By Megan Wehring
DRIPPING SPRINGS — After several months of deliberation, the Dripping Springs ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved new attendance zones on Tuesday for the 2021-2022 school year.
The Board approved Elementary Option E-1 and Middle School Option 1-A, which are modifications of previously presented options. Adjustments include unit 33 to remain at Walnut Springs Elementary and unit 35 to remain at Dripping Springs Elementary (DSE), along with planning unit 20A to be zoned to Sycamore Springs Middle School (SSE). These are reflected on the map provided by DSISD.
[pdf-embedder url="https://haysfreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Elem-Opt-E1-and-MS-Opt-1A.pdf" title="Elem Opt E1 and MS Opt 1A"]
The approved attendance zones moves neighborhoods near Darden Hill Road to the new Cypress Springs Elementary; moves neighborhoods east of Nutty Brown Road (except for the Views of Belterra) to the new Cypress Springs Elementary; and moves neighborhoods in Planning Unit 20A (Ledgestone, Heritage Oaks, Heritage West, Oak Run West, Polo Club) to Sycamore Springs Elementary and Sycamore Springs Middle School.
Families will see benefits from the new attendance zones, according to DSISD. These include avoiding splitting up any elementary school into two different middle schools, minimizing the need for staffing changes, avoiding moving students to a school farther away from their current campus and capacity relief.
Trustee Ron Jones questioned whether portables would be necessary at Sycamore Springs.
Board President Barbara Stroud clarified that as of right now, the district does not expect portables will be needed but it is still not a guarantee.
“These are projections,” Stroud said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in reality. I mean, COVID did make it even more challenging for projections. People just need to be aware that in a fast growth district, we can’t make promises. We can say that we don’t want portables, we don’t think we need them. Our goal is not to have them.”
Trustees also approved a one-year plan that would ‘grandfather’ incoming fifth and eighth graders who are zoned to new schools but wish to remain at their current campus for the upcoming school year. In an effort to help parents, siblings of these grandfathered students would also have the option to remain at the same campus for one year. District transportation will not be provided to grandfathered students.
The attendance zone development process started in fall 2020 when the Board approved parameters, a timeline and an administrative attendance zone committee. This committee partnered with the district’s demographer to develop boundary starter options. DSISD collected community input and feedback through a Thought Exchange, Google surveys and comments shared at three public forums.
While the process has been lengthy, trustee Shannon O’Connor said the attendance zone committee never stopped working to develop the best plan for the students.
“They never gave up,” O’Connor said. “I do appreciate all of the hours and time. I know that the delay of this process has caused some angst with scheduling, etc. But I do appreciate and value that at every moment, I knew I could count on everyone on that committee to do what is best for kids.”
For more information about the attendance zone process, please visit https://www.dsisdtx.us/Page/2789.
