Parents upset about rezoning options

" Parents pay your outlandish school taxes and keep your mouths shut! CISD knows what is best for your children! They just need your tax dollars to keep come in to continue to build palaces of waste and do not need your opinions!

VOTE ALL INCUMBENTS OUT OF OFFICE. "

" It happens. When we lived in Willis ISD they rezoned every 2 years & there was NOTHING we could do about it. The district is growing & this is something that has to be done. "

" Portables do not solve the problem, neither does adding classrooms when you have school with empty classrooms in other areas.Rezoning is the tax dollar effiecient way of easing overcrowding. If I remember right, TWHS is 300 under capacity, while TWCP is like 500 over. As oppsosed to rezoning reducing the need of expansion to CP, instead the whining Woodlanders get their way and adding to CP. Addition to CP is needed yes, but if they rezoned there would be less of a need and a smaller bond issued, thus a smaller impact to tax payers. Instead CISD would rather do whats needed to shut up the whiners instead of standing up and protecting tx dollars. "

" Your credibility wouldn't be suspect if you could write a complete sentence. While I agree that CISD caters to The Woodlands and no one else, over-reactions like "vote all incumbents out of office" don't do the cause of reform any good at all. It makes one appear reactionary and out-of-touch. "

" Just to clarify: It's not that the children can only play on the PLAYGROUND twice a week at Deretchin.....Rather, each class gets to play on the PLAYSCAPE one day a week and on Friday anyone can play on it. They do get recess daily.

The rest of The Woodlands needs to wake up to the school overcrowding crisis that is going on Sterling Ridge and Indian Springs. Right now, parents at other Woodlands elementaries figure their school population is stable, so why should they worry about OUR problem? Well, soon "our" problem is going to be YOUR problem. No matter what CISD and The Woodlands officials say, there is not enough space in our schools to match the number of homes being built over the next few years. This current round of rezoning may be enough to temporarily delay the meltdown, but only for a few years. As of this move, Galatas will be full. There's no room anywhere else to put the hundreds of children who will come from the hundreds of homes, apartments and townhomes still being built. The math does not add up.

Once our schools are over capacity and all the other Woodlands elementaries are full, in 2-3 years maximum, (except for Ride, where room is being reserved for Jacob's Reserve) then more rezoning will have to take place and it will involve moving everyone in all Woodlands K-4 schools, plus adding portables to all of them. It's the only way unless CISD faces the fact that they should have built a school in Indian Springs and does just that. We keep being told there is no land, but there is.....The Woodlands Corp. just wants to use it for more shopping centers and banks instead of schools. We're paying for a half billion dollar plus bond and The Woodlands didn't even get ONE of the seven schools to be built, despite the fact that we have some of the most overcrowded elementaries. CISD's own projections show no relief until well after 2016!

So unless you want your child attending a school well away from where you live, and probably going to class in portables for a couple of years of K-4, you should pay heed to what we in Sterling Ridge and Indian Springs are going through, because it will affect YOUR future. And once it happens, it's going to last a long time. CISD will not admit that The Woodlands is still booming in some areas and a school should have been built two years ago. The Woodlands Corp. will not stop allowing residential development, despite the fact that there is no school space for the children who will reside in those homes. They approved a 310 unit apartment complex just across from Deretchin even though the school was at capacity. Even after it was at capacity, they allowed townhomes to begin being built. It's all about the money, with no regard for education or even common sense.

In the upcoming board election, vote for a candidate who recognizes that The Woodlands needs another elementary school so that we can ALL avoid a disaster in the near future. "

" Well said WoodlandsMom. "

" The RINO in "tired of rino's like sadler" stands for Republican In Name Only. And yes it would be nice if one incumbent in particular was voted out of office...however he never has a opponent to run against at election time. I guess that's a matter of money talks and BS walks :-( "

" ICanSpellRhino

Out of touch??????? You do not even know what RINO means . . . how shallow and out of touch you are! As far as me being out of touch my CISD property taxes continue to keep me in touch and broke! ICanSpellRhino is obviously a CISD employee that has sipped the Kool Aid! "

" Here is another idea! Vouchers! If you are sick and tired of overcrowded school or your child getting a "marginal" education through the public school districts you can use your voucher to send them to a private school of your choice!

