Carroll ISD officials to study rezoning options

Carroll school district officials will spend the fall looking at options for possible rezoning to manage growth and tweak feeder patterns.

Trustees approved the rezoning process and timeline at the Sept. 28 board meeting.

Booming residential growth in the north part of the district has swelled enrollment at Walnut Grove and Johnson elementary schools.

Superintendent David Faltys said Johnson is slightly over the building’s functional capacity and Walnut Grove is nearing capacity. Old Union Elementary is well below capacity, so space for shifting students exists in current facilities.

Walnut Grove,which opened in 2010, is Carroll’s largest elementary at about 675 students. Johnson is now at about 570 students and Old Union has close to 410.

Officials said that space in the intermediate, middle and high school levels is sufficient for near-term growth, but they want to examine the possibility of making pure feeder patterns. Right now, Carroll Elementary School is split between the two intermediate campuses (Eubanks and Durham).

In ranking their priorities, trustees picked as their top objective creating “a feeder system which allows as much as possible for students to move to the same intermediate together.” Second was the same principle for students moving from intermediate to middle school. The next few priorities were keeping neighborhoods together and utilizing facilities in the most efficient way possible.

According to the timeline, administrators will work with a demographer in October to assess possible options. Trustees will get a look at preliminary options in an Oct. 19 workshop.

In November, officials plan to hold public meetings to collect feedback on the options. Board members would be informed of feedback in early December for a potential vote in mid-December.

Julie Thannum, assistant superintendent for board and community relations, said that information on the rezoning process would be available to parents on the district website: www.southlakecarroll.edu.

This story was originally published October 6, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Carroll ISD officials to study rezoning options."