Keller district officials are streamlining the student transfer process to make it easier for families to move a child to a campus with space available.
“We wanted to create a more open, fluid system for the movement of students to below-capacity schools because it’s a win-win for students, parents and the district,” said Dustin Blank, director of leadership.Having a student request a move can alleviate crowding at some campuses and make more efficient use of others, Blank said.Such a transfer would still be contingent upon the student maintaining acceptable grades, attendance and behavior, just as in previous years.Administrators continue to work out the details on the new process, which would include two pathways.One pathways is for transfers into schools below capacity and the second one is for students requesting to attend a school considered at capacity.For the second type of transfer, a student needs to provide an extenuating circumstance and the request must go before a district committee to determine feasibility, Blank said.Blank said that transfer information for next year would be posted on the district website, kellerisd.net, once the process is finalized.For the 2013-14 school year, 20 campuses are considered “at capacity” and 19 “below capacity.” Trustees approved the recommendations at the Feb. 14 board meeting.Officials decided to change the terminology from “open or closed” to “below capacity or at capacity” to better reflect the new transfer process.This year, 22 campuses were listed as closed to transfers.Charles Carroll, assistant superintendent of administrative services, said that some campuses that were closed or at capacity for the current year have changed to open or below capacity for next year and vice versa.For the first time in a number of years, Chisholm Trail Intermediate and Trinity Springs Middle schools are rated below capacity.Carroll said that the opening of Timberview Middle School has begun to have a positive impact in alleviating crowding on the west side.Even though Bear Creek Intermediate and South Keller Intermediate have fewer students than Chisholm Trail, the two schools are rated at capacity for 2013-14. The two campuses have been open to transfers for many previous years.Carroll said that Chisholm Trail is a larger building and administrators also are looking at special needs programs on each campus.“We’re looking at trying to maintain some flexibility in building use,” he said.At the intermediate level, Chisholm Trail is the only below capacity campus; Fossil Ridge is the lone below capacity school at the high school level.Three middle schools are open for transfers next year, but Carroll said a large bubble of current sixth graders moving through the system could return Trinity Springs to at capacity status the following year.The Central and Timber Creek feeder patterns have the fewest below capacity campuses, with two in each.Blank said that some areas of the district have become established with not a lot of current growth.For the first time in more than a decade, no new schools opened in Fall 2012 and none are expected in the next few years.Because the need for boundary changes is decreasing, officials decided to tweak the transfer process.“We moved beyond the system that met that situation because kids are getting established in feeder patterns,” Blank said. “One of the reasons driving the change was to accommodate people with different sets of needs.”Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
