Aledo Bond 2019
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- Aledo ISD
- 2021 Attendance Zone Committee
Board of Trustees Approves New Attendance Zone Maps
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March 12, 2021 -- The Aledo ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously Thursday night to approve new attendance zone boundaries for elementary students for the 2021-2022 school year and for middle school students starting in August of 2022.
The attendance zones were recommended by the district’s Attendance Zone Committee, a group of 39 citizens appointed by the Board who met for more than 10 hours over four meetings to study data about projected enrollment, campus capacity, safety, transportation, infrastructure, planned development and more.
“It really was a districtwide thought process and truly took all of the district kids into consideration,” AZC co-chair Peter Healey said. “That really was one of the primary factors behind our thought process, ‘How can we ensure the best learning environment for the greatest number of kids for the longest time period possible?’
“Every opinion was heard and every concern was voiced, and the committee as a whole did a very good job of hearing out every thought on the matter and taking it all into consideration as we went through the process,” Healey said.
In addition to working with the district’s demographer from Templeton Demographics, AZC members had access to all of the community feedback gathered via an online survey plus the feedback received from the Board of Trustees and fellow AZC members. The AZC analyzed and discussed the feedback and reviewed what adjustments could be made to the proposed initial elementary and middle school maps. Co-chairs Healey and Cynthia Llewellyn also presented and discussed the AZC process and proposed maps twice publicly with the Aledo ISD Board of Trustees.
“What people need to know is the amount of work that went into this and that you went through every scenario that committee members brought up, walked through that and all looked at the results that may bring,” Aledo ISD Trustee Forrest Collins said. “There’s a lot of thought, a lot of effort and a lot of time.”
The areas the AZC most frequently discussed were downtown Aledo as they tried to alleviate traffic congestion as much as possible and also north of Interstate 20 where the current numbers and projected fast growth meant moving students out of both Walsh and McCall elementaries to extend capacities as long as possible.
“We had long discussions about how the proposed zones would impact students north of Interstate 20, and we closely analyzed this area and how we could best and most efficiently use building capacity,” Llewellyn said. “It quickly became clear that the fast growth on the north side of the district makes it impossible to not make a shift in boundaries.”
New attendance zone boundaries are necessary after the passage of the Aledo Bond 2019 proposal that included a new elementary school and new middle school for the district.
Annetta Elementary, the district’s sixth elementary school, will open in August, has a maximum capacity of 889 students and is located off FM 5 south of Interstate 20.
Aledo ISD will open its second middle school named McAnally Middle School, also an Aledo Bond 2019 project, in August 2022, thus the need for middle school attendance zones for the first time ever. McAnally Middle School’s maximum capacity is 1,449 students.
Final Approved Attendance Zone Maps
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Elementary Attendance Zone Map
Final Elementary Attendance Zone Map - Effective August 2021
Final Elementary Attendance Zone Map-EFFECTIVE AUGUST 2021.pdf 3.2 MB (Last Modified on March 12, 2021)
Aledo ISD Elementary Grandfathering Policy for 2021-2022 School Year
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The district is implementing a “grandfathering” policy for incoming fifth graders so that they may stay at their current elementary school for the 2021-2022 school year. If a parent chooses for their incoming fifth grader to stay on the campus they are currently assigned for, any sibling of that incoming fifth grader may also attend the campus for only one school year (2021-2022). Parents must provide transportation for their children to that campus. Click here to read the Elementary Intra-District Transfer Procedure information, and then click here to fill out the Incoming 5th Grade Transfer Request form by 4 p.m. on Friday, April 30, 2021.
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2021 Attendance Zone Committee Purpose
The purpose of the Attendance Zone Committee is to represent the Aledo ISD community in the study of data related to projected student enrollment growth, campus student capacity, safety, transportation, current and planned transportation infrastructure, and geographic location of planned development in the district, in recommending to the Board of Trustees new attendance zones for elementary and middle schools.
2021 Attendance Zone Committee Charge
The Attendance Zone Committee is charged by the Board of Trustees to:
- represent the priorities, expectations, and values of the entire community,
- consider the needs of all of the district’s students,
- listen to and consider questions and feedback from all community members and the Board of Trustees,
- use facts and data to make informed decisions,
- recommend attendance zones that are projected to most efficiently use building capacity for the longest time period possible (given projected student growth), and
- recommend to the Board of Trustees an elementary attendance zone map (effective 2021-2022) and a middle school attendance zone map (effective 2022-2023) for approval by the Board and implementation by the administration.
**Dates and times below are tentative and subject to change
2021 Attendance Zone Committee Schedule**
Attendance Zone Committee Members
2021 Attendance Zone Committee FAQs
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For questions regarding topics such as the following listed below, please visit the AISD 2019 Bond webpage here. These topics were addressed during the bond planning process and information was made available to and discussed with the community at that time.
- Demographic projections
- Location of campuses
- Size of campuses
- Configuration of grade levels on campuses
- Considerations for future campuses
- Potential timing of future campuses
- Transportation infrastructure
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How was the AZC picked?
