All,
As per my last email, I wanted to give updates on the SBAC as I get them. This past Thursday evening, Pat Miller, Alvin ISD Chief Operations Officer, updated the Board of Trustees regarding the School Boundary Advisory Committee at the conclusion of the Budget Workshop. The intention of the meeting (as I understood it) was to provide the Trustees an update, especially seeing how the original timeline was to present their proposal in March. The committee had reconvened on Thursday, February 13th. Following are points of the presentation, and questions that were asked by Trustees. Due to the format of the workshop, no questions were permitted from the audience. (Jenny Lin and David Hu were at this meeting also, so please let me know if you caught anything that I may have missed in my note taking.)
Presentation notes:
· There are roughly 4410 homes within the AISD portion of Shadow Creek Ranch. There are 800 homes within Southern Trails. The sign-in sheets at the public forum on 10 February accounted for 180 families represented.
o NOTE: Based on unofficial numbers I have seen, there are approximately 1,800 homes with students in Shadow Creek and Southern Trails. A 10% turn-out is equivalent to the turn-out of a major local election. This was not discussed in the meeting.
· The SBAC met to discuss the concerns and questions that were presented to the District at the Public Forum on 10 February 2014, as well as those they had received through telephone and electronic correspondence. A summary of their findings has been posted on the website.
· Another SBAC meeting is scheduled for 27 February.
· A second Public Forum will take place, the date is TBD.
· The amount of growth in the district is beyond the control of Alvin ISD. AISD has no say or influence on the number of people/families that move into the area, nor do they have any influence on the types of homes (single family, multi family, town homes, etc…) that are built within the boundaries of the school district. There charge is only to offer the best education available to every child that resides in the school district.
· Southern Trails – Knowing that a school would be built on CR 59, (as well as a High School on Kirby), the developer has had plans to build a thru street that would allow access from the back of Southern Trails out onto CR 59. Now that the school nearing completion, the developer, realizing a school nearby will drive home sales, has submitted requests for permits to the City of Pearland to build the road. The building of the road lies solely in the hands of the builder. Alvin ISD had in the past requested that the road be built prior to the school opening, but no progress had been made by the developer until now.
o Bussing – until the road out of the back of Southern Trails is completed (projected December 2014), bussing will be available because the route for walking students would be deemed a hazard, and the distance between Duke Elementary and Southern Trails entrance will be greater than 2 miles before the road leading to CR 59 is open.
o At the time that York Elementary was built, Southern Trails was not moved to that school, which would have logically been their assigned school. The reasoning behind keeping ST at Wilder was that they were told that another school would be built within a few years. The District told ST that they did not want to move the ST students twice in a short period of time. (The difficulty is that this information is forgotten or lost as people move in and out of an area.)
· Natural boundaries used by the school district do not include City boundaries. Alvin ISD encompasses and serves the students and families of 8 different cities.
Questions posed by Trustees:
· N Tonini: Are there any other known apartment complexes planned to be open in or near Shadow Creek Ranch?
Answer: There are plans for 3-4 more complexes in SCR. 4 in the Wilder zone and 2 on Business Center Drive.
· N Tonini: What is our bus policy and how does it influence boundaries?
Answer: Bus transportation is offered when students are 2 miles or more from their school or if the route is deemed a hazard. Bus service is not offered for a distance less than 2 miles.
· S Stringer: When will the next Public Forum be?
Answer: There will be a second forum; however, a date for that meeting has not been set.
· N Tonini: What will be the objective of the next public meeting be? Feedback, confirmation, or simply informational?
Answer: The public forum will be to inform the public of the progress of the SBAC as well as to receive feedback from the citizens.
· C Harris: There has been concerns regarding the communication surrounding this process, have we learned anything that will change our communications going forward and in the process in the future?
Answer: There is a need for more front end information in this process and the committee and District Leadership will adjust accordingly.
At this point, because of the length of the meeting, we were told that if we had any other questions, the staff would be available at another time. The meeting was then adjourned at about 10:15 pm.
I have since sent an email to Mr. Miller and Mr. Combs stating my strong request that there be a more equitable distribution for the apartments in Shadow Creek Ranch between the four West-end elementary schools, as well as continued effort to address the concerns and requests from residents of Southern Trails.
Furthermore, prior to the Thursday meeting, the District has updated the website (http://www.alvinisd.net/Page/15353) with frequently asked quested. If you have not already, please visit the link above to access them.
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