Boerne ISD Board of Trustees approved new attendance zones at its March 27 meeting. The multi-phased decision included the extension of the current high school choice rules an additional two years.
Redrawing of attendance zone boundaries comes as the district prepares to open three new schools over the next three years to address growing student enrollment. In May 2016, voters approved a $175 million bond to fund construction of the three schools, purchase land and address other needs in the district.
In establishing the new Van Raub Elementary zone, the Board approved a plan that realigned the Kendall and Fair Oaks Ranch zones to create the new school's attendance zone. In addition, the board chose to reassign the neighborhoods of Stone Creek Ranch and The Homestead, both off of Ammann Road, into the Fair Oaks Ranch zone from their current alignment in the Cibolo Creek Elementary zone.
This realignment, which passed unanimously, takes effect August 2018 with the opening of Van Raub Elementary.
The new Herff Elementary zone draws students from the current Cibolo Creek and Curington Elementary zones, keeping the neighborhoods of River Mountain Ranch and Kreutzberg Road in the Curington zone while aligning Friendly Hills, Spring Creek Road, Deer Creek and Bentwood in the Herff zone. Further, a roughly 18-block area in the central city bounded by Rosewood Street on the north, Esser Road on the east, River Road on the south and Main Street on the west will be rezoned from the Curington zone into the Herff zone.
This realignment, which passed 4-2 with one member absent, will go into effect when Herff Elementary opens August 2019.
The board also approved the committee's recommendation on middle school zones as initially proposed January 23. The new alignment goes into effect when Voss Middle School opens August 2019. A separately approved provision calls for Voss to open with sixth and seventh grades only in 2019 before incorporating eighth grade in 2020. Eighth graders in 2019 will attend their current middle school. Younger middle school-age siblings will not be exempted – or "grandfathered" – under this provision.
A "grandfathering" provision was approved fifth graders in their final year at one of the current elementary schools, to include a similar exemption option for siblings for one year only, until such time as the fifth grade sibling promotes to sixth grade. That motion was approved 5-1 with one member absent.
School choice, a provision that has been in place in some form since the opening of the district's second high school in 2008, was extended for high school students through the 2018-19 school year. Under the provision, students living in the Boerne High School attendance zone have the option of attending Champion High School. Rules for the choice option are posted on the district's attendance zone webpage. School choice was not extended for middle school; the middle school choice provision expires at the end of the current school year.
All provisions of the new realignment will be posted on the district website www.boerne-isd.net/zoneupdates shortly. The district also plans specifically targeted communications to families explaining the new attendance zones and related provisions.
# # #