Article to appear in the Potpourri this week

Tisd steering committee

By Brandon Moeller
Potpourri Staff Writer

The over-whelming majority of residents who attended a Tomball school district future growth planning subcommittee meeting last week seemed to be in favor of the district building a new high school opposed to creating a campus geared to ninth graders only. The issue was to be voted on by members of the subcommittee Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. at the auditorium located adjacent to the campus of the Tomball Intermediate School, 723 W. Main in Tomball.

Last week’s meeting was held at the Tomball Independent School District bus barn, which nearly brimmed at its capacity as many newcomers – spurred to attend by mass e-mails and flyers – listened to presentations from two points of view.

The leader of the subcommittee, Brent Lapsley – who also serves as the president of the Tomball Economic Development Corp. and who is the vice president of Houston engineering consulting company Paradigm Consultants – started off the meeting by dismissing rumors and giving an overview of a steering committee process that began two months ago.

“To become a member of the subcommittee, you’ll need to fill out a member form,” Lapsley said, to dispute a rumor that newcomers were not allowed to join. “The subcommittee will vote – but the word ‘vote’ is only to determine if we have a (vast) consensus, and that’s it.”

Lapsley said those who attended the Oct. 3 voting meeting could have become members that day by merely filling out a form that would include them on the subcommitte’s roster.

In previous meetings, the group has decided that construction of a new “flex” K-6 school needs to begin in The Woodlands as well as an elementary school in the Northpointe area to meet projected enrollment numbers. In The Woodlands, the eighth and newest village – Creekside Park Village – is set to open in mid-2007, and by the year 2014 is expected to add more than 5,400 school-aged children to Tomball ISD classrooms.

The group has also previously agreed that construction needs to begin in 2009 on an intermediate school for The Woodlands area as well as an additional elementary school in the district, as well as construction beginning on a new junior high school somewhere in the district in 2010.

Last week’s meeting was to present information to help the subcommittee decide if the district should build a new high school or use the existing Tomball Junior High School as a ninth grade campus and then build a new Junior High School beginning in 2007.

Each side was allotted a 20-minute presentation, but during this week’s meeting, additional presentations from both sides were to be made, prior to the subcommittee vote to determine if a vast consensus could be reached.

At the first meeting of the subcommittee two months ago, Lapsley said he’d like to see the “vast majority” of the subcommittee make a recommendation to the TISD school board-appointed steering committee about what recommendation it in turn should make to the school board.

The school board is then expected to make the final decision March 6 about what – if any – type of school bond issue should be put to voters in May.

Ninth grade campus
Last week, three subcommittee members made a presentation to present the idea of the district utilizing a ninth grade campus to handle the expected large increases of enrollment spurring from additional development in the Northpointe and The Woodlands areas. The idea this side favors is converting the existing Tomball Junior High School – located across the street from the current Tomball High School – into a ninth grade campus and having the district build a new junior high school.

Parent Debbie Pallini and teachers Terrie Ford and Julie Bentley, all members of the TISD-board appointed steering committee, made the presentation. Pallini and Ford spoke during a majority of the 20-minute presentation, and Bentley was unable to complete her portion of the presentation concerning how the district could fund the idea.

Ford spoke first about the “unique” problems of ninth grade students, and she said those problems could be addressed by separating ninth graders from the larger high school population.

“Ninth grade is a pivotal year that determines which students will prevail and which will fail,” Ford said. “Studies conducted in Texas in 2000 and 2001 show that 70 to 80 percent of students who fail to pass ninth grade will not graduate from high school. Kingwood High School states that their ninth grade went from a 9 percent failure rate to a 3 percent failure (rate) as a result of opening ninth grade-only campuses.”

Kingwood’s Ninth Grade Center – now in its 13th year – will eventually become a 4A high school with all four grade levels in the fall of 2009, as the Humble school district plans to add a grade level to it every year beginning next year.

Pallini spoke next, and she outlined the number of students expected to be enrolled in ninth through 12th grades in the district during the 2010-11 school year, with the projected number of The Woodlands students included.