Also, why why why should all citizens have to pay for education. If a parent brings them into the world shouldn' t they be responsible to pay for their education vs. their neighbor?

Just a thought but isn't public education a form of socialism. "

" Hey Woodlandsom - why don't you just ask Tommy Boy Williams to come to your rescue. The Woodlands has always been part of CONROE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT. The schools in the Woodlands area have always taken top seat. You have Stockton who is a resident of the Woodlands most of the board is from the Woodlands. If you pay close attention you will see that there are 6 schools in Conroe that are being rezoned.

I went to Conroe High School and I lived in the Woodlands area at the time. We did not have ANY schools in this area. We had to get on a bus at the crack of dawn and go into town which was over 10 miles away. We took I-45 into town. We went down 1488 to pick up others and then went into town and picked up kids there as well. Many times there were not enough seats and someone had to stand. Oh, and we all rode the same bus from K thru 12. Our parents did not raise cain like you are. We were going to school to get an education, and that was the bottom line.

I have read your comments here on other issues and you are of the opinion that you are better than everyone else, simply because you live in the Woodlands. Guess what you are not!

If you think that your children are being crammed into a class room - I suggest that you either enroll them in private school such as John Cooper or The Woodlands Christian Accademy or home school the darlings! "

" Woodlandsmom I should have said I went to school in Conroe from the 4th grade to my senior year. "

" You must have me confused with someone else, because I have never posted before today. And I have never read your comments before. So much for that....

I'm tired of hearing, "Back in my day," and "I was rezoned X number of times." Just because things were one way in the past doesn't mean people should put up with it forever if a BETTER way is available. In fact, part of what you say makes my point. CISD waits until a crisis is on their hands and then they REACT. Instead, how about some foresight and a little proactive planning so we can avoid a crisis now and then? What a novel concept!

I was only addressing the situation my school is involved in. I am aware others rezoning issues are being decided by CISD, but it's all I can do to keep up with THIS one. The elementaries involved are Deretchin, Tough, Galatas and possibly Buckalew. Mitchell Intermediate is affected by how many 5-6 graders are moved out of Tough. So in our situation, as many as 5 schools may be involved. Between Deretchin and Tough, we have 2600-ish students spread over a large geographic area. I can only address the situation involving them, not the students in Conroe or Oak Ridge.

The gist of my message is that being told that the population will "eventually" being to decline, when it will take more than 10 years for us to fall to anywhere approaching our maximum capacity at the two largest elementary/flex schools in The Woodlands, is cold comfort. Our two schools will soon cause a third (Galatas) to increase to its capacity. After that, the inevitable increases in population coming in just a few years, will cause the other Woodlands elementaries to be caught up in a ripple effect. Every one of them will likely be seriously overcrowded for years, just because no one will admit there was poor planning regarding the size/location/number of elementary schools in The Woodlands.

In case you have forgotten, people in The Woodlands will also pay for the new bond. Schools should be built wherever they are needed in CISD. Conroe, Oak Ridge, wherever. And one of those "wherevers" is Indian Springs in The Woodlands. This is not about me not wanting my child rezoned. I'd be happy to move to Tough. Being rezoned really will not hurt my family. My concern is the bigger picture. If we can spend $38 million on a stadium, surely we can afford to build a school when it's desperately needed.

Long story short, The Woodlands Development Corp. has never met a plan to build houses that it didn't love.....Even when there is absolutely no place for miles around to educate those children because all the schools are overflowing.

