Tomball will be joining District 22-4A next fall as the student population drops due to the opening of Tomball Memorial. The high school, which had more than 3,000 students in 2010, will fall to1900 students next fall.

And while sports teams will see the biggest impact, academic programs will see some changes as well.

Julie Bonner, the out-going director of Academic UIL and the speech/debate coach, believes that Strafford will be difficult to beat, but Tomball Memorial shouldn’t be much of a problem yet.

“We know what their strengths are and how to beat them. But besides those two schools, we don’t really know what to expect. We’ll go into next year not under-estimating anybody, because you never know.”

Strictly looking at academic test scores, it appears that the two Tomball schools should have an advantage over much of the district.

But the new district also brings challenges, including much longer drives for district competitions.

“Now the band has to travel farther for performances,” tuba player Karine Pitts-Wilson said, echoing the feeling of many involved in extra curricular activities who are worried that the change will make for a difficult schedule.

Besides Tomball Memorial, the closest school in the new district is Spring Branch Spring Woods High School at 20.8 miles away. Tomball will have to make the long drives to compete in away games and other UIL events, and may have to leave campus before school ends for the day.

Add in rush-hour traffic across Houston, and it could make for a long day.