Ector County Independent School District will host a series of meetings this week on proposed boundary changes within the school district.
The goal of the proposed changes is to reduce overcrowding at the schools.
The first is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at Bonham Middle School, 2201 E. 21st St.
The next meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Ector Middle School, 809 W. Clements St.
Thursday the district will conduct a live streaming presentation with an online Q&A. A district news release said a start date has not yet been finalized.
According to information on the district website, school populations are growing and creating “enrollment bubbles” among schools.
Demographers’ projections show those continuing to grow.
Several maps were created with potential changes and presented to the school board during a special workshop April 3. The two that made the most sense with the least disruptions to families were presented to the board, the information said.
One version would take neighborhoods currently zoned for Jordan and Buice elementary schools and move them to Goliad, Ross, Ireland and Blanton.
Those changes would also cause some shifting of lines between Ross, Ireland and Blanton elementary schools.
A second version proposes pairing elementary schools, specifically Pease and Noel and Zavala and Travis together.
In each case one campus would be for prekindergarten through first or second grade and the other would focus on the upper elementary grades.
The plan would meet the state’s requirement for repurposing schools that are in their fifth-year of improvement required status under state accountability standards while focusing on early childhood literacy (with more pre-k spaces), “which is an area of weakness for our community,” the information said.
Ector County Independent School District has eight campuses on improvement required status. Ector, Noel and Zavala elementary schools are in their fifth year. If the campuses don’t come off the list, they will face closure or the Texas Education Commissioner will appoint a board of managers over the whole district.
Superintendent Tom Crowe also presented a map of current middle school boundaries and two potential options for leveling enrollment across the city.
It begins with one section of Ector Middle School students who right now attend Permian High School. Those students would be moved to attend Bonham Middle School, thereby creating a “pure feeder system” from the middle schools to the two comprehensive high schools. A portion of Bonham would switch to Nimitz and a portion of Crockett students would move to Ector, the information said.