The Attendance Zone Committee is chaired by community members Peter Healey and Cynthia Llewelllyn who lead meetings and discussions among 40 Aledo ISD residents. These Bearcat parents and community members were appointed to the committee by a Board of Trustees member, nominated by a campus or chosen from applications submitted via an online form Dec. 15, 2020 through Jan. 8, 2021. The district worked hard to make sure the AZC was represented by a diverse group of community members from different neighborhoods and areas of the district and from each campus in the district.
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What is the process for non-survey based feedback on the proposed attendance zones?
Residents and community members can submit feedback to the email attendancezones@aledoisd.org. The community member co-chairs of the Attendance Zone Committee, Peter Healey and Cynthia Llewellyn, receive each email. All feedback, either from the survey or email, is shared with all 40 of the members of the AZC and the Aledo ISD Board of Trustees.
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Does the zoning take into account any projections for future developments within district boundaries?
Yes, Attendance Zone Committee members were provided the latest demographic update by Templeton Demographics, the outside demographer that projects student growth for the district. Templeton examines an array of information including market trends, economic conditions, active and future planned developments, employment rates, and birth rates. Part of the purpose of the AZC is to study data related to projected student enrollment growth, which includes that projected by Templeton due to planned future developments.
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Will students be grandfathered into their current school?
Aledo ISD Administration has constructed guidelines for the opportunity for a student who currently attends a campus as a fourth grader (during this 2020-2021 school year) to be “grandfathered” to stay at that campus for his/her fifth grade year during the 2021-2022 school year. There is not a grandfathering opportunity for seventh graders going into eighth grade in 2022-2023. If a parent chooses for such an incoming fifth grader to stay on the campus to which he/she is currently assigned, any sibling of that incoming fifth grader may also attend the campus for only one school year (the 2021-2022 school year). If a parent chooses to keep their incoming fifth grader (and any sibling) on their current campus for fifth grade, the parent must provide transportation for their child/ren on that campus.
Click here to view the detailed Elementary Intra-District Transfer Procedures for Incoming 5th Graders 2021-2022. The application process for grandfathering incoming fifth graders will begin after the attendance zone boundaries have been approved, and the district will communicate that information to families at that time.
Students who are grandfathered for their fifth-grade year next year will begin following the attendance zone boundaries for middle school based on their address for their sixth-grade year (2022-2023). All students in the district will follow the attendance zone boundaries that are set by the Attendance Zone Committee for the 2022-2023 school year.
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Do incoming fifth-grade students who choose to be grandfathered to the campus they attend this school year (2020-2021) continue on to the middle school zoned for that grandfathered campus for sixth grade or to the middle school their home address is zoned for for sixth grade?
Students who are grandfathered for their fifth-grade year next year will begin following the attendance zone boundaries for middle school based on their address for their sixth-grade year (2022-2023). All students in the district will follow the attendance zone boundaries that are set by the Attendance Zone Committee for the 2022-2023 school year.
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Will Walsh, Morningstar, Bella Ranch or some of the other large neighborhoods on the outer edges of the school district’s boundaries remain in Aledo ISD boundaries indefinitely? Is there a chance any of these neighborhoods become their own school district? Or any change of rezoning to exclude current AISD addresses and rezone to a different school district?
School district boundaries in most cases were drawn several decades ago. Moving a certain area (like a neighborhood or subdivision) from one school district to another is a complicated legal process that rarely happens in the state of Texas. The process involves a petition and approval by the board of trustees of each involved school district. There are many other stipulations for that to happen, and that is outlined in Section 13.051 of the Texas Education Code (http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.13.htm#13.051). Aledo ISD does not anticipate any changes to the district’s external boundaries.
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Why can’t everyone north of I-20 go to the new middle school and everyone south go to the current middle school?
This option was considered along with several others and is not feasible from a capacity perspective. AMS would continue to be over capacity and MMS would open at roughly half its capacity. The committee determined that operating a brand new school so far under capacity when the other MS is over capacity does not create an optimal learning environment or represent the best use of taxpayer dollars.
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With areas south of I20 growing, would capacity still be an issue for McCall if those north of I20 were to remain at McCall and those south to go to Annetta?
Yes. Even with the current proposed rezoning, McCall will be one of the first elementary campuses to experience capacity challenges in the next three years. Keeping these households north of I20 at McCall creates an unsustainable situation with regard to capacity.
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What was the main determination for the decision that the Morningstar neighborhood will attend McCall Elementary instead of Walsh Elementary?
Generating the greatest capacity for the longest time period possible was one of the determining factors used by the committee, as that is something that we have been charged to do by the AISD Board of Trustees. In general, the significant current and projected growth of housing subdivisions in the vicinity of Walsh Elementary (including and particularly Morningstar and Walsh) make it impossible to keep the current Walsh Elementary attendance zone intact. Please note that Morningstar has not been singled out from attending Walsh Elementary. All homes north of I-20 and west of Farmer Road/3325 are included in the proposed rezoning from Walsh Elementary to McCall Elementary. We also thought it was important to keep neighborhoods together rather than divide a neighborhood.
