throughout the district, as well as continued uncertainty on state revenue.

A formula will be used in determining appropriate staffing, and variables will include student mobility rate percentage, percentage of limited English proficient students, percentage of special education students and percentage of low socio-economic students. The formula will provide a base number, which could be increased.

"We need something in place based on sound principles," Waddell said. "There needs to be something that's equitable, and we've done that with this demographic index. With a formula like this, everyone knows where you're coming from. It helps us provide equitable staffing and protect our resources."

The board was also briefed on an ongoing project to streamline various policies throughout the district. A committee has been set up to examine the different ways each campus handles issues such as dress code, discipline, attendance, etc.

The committee hopes to create a district-wide standard for several issues, such as a list of prohibited dress items, emergency procedures, parent communication options, policies on bringing technology into the classroom and a flowchart on how to handle bullying.

Also, the district's strategic design team, which was formed late last year, updated the board on its progress.

The team, which consists of community and district members, was formed to create beliefs, vision, a mission and goals for the district.

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