Tomball ISD is opening four new schools all within the next few years which affects the zoning of certain students: West Elementary, West Intermediate, Tomball West High School, and the fifth Intermediate, which is yet to be named.
Since the district is planning on opening the elementary school for the upcoming school year they have decided to take in the time to rezone for the other schools as a way to get all the planning out and to minimize the amount of times certain families will have to go through rezoning. The expansion of Telge, Grant, and Louetta to four-lane roads improve capacity for those driving on the roads.
West Intermediate is set to open for the 2025-2026 year and the new high school plus the fifth intermediate for the 2026-2027 year. With these new upcoming changes the Board has information regarding the District Zone Reset that will be adjusting attendance boundaries to incorporate new schools as well as provide some breathers for those that are at or above capacity. Changes are made to ensure that the students and staff are provided enough space to accurately function throughout the school day.
Boundary lines are created with the consideration of factors like balancing between enrollment among to schools, anticipating construction and residential growth throughout the community, minimizing any future expenses, how it would affect the attendance of certain families, classroom utilization and programs to be kept at said schools, as well as try to use natural boundary lines in order to minimize subdivision splits and maximize bus route efficiency.
The district has presented the information of planning to open another school at the Tomball Innovation Center that will serve students in grades fifth through sixth with all elementary schools having K through fourth graders and junior highs limited to seventh and eighth.
Tomball West zoning will be cutting the already set zones for Tomball High School nearly in half. Once the high school is officially open it will start with Sophomores, Class of 2028, and Freshman, Class of 2029. Students who are in grades 11 and 12 will be able to stay at their exisiting high school until graduation.
The times that they had planned to open has raised concerns with parents whose children are involved in UIL activities. Registering for UIL at the varsity level happens during the even years, meaning that those that are a part of the class of 2028 will not be able to participate at that rank until their senior year. Students will be able to participate at the junior varsity level but the district is looking into consideration for the second year after West opens.
All final plans will be finalized during the Jan. 9 School Board meeting. The district is making sure to send families information regarding new boundaries by the end of January 2024.