Even with certain neighborhoods, including Morningstar, being rezoned to McCall, the significant growth in the Walsh development will create capacity challenges at Walsh Elementary in the future. In fact, the expected rapid housing growth in the school district north of I-20 is expected to challenge the capacities of the elementaries in the north rather quickly.
The expected enrollment versus capacity numbers at Walsh Elementary are significant. First, we need to explain that the maximum capacity of a school is having every seat filled in every designated teaching space for every period of the school day. Functional capacity takes into consideration schedule flexibility, average designed student-to-teacher ratio, and desired use of spaces. While the staff at Walsh Elementary has done an incredible job in managing the current overcrowding of the campus, it is not a situation that can be sustained, and the overcrowding will get worse.
The maximum capacity at Walsh is 675 students, and the functional capacity at Walsh is 607 students. As of this week, there are 716 students enrolled at Walsh. With the initial proposed elementary zoning map that would move some neighborhoods to McCall that was published last week, Walsh would go above both functional and maximum capacity during the 2023-2024 school year.
The student body in Aledo ISD is growing rapidly, and the projections by the district’s outside professional demographers indicate an even faster rate of growth in the future. Due to this rapid growth, the Aledo ISD administration has discussed with our committee that the district is pursuing land for future schools (including north of I-20) and is starting to plan for a future bond election (which is required before the district will be able to build new schools). If you would like to review the most recent student growth projections for Aledo ISD, click here for the latest Aledo ISD Demographic Update.
If the Morningstar neighborhood were to stay at Walsh, next year’s enrollment is projected to be 846 students (125% of maximum capacity). If all of the neighborhoods north of I-20 that are currently in the Walsh attendance zone were to stay at Walsh, next year’s enrollment is projected to be 974 (144% of maximum capacity). The committee believes that neither of these scenarios is acceptable due to the significant overcrowding of the campus. And the Walsh population would continue to grow from there.
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Why did the Attendance Zone Committee decide to not do exact feeder schools from elementary to middle school?
The committee extensively studied having exact feeder patterns - sending three elementary schools to Aledo Middle School and three to the new McAnally Middle School - but ultimately decided it was not feasible because of the distance some families would have to travel to their middle school. The AZC also wanted to try to keep the capacity as close as possible at each campus for many years to come. Finally, knowing that, in a fast-growth district, more elementary schools will be built before a new middle school is built, the AZC tried to draw middle school boundaries that might prevent families from having to move middle schools in the future.
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When will the new schools open?
Elementary No. 6 (Annetta Elementary) will open in August of 2021, and all other campuses - Middle School No. 2 (McAnally Middle School), expanded and renovated Aledo Middle School as well as McAnally Intermediate (Vandagriff Elementary) and the renovated Vandagriff Elementary (Aledo ISD Early Childhood Academy) - will open in August of 2022.
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Why are we moving kids for the second time at the elementary level?
As new homes are built in the district and new students move into the district, it becomes necessary to create new capacity for students to learn. New capacity in the district in the form of new and expanded campuses requires a redistribution of students so that the capacity is used more efficiently and so that capacity is adequate to serve the growing student population. Aledo ISD is a fast-growth district, and is projected to be growing at an even more rapid pace as new residential developments are constructed. As we continue to grow, attendance rezoning will occur in the coming years. Click here for the latest demographic projections for the district.
The last time the district drew new attendance zone boundaries was for the 2017-2018 school year when Walsh Elementary opened. With 2017-2018 kindergarteners being in third grade now and with the ability for 2021-2022 fifth graders to grandfather to their current school, the only individual students whose attendance zone boundaries could be changing for a second time during their time in elementary school are incoming fifth graders (current fourth graders). The parents of an incoming fifth graders may choose to “grandfather” to stay on their current campus. See FAQ above for grandfathering guidelines.
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Will the district be hiring all new staff at the new schools?
The new schools will be staffed with a combination of current Aledo ISD staff and new staff hired from outside the district. Because the district is fast-growth, and due to normal attrition, the district hires new staff at all of its campuses every school year.
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Will all schools have the same technology, benefits, programs, etc.? Will McAnally Middle School have athletics and electives, etc., just like AMS?
Yes, all of our campuses use the same technology, have equally amazing teachers and staff, and follow the same curriculum. In terms of the renovated Aledo Middle School and the new McAnally Middle School, equity among campuses has been a top priority for the district and architects. Both middle school campuses will have the same fine arts, athletics and electives for students.
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Will the student:teacher ratio stay the same at the elementary level? What is the projected class size in elementary?
Specific class sizes will depend on the student population at each campus, but elementary schools will follow the 22:1 student:teacher ratio for kindergarten through fourth grades as is required by the state of Texas unless a waiver is requested. Because the district is fast-growth, class sizes change throughout the school year as new students move into the district and others move out. Opening a sixth elementary school and drawing new attendance zone boundaries will help with the overall student population overcrowding we are experiencing at our campuses.