Believe me, we've asked CISD to consider revamping attendance zones in a more meaningful manner (one that will last more than two years and be more than a Bandaid) but they will not consider it. We've asked why students from outside The Woodlands are being bused into The Woodlands while children who are residents of The Woodlands have to attend overcrowded schools. We ask ourselves, "If Deretchin and Tough are at about 1300, with a capacity of 1000 and Deretchin can easily expect 200-400 in the next few years, (no matter what The Woodlands Development Corp. says) why aren't we being allowed to use all the available space in other Woodlands schools to alleviate that overcrowding? Why are they busing in students when we are in dire need of those classrooms? If they're going to bus them, bus them someplace that has space, not someplace that is terribly overcrowded. If we're going to rezone, at least let us have access to Woodlands classrooms." That's not greedy....It just makes sense. It makes sense to stop busing kids in from miles away when kids nearby need that space, and the bused kids could just as easily be bused to another school that is just as close to their homes as the one they're already attending.

We hear, "That's where we've always bused them." We say, "That was fine when schools had extra room, but they don't anymore. The situation has changed and not for the better. Now it's time to look at what makes sense TODAY with fresh eyes, considering all the variables." That is what is NOT being done. We want long range planning, not a 2 year Bandaid. I think that's reasonable, whether you live in The Woodlands, Conroe or Oak Ridge. "

" No need to worry, we have a new stadium with nice pools and we are going to build another pool. We forgot the track though. "

" Well i do agree with overcrowding and trying to fix that problem for safety of the kids, what i don't agree with is creating new schools when we can even maximize the schools we have built now. We are in a rezoning issue over here in Oak Ridge which as a tax payer I do not agree with 110%. We are going to open a new school while most of the other feeder elementaries are way below capacity. Let's use our tax dollars a little more wisely and not act on projections in the coming years. The projections are off. CISD is under in it's total enrollement from projections but were going to build another school over here because "it is projected to grow over here." Not to sure on that one considering our economy and the huge slowdown of new houses. I will pat CISD on the back for listening to our communities opinions and taking them into consideration. They were heard and considered with a better outcome for that community. I just don't see the need for a whole new school for it to be under capacity next year. Let's slow down and see things for what they are now and not what they are "projected" to be. What is most dishearting is that some of my kids friends in elementary are going thru to their 3rd school in less then 4 years. Let's think of the kids, that's what matters here. No more bandaids. Deal with the hand your dealt now what your hoping is coming in your next deal. I say use what you have until you have no other choices then build. "

" I would like to address one point, before this dissolves into a Woodlands vs. Everyone Else issue, which it should not be. Years before my spouse and I ever had children, we supported bond elections that didn't benefit us since we had no children. Maybe they helped our property values a bit, but not that much. Over the years, we voted for bond elections that certainly didn't add schools anywhere near where we lived. But if the schools were needed to avoid overcrowding or to replace a dilapidated one, we supported building new ones. When the money for Deretchin and Tough was approved by the voters (including us) we didn't live in that part of The Woodlands and had no intention of moving there. Our closest school had stable enrollment, but we recognized the need for more schools elsewhere.

The article was a bit off the mark about some of the comments made, but it did convey many of the concerns of the parents. Last year at Deretchin, the students in portables could not hear the fire alarms and tornado alarms. Unless they had prior notice of a drill, they missed the drill until someone let them know what was going on. If the fire or tornado had been real, we could have had a tragedy on our hands. Three grades in portables (21 classes or so) is excessive. That is approaching half the school. Another fear was that if we ever did have a real tornado, there would simply not be sufficient room for all the children to take cover. There is only so much "interior" room in any building, and when a 1000 student building has to protect 1325 students, using only its interior rooms, reality tells us someone will likely be left out. Children deserve better.

It sickens me that some seem to get some sort of perverse pleasure that these children are being placed in potentially dangerous situations, simply because they are "Woodlands kids." That says much more about the person holding that opinion than it does about anyone living in The Woodlands. "

" Proud Mom, Your comments make some sense. Sadly, that means no one will probably listen to you. I've studied those projections for hours and they are insane. Schools are being built that are projected to be over capacity almost from the day they are opened. Yet others are being built where homes (and therefore, students) do not even exist, on the belief that "they will come." We have brought up the fact that this economic downturn changes everything, but it falls on deaf ears.

