Public gets second chance to evaluate school boundaries

About 12 residents/parents attended the meeting. A previous public meeting on the proposed boundaries was held in November. Hilltop Elementary School, the sixth AISD K-fourth campus, is undergoing construction and scheduled to open this fall just off FM 730 South. The school will be located between 730 and South Stewart Street.

The district will present the new map to the school board for its review at the Jan. 23 meeting and then the board will vote on the map at its Feb. 27 meeting.

Azle ISD Superintendent Todd Smith told attendees at the Jan. 9 meeting that Zonda representatives visit in the fall and spring and provide demographic updates on projected enrollments.

“Ten years out – that’s the furthest they go out,” Smith said. “And that’s what we use for our enrollment when we’re looking at bonds. Whenever we’re looking at bond elections — how big do we need to build schools and all this? — they come in. But another component that they do is they can go in with their mapping systems and they can map these neighborhoods and help us make our attendance zones.”

Huff went through the demographic data showing growth in population and number of households. Attendees also saw district data showing the number of young people (under 18) has grown by a little more than 21% in the last 10 years, using census data from 2010 to 2020.

Huff showed employment data, interest rates as they pertain to real estate and home prices. Data revealed:

• The average new home sale price in Azle ISD has risen 111% since 2011, an increase of $229,682.
• The average existing home sale price within Azle ISD has increased more than 70% over the last 11 years, rising $141,255.

Attendees also saw information on new home starts and closings and active building subdivisions and future subdivisions. They also saw information about student density and enrollment projections for all campuses, elementary through secondary. The district is expected to grow by nearly 1,000 students in five years and nearly 2,000 in 10 years. This fall, AISD had 7,113 students, and enrollment grew by 224 students.

“As much as you have grown over the last several years, the district has been very thoughtful in trying to evaluate when those boundary adjustments would be made,” Huff said.

He noted there have been just three specific years over the last 20-plus years in which the district has made any significant shifts or changes related to school boundaries.

“This is just part of growth, it’s part of what districts have to deal with and manage, and that’s part of being a part of a growing district,” he said.

Smith explained that Hilltop will be staffed with current Azle ISD staff with other campuses for the most part. The campus already has named its principal — Amy Rollmann, formerly principal at Eagle Heights Elementary School and district intervention principal.

Attendees also learned about feeder patterns for the elementary campuses, as schools in the southern end — Eagle Heights, Silver Creek and Hilltop — will be in a zone with Azle Elementary and Azle Junior High School and the northern tier elementary students — Cross Timbers, Walnut Creek and Liberty — will attend Hoover Elementary and Forte Junior High School. Policies have been devised allowing current third and seventh graders to stay at their respective campuses for next school year if attendance zone changes affect them, but they must provide their own transportation. Siblings of current third graders may be eligible to stay at their campuses if they meet the district’s intra-district transfer criteria.

At the end of the presentation, Smith took questions from attendees about the proposed zoning changes, such as specific feeder patterns for the elementary campuses.  

Parents Lindsey Hepler and Kim Cox told the News that they can live with the new boundaries. Hepler said she will have a child in high school and a child at Walnut Creek Elementary School next year.

“I kinda wanted to hear just the questions that people asked,” she said about the meeting, hoping that people understand “that change is good sometimes.”

Cox said she wanted to find out whether then proposed map was a finalized plan.

“And it kinda seems like it’s pretty final — there’s no other options,” she said, adding that she was aware it is not formally approved but is a final product.

Her son is in fifth grade and will have to change schools next year, but she understands there has to be a boundary somewhere.

“I’m kinda OK with it,” she said.