Using TISD-provided projected numbers, Pallini said students expected in 2010 are 1,096 ninth grade students, 928 10th grade students, 872 11th grade students and 869 12th grade students, for a total of 3,765. She said if the district were to use Tomball Junior High School as a ninth grade campus and retain the existing Tomball High School to serve 10th through 12th grade students, then the total “operational capacity” – defined as the maximum number of students the schools can hold – for both schools is 4,769. With an expected enrollment of 3,765 in 2011, Pallini said the two high-school-age campuses will be at a 78.9 percent operational capacity.

But, Pallini said the ninth grade campus itself would be at a 98.6 percent operational capacity, or 15 students shy of the operational limit.

“This assumes that all ninth grade students would be at the TJHS building (all the time), but many ninth grade students will be taking one or two classes at the THS building,” Pallini said. “At any time, the THS building may be more crowded than the 73.5 percent and the TJHS building may be less crowded than the 98.6 percent.”

Pallini said that classes could be balanced between the two schools for ninth graders, to delay the necessity of another high school or another set of a ninth grade campus coupled with high school until past the 2014-15 school year, when a 94.8 percent operational capacity is expected for a ninth grade and high school combination.

“I’ve been a resident of the ( Lakewood area) for 18 and a half years,” Pallini said. “When I joined this subcommittee, I was so excited about a high school on the south side of Tomball. I hate the drive to Tomball everyday (to drop off and pick up my children). But after reviewing the numbers, I think Tomball will need a new high school – but not right now.”

Pallini also said retaining one high school coupled with a ninth grade campus could provide more advanced placement and dual credit opportunities for students.

Bentley – who was given about two minutes to speak and who did not complete her presentation – briefly noted that according to information provided by the school district, using the existing Tomball Junior High School as a ninth grade campus and building a new junior high is significantly less expensive than building a new high school.

Under that plan, building a new junior high school and other schools needed to keep up with the projected student enrollment is expected to cost near $153 million.

New high school
J.P. Magill gave the presentation examining the new high school option. He said many school districts that had previously tried a ninth grade campus system had found it to be unpopular when compared to building smaller high schools.

“In a larger school, they focus on the top 10 percent, the worst 10 percent and the other 80 percent – where most of our students are – fall by the wayside,” Magill said. “Less than 30 high schools in Texas have more than 3,000 students, and Cy-Fair, one of our neighbors, is one of them.”

By using Tomball Junior High School as a ninth grade campus – with 1,111 students projected by 2012 – the 10th through 12th grade Tomball High School would have 3,628 students.

“With that many students, will we have gotten beyond what THS can teach students properly?” Magill asked.

Magill said the advantages of two smaller high schools include more opportunities for students in term of athletics and other extra-curricular activities, higher test results, a higher percentage of students progressing to college, higher student confidence levels and “students feeling part of the school community.”

Magill said that the projected enrollment suggests that both high schools would have a UIL 5A rating, as that ranking begins with 1,985 students. He also said that advanced placement courses “should not suffer.”

“Superintendent (John) Neubauer assured the community that programs will be maintained at both campuses,” Magill said, referring to comments allegedly made by Neubauer at a April 2006 meeting with parents at Lakewood Elementary School .

Building a new high school along with the other schools necessary to keep up with the projected growth would cost about $182.8 million, Magill said.

“That’s a hell of a lot of money,” Magill said. “But we have to build it now in order to be prepared.”

Magill said the ninth grade campus proponents would eventually have to consider renovating the current Tomball Junior High School in 2015, or they would have to build a new high school or a second ninth grade campus then. He said a new high school, based on projected 2012 costs, would cost the district an excess of $91.5 million in 2015, and building a new ninth grade campus would cost in excess of $60 million.

Magill said the decision to build a new high school along with the other needed schools, instead, would only cost $182.8 million, compared to $244.6 million (with a 2015 high school) or $213.1 million (with an additional 2015 ninth grade campus).

“It’s either we pay for it now, or we pay a lot more later,” Magill said.

E-mail Brandon Moeller at bmoeller@hcnonline.com.