In our case, Tough was supposed to be the LAST elementary school in The Woodlands because they projected (gotta love it!) that it would hold all the students that would live in the rest of the homes to be built in The Woodlands. Within two years, it had reached capacity and by the third year, they needed portables. So it was obsolete in just two years. CISD scrambled and built Deretchin, promising that it would really, really be the only other elementary we'd ever need. By the end of its second year, every room was full. By the beginning of the third year, just like Tough, Deretchin was using portables. Again, obsolete after just two years. The school that was meant to fix everything....

Anytime you build "the last school needed" and it's overflowing within two years, you have messed up. When you go ahead and build a SECOND "last school needed" only a few years later and THAT school is overflowing after just two years with more kids coming in every day, you have seriously messed up. Now we're told that even though over 250 more homes and 310 apartments are going up, we'll get just 148 children from them. No one believes that. Amazingly, we truly need "another last school" because someone just can't seem to count.

Yes, we can rezone ONE MORE TIME, but this is it. After this, we have no more empty rooms to fill. And even after rezoning, Tough and Deretchin will certainly be at 1100-1200. So like you, I wonder why CISD is building schools when and where they are building them. In your case, it seems you think they should wait, fill up available classrooms first and then build if needed after those options are taken.....especially in light of today's economic situation. And that makes sense. In our case, Deretchin parents had to plead to be rezoned to fill the empty classrooms at the one school with room. Our overcrowding made us willing to rezone. But we know this rezoning will not fix the problem for long and after this we have no more empty rooms. We wonder why CISD is intent on building schools that are destined to stay half-empty for years while we are sitting here in overcrowded conditions and need a school NOW. It would be full for a minimum of 10 years, based on CISD's numbers....And their numbers are always too low.

So they build where it ISN'T needed and won't build where it IS needed. It makes no sense. Children are the last ones being considered. "

" As a employee of good old CISD I would 100% support the Woodllands buying out CISD and forming their own district. It would make the best thing that could happen. Then you can point fingers at people in the Woodlands and leave it there.

Overcrowding has always been an issues and I don't give a hoot what the fine folks of the Woodlands think anymore than I can fly!

Get over it move on. All the complaining is not going to resolve any issues. Take it to the board and DO NOT set up any special little Woodlands only residents. There is a forum for this issue and it needs to be addressed properly and through the proper channels. "

" Here is another idea! Vouchers! If you are sick and tired of overcrowded school or your child getting a "marginal" education through the public school districts you can use your voucher to send them to a private school of your choice!

Also, why why why should all citizens have to pay for education. If a parent brings them into the world shouldn' t they be responsible to pay for their education vs. their neighbor?

Just a thought but isn't public education a form of socialism. "

" drivermom - you are wrong - Dr Stockton does not live in the woodlands, nor has he ever - get YOUR facts straight before your spew your vitriolic rant. Since when does the woodlands corporation have a crystal ball giving them info on all the fertile individuals moving to the woodlands? or april sound or oak ridge. There have been portables at all of the schools at one time or another throughout the years to accommodate the wee folk in attendance. The populations ebb and flow as the years pass and if CISD do a knee-jerk reaction to all the parents we will have giant electricity sucking mammoths sitting all over the county and then the rest of the population will be screaming about wasteful spending. No one is ever 100% satisfied - adjust or perish people. And as far as what happened "back in the day" learn from the histories of these folks and don't make the same mistakes. Just because you're young doesn't mean your ideas are fresh/fantastic. "

" "Tired' obviously doesn't have children. No taxpayer should ever keep their mouths shut. And if you don't feel you are benefitting from your taxes, then please move away! No one would miss you! "