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Board approves rezoning to reduce travel times and rebalance growth
Summary
The New Caney ISD board approved proposed rezoning changes intended to shorten travel distances for some students and rebalance enrollment across growing campuses; the board approved the recommendation by motion.
The New Caney Independent School District Board of Trustees approved recommended rezoning changes aimed at shortening student travel times and rebalancing rapidly growing attendance zones.
Blake Carroll presented two rezoning scenarios to the board, saying the district started the process earlier than usual to assist secondary campus course requests and extracurricular planning. "We're starting a little early because it affects secondary campus students," Carroll said.
The first scenario would move the Holly Ridge and Summer Hills neighborhoods off Sures Road from Woodridge Forest Middle School to White Oak Middle School, reducing travel from an estimated seven-mile cross-county trip to about 1.5 miles to White Oak, Carroll said. The second scenario would adjust parts of the feeder pattern around the New Caney High School area (northwest side) to move students from streets including Trendy Way, Vic Drive, Clyde Drive, Dogwood Drive and Strickland Drive to Valley Ranch Elementary, Pine Valley and Porter High School. Carroll estimated the changes would affect roughly 100 elementary students and about 25–30 students each at the middle- and high-school levels.
Carroll told the board the district posted the proposals and received three inquiries: two from students and one from a family living on a boundary; district staff answered questions and said most inquiries were resolved. "We posted it last week... I got 3 inquiries," Carroll said. The district said logistics tied to bus routes and traffic bottlenecks at major intersections also motivated some adjustments.
After the presentation the board voted to approve the recommended rezoning changes. The motion was moved by Mr. Alters and seconded by Ms. Tompkins; the meeting minutes record the motion carried.
Board members noted the rezoning is a standard tool for a fast-growth district and said the intent is to balance enrollment and create capacity before neighborhoods grow further. No specific dates for implementation or individual student transfers were provided in the meeting discussion; staff said parents directly affected would be contacted and maps were available in the meeting packet.
The district did not propose changes to elementary feeders for the Summer Hills neighborhood in the proposal discussed, and staff clarified which campus would serve that area when questions arose during the presentation.
