Fort Bend ISD police block entrance as trustees debate controversial plan expected to lead to November bond election

Hundreds of anxious parents and residents watch as Fort Bend ISD trustees discuss long-term plans for the district’s schools and facilities in an overflow area outside the full-to-capacity board room. Many more were turned away at the door by police after the lobby area became too full to navigate safety on Monday, May 14. less Hundreds of anxious parents and residents watch as Fort Bend ISD trustees discuss long-term plans for the district’s schools and facilities in an overflow area outside the full-to-capacity board room. Many ... more Photo: Kristi Nix Photo: Kristi Nix Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close Fort Bend ISD police block entrance as trustees debate controversial plan expected to lead to November bond election 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

In a marathon eight-hour school board meeting that lasted until after 2 a.m., Fort Bend ISD trustees listened to dozens of upset and anxious parents before voting to approve a list of recommendations for the district’s facilities master plan on Monday, May 14. The plan was based on a facility study put forward by PBK Architects that included more than $800 million in proposed repairs, renovations and new construction projects to be considered for a not-yet-approved school bond expected to go before voters in November.

For Fort Bend ISD parents, hundreds of whom gathered in overflow spaces outside the full-to-capacity board room to watch the meeting on large TVs, the end of the months-long facility planning process brought some good news and some bad news. Many parents and students faced considerable uncertainty as trustees debated the fate of neighborhood elementary schools consultants had identified for possible closure and considered solutions for overcrowded campuses.

Ultimately, trustees voted to begin planning a large-scale re-zoning effort expected to uproot thousands of students as a result of overcrowding at Ridge Point High School in Sienna Plantation.

The bond planning process began last October after trustees hired Scott Leopold, a partner from consultant company Cooperative Strategies, to lead the planning process and facilitate a series of town hall meetings, which ultimately drew over 4,000 people. Leopold’s company was hired by Jacobs Project Management after trustees approved a $247,129 contract amendment.

One month earlier, PBK Architects won an $835,298 contract to create a five-year facilities assessment for the district and evaluate which schools should be expanded, renovated or in some cases, closed down.

In the weeks leading up to the meeting, proposed plans to close some smaller neighborhood schools that needed repairs were considered. Administrators and consultants suggested newer schools that could house 800 to 1,000 students would be more efficient to run and maintain than older facilites. The schools considered for closure included Sugar Land’s historic Lakeview Elementary School, which recently celebrated its 100-year anniversary, nearby Sugar Mill Elementary, Meadows Elementary, Blue Ridge Elementary and Barrington Place Elementary.

During board discussions, trustee Dave Rosenthal argued Barrington Place Elementary School shouldn’t be sacrificed to save Lakeview Elementary School, which “required gerrymandering to justify its existence,” he argued.

“Barrington Place is the neighborhood school and Lakeview isn’t,” Rosenthal said. “This is just the district picking winners and losers and I have a philosophical problem with that.”

Let’s do Lakeview last and see if we need the space, Rosenthal said.

Trustee Grayle James argued Lakeview was as much a neighborhood school as any in the district with multiple generations of students within the same Sugar Land families attending classes there during its 100-year history.

“I think it would be offensive to Lakeview families for you to say (the school) is not a neighborhood school,” James said. “The Lakeview neighborhood has waited many, many years to have repairs needed for their school. They have been very patient for a long time while other schools have been bumped ahead.”

James said it was not appropriate to give up on the school because promised renovations were not taken care of and the school remained in disrepair.

“I don’t think it’s inappropriate for us to do that to Lakeview or any other school in the district,” James said.

In the end, neighborhood elementary schools were among the winners in the planning process after trustees voted none of the schools would be closed.

Sienna Plantation, Hightower High School students to suffer massive re-zoning

Those who lobbied for new academies and programs for Marshall, Willowridge and Marshall High Schools left the meeting with little to celebrate. Many families of students attending massively overcrowded Ridge Point High School in Sienna Plantation and Hightower High School were also disappointed after trustees voted to re-zone thousands of high school students beginning in the 2019-20 school year.

