Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD presents consolidation plan as residents raise safety and equity concerns

Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District officials presented a plan March 4 to the City of Farmers Branch describing a recommendation to consolidate three elementary schools—Central, Fourno and McCoy—and one middle school, Long, after a facilities capacity and demographic review.

The district said the recommendation follows a facilities master plan and a capacity study that identified about 9,800 unused seats across the district. “We commissioned a demographic study, to capture information based on what the TEA calls snapshot day snapshot data,” said Chris Moore, assistant superintendent for operations, during the council study session. Moore said the district has adopted consecutive deficit budgets and faces declining enrollment that the district’s demographers project will drop by about 1,100 students over the next 10 years.

The proposal prompted public comment from Farmers Branch residents who said the rezoning the district has proposed could force students to cross large arterial roads and reinforce socioeconomic segregation in attendance zones. “If Central Elementary is closed, a lot of those students are gonna be rezoned to McLaughlin Strickland, which would force McStrick students to be rezoned to either Blair or to Stark, which is many, many miles away,” said Mary Patton, a Farmers Branch resident. Patton urged more traffic-impact and economic-impact…