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Board approves attendance zones for Waxahachie Creek High, sets limited transfer and sibling rules
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Summary
The Waxahachie ISD Board approved attendance zones for the new Waxahachie Creek High School and a set of one-time transfer, sibling-transfer and grandfathering rules to ease student transitions as the campus opens.
The Waxahachie ISD Board of Trustees on a 7-0 vote approved new attendance zones for Waxahachie Creek High School and adopted temporary transfer and sibling-transfer provisions for affected students.
District officials said the zones are intended to balance enrollment and socioeconomic composition between the two comprehensive high schools and to create clear junior-high feeder patterns as a fourth junior high is added down the line.
Administration presented a proposed high-school boundary that would draw students from whole elementary zones. Under the approved plan, Clift, Dunaway, Marvin and Jimmy Ray elementary zones would feed into Waxahachie Creek; Northside, Shackleford, Simpson and Wedgeworth elementary zones would feed into Waxahachie High. Wildman remains a lottery campus and students there return to their home elementary zones for feeder determination.
District staff said the zones aim to produce balanced enrollment. Projections presented to the board, assuming a full complement of grades at Waxahachie Creek in later years, show enrollment estimates of roughly 1,700 students at Waxahachie High and 1,950 at Waxahachie Creek in the 2029–30 horizon, with long-term estimates narrowing the gap further.
Administrators also asked the board to approve a set of transfer and grandfathering rules for students affected at the opening of Waxahachie Creek. The board approved: - a one-time transfer election allowing students zoned to one high school to elect to attend the other campus for academic programs not available at the zoned campus; the transfer persists for the student’s remaining high-school career while they remain in the chosen academic program; - a sibling-transfer for the classes affected by the opening (class of 2027 and class of 2028) so a sibling already enrolled at the older campus may remain with that sibling for the same high-school years; and - a limited grandfathering provision allowing students who have already earned at least one high-school credit toward graduation at their current campus to remain there rather than be reassigned to the new campus. In all cases, families must provide transportation when a student attends a campus outside the student’s zone.
District staff emphasized limitations required by policy and UIL rules. Board policy EIC(Local) and University Interscholastic League eligibility rules apply to transfers for graduation honors; the district noted a three-year campus residency requirement for certain graduation honors that could affect students switching campuses late in high school.
Board members asked about potential future impacts if additional elementary campuses are built or rezoned; administration said some future elementary placements could require adjustments but would be addressed through the normal zoning process.
The motion to approve the zones and associated transfer language carried 7-0.