During public comments, parents urged trustees to focus on south district campuses as much as Sugar Land and schools on the north side.

“We need some documentation of what your concrete plan is for these high schools,” Stephanie Brown said, and asked trustees to re-focus planning efforts on Marshall, Willowridge and Hightower High Schools, which she said had been neglected for years. “You’ve got to give us something to work with.”

Jason Dobrolecki, a resident of Sienna Plantation, lobbied for long-term solutions for Ridge Point and Hightower High Schools and pointed to the more-than-2,300 members of the “Ridge Point Feeder Pattern: No More Band Aids” Facebook page as evidence many others shared his views.

“You’ve awoken a large and cohesive community that is ready to further organize to hold the district accountable to build school capacity of the east side of Fort Bend County, accountable to transparency and accountable to the voters of this county,” Dobrolecki said.

Sienna Plantation is the fastest-growing area of Fort Bend ISD and leads the district in projected new housing units with more than 6,000 new single family homes projected to be built by 2027 and another 2,442 lots remaining to be built thereafter, according to a 2018 FBISD demographic report. Enrollment at the neighborhood’s one high school is currently over its permanent capacity of 2,594 by 105 percent with approximately 2,713 students. Enrollment is expected to grow to 112 percent next year with 2,906 students and 118 percent in 2019 with 3,058. The campus is expected to reach 169 percent capacity in less than ten years with enrollment estimated at 4,374 in 2027.

During board discussion, trustees discussed implementing staggered schedules and online classes as a solution to the school’s explosive enrollment projections. However, administrators say development and pilot programs could take up to a year and as trustees are planning to go for a bond next November, delays weren’t part of the plan for most trustees.

“We have heard that Govenor Greg Abbott is proposing during the next legislative session, that in order to pass a bond we will be required to have 30 percent voter participation and then pass the bond with a two-third super majority,” trustee Jim Rice said. “What that means, is our only chance of doing that is during a presidential election.”

The next presidential election is 2024, Rice said.

“I think that’s something we need to take into consideration and we should plan for a bond now. We’ve got to include money for land so we don’t get into the same fix we’re in right now with Riverstone. We need to take a hard look at how all this would work out if the flexible scheduling plan doesn’t work out.”

Trustees ultimately voted to include plans to buy land for a new high school in the facilities plan, which would likely delay construction of a second Sienna Plantation high school for six to ten years, if the not-yet-proposed 2018 and 2024 bond packages are both ultimately approved by voters.

The only remaining solution given the timeline was to re-zone Ridge Point students to less crowded high schools, such as Hightower High School.

The re-zoning process is expected to be a difficult process, officials said.

“I can’t understate how intensive the re-zoning would be. It would be unlike any re-zoning we’ve done before,” Scott Leopold told trustees.

For Hightower students, the re-zoning would also mean the school would lose its successful medical training academy. Many Hightower students now also face being re-zoning to another high school to make room for Ridge Point students. District administrators told trustees they would begin planning for re-districting next year and would hold public meetings to allow parents to have input into the process. Following the planning phase, trustees would consider and approve the final redistricting plans before implementation in 2019.

Following the meeting, a number of parents voiced their frustration.

“The Sienna community is not interested in rezoning and wants to remain united as a pre-planned master community, but the FBISD board will not listen to our concerns by presenting a viable plan for increased infrastructure for this bond cycle,” said Sienna Plantation resident William Waldrop MD.

“It is heart breaking that because of the poor planning to handle the area growth the neighborhood is going to be broken up. And still there is no long term plan,” Sienna Plantation resident Kathi Hopkins said. “The district needs to minimize the impacts in this fast growing area by zoning the areas about to build to another feeder pattern that has room for growth at all three levels, elementary, middle and high school until there is capacity in this zone.”

Trustees voted to approve a series of recommendations for the 2018 Facilities Master Plan update at a board meeting held Monday, May 14. District officials are expected to use the plan to develop recommendations for a November bond proposal expected to come before trustees later this summer.

knix@hcnonline.com