Williamson County Schools (WCS) passed a rezoning plan on Monday night that affects 8% of the district’s nearly 40,000 students.
The proposal, known as Plan A1, will create zone lines for the district’s three new schools: an elementary school in Brentwood and an elementary and a middle school in Thompson’s Station. Those schools will open for the 2018-19 school year. The rezoning plan will start that year.
There were two plans for rezoning put forward, Plan A and Plan B. Plan B was put out when funding for expansions of Brentwood and Page high and middle schools by the County Commission were not certain. With the approval of the funds last Monday, Plan A which largely leaves Franklin and Brentwood-area zoning unchanged, was saved.
Plan A1 is essentially the same as the original Plan A, with a few changes. The board followed Plan A1 in all but one instance. An amendment to send students from the future Stephens Valley subdivision from Franklin High School area to Grassland Elementary and Fairview Middle and High Schools passed. It could affect about 21 students per year over the next 5 years. This was against the recommendation of superintendent Dr. Mike Looney.
All in all, 2,914 students will be rezoned, the majority will be new students not currently attending WCS.
1,418 elementary, 891 middle and 605 high school students will be rezoned based on projected attendance in 2018-2019. Of current students, 914 in elementary and 528 in middle school will switch schools. Exceptions include: rising 5th grade, rising 8th grade, and rising 11th and 12th grade students may request and be grandfathered to continue in the former zoned school. When a student is attending an out of zone school, that student and his siblings may attend through the highest grade level of the school. A sibling may only apply to attend an out of zone school if there is a sibling who will be enrolled in that school the upcoming school year. In these situations, transportation all the way to and from school will be the responsibility of the parent/guardian while you live outside of the zone.
Nine of the 44 district schools are over capacity and six more are nearing. The number of students in the district is projected at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year to be 39,919 and is expected to increase by 4 to 5 percent each year. The rezoning plan looks at where houses are being built and makes tweaks to anticipate the best way to distribute that growth, and also to fill in the three new schools previously mentioned.
Clayton Arnold Road Elementary School zoning changes
This is the same as original Plan A. The new school will take students previously zoned for Bethesda, Heritage, Oak View and Winstead Elementaries.
Additional zone changes to the area include:
-Allendale sends Wade’s Grove to Bethesda (232 current; 116 future students)
-Allendale sends Buckner Crossing to Chapman’s Retreat (41 current students)
-Chapman’s Retreat sends area east of I 65 to Bethesda (no students)
– Longview sends Campbell Station subdivision north of Campbell Station Pkwy, Shannon Glen subdivision, and Wilkes Lane to Heritage Elem (104 students)
-Oak View sends Henpeck Lane west of Durham Manor subdivision, which includes Oak Leaf and Oakwood, and the north side of Goose Creek Bypass, including Heritage Pointe, to Winstead (60 students)
-Oak View sends Dallas Downs subdivision to Winstead (55 students)
Clayton Arnold Road Middle School Rezoning
This is the same as original Plan A.
Elementary schools will feed into the new middle school zoning like this:
-All of Winstead, Heritage Elem & Longview attend Heritage Middle
– New Clayton Arnold Rd Elem attends New Clayton Arnold Rd Middle
– Oak View is split by I-65 to New Clayton Arnold Rd Middle & Page Middle
– Bethesda is split by I-65 to New Clayton Arnold Rd Middle & Spring Station Middle
– The rest of Bethesda, all of Allendale & Chapman’s Retreat attend Spring Station Middle
Summit, Independence and Page Rezoning
The three southern high schools will have their zoning tweaked. There is one difference in the adopted plan from Plan A: Centennial will not take students from Independence. Original Plan A included Independence sending Henpeck Lane west of Durham Manor subdivision, which includes Oakwood and Oak Leaf, to Centennial (39 students). This is not part of the adopted plan.
The adopted plan:
-Independence sends the area west of I 65 and south of I 840 (excluding Canterbury) who attend New Clayton Arnold Road Middle to Summit High (162 current; 66 future students)
-Page High sends the area west of I 65 and east of Lewisburg Pike, including Berry Farms Town Center, Ellington Park, Goose Creek Estates, Redwing, and Stream Valley, to Independence (76 current; 137 future students)
Changes will affect the middle to high school feeder patterns by:
-Heritage Middle splits to Centennial (22 percent) and Independence (78 percent) High Schools (no change to Dallas Downs, Polk Place, River Bluff, and Sullivan Farms who currently attend Centennial)
-New Clayton Arnold Road Middle splits to Independence (36 percent) and Summit *64 percent) High Schools
-Spring Station Middle attends Summit High
-Page Middle splits to Centennial (28 percent) and Page High Schools (72 percent).
Split Log Road Elementary Zoning Changes
The coming elementary school in the Brentwood area will affect surrounding zoning for elementary schools.
• Kenrose sends the eastern portion of the zone to the New Split Log Road Elem. This includes Ragsdale Road, part of Split Log Road and the neighborhoods of Glenellen, Morgan Farms, future Ragsdale subdivision, future section of the Reserve at Raintree, Sonoma, Taramore, and Tuscany Hills (255 current; 120 future students)
• Mill Creek Elem sends Clovercroft Road west from and including The Farm at Clovercroft and Scales Farmstead, and Pleasant Hill Rd areas to New Split Log Rd Elem (16 current; 147 future students)
• Sunset Elem sends Sam Donald Rd west of Bent Creek, and Split Log Rd, including Cromwell subdivision, to New Split Log Rd Elem (25 current; 22 future students)
• Lipscomb sends Tapestry Apts from the east side of Franklin Rd to Scales (23 students)
• Lipscomb sends Stonehenge and the geographic area on the west side of Franklin Rd to Scales (24 students)
• Nolensville Elem sends its side of Owl Creek subdivision to Sunset Elem. Neighborhood is currently split. (4 current; 14 future students)
• Kenrose sends the future Ovation development to Clovercroft (143 students; numbers not included due to residential construction more than 5 years out)
Northeast Middle School Rezoning Changes
The middle schools zones in this area will change by:
• Woodland Middle sends the eastern portion of the zone proposed to attend the new elementary school to Sunset Middle. This includes the neighborhoods of Ragsdale Road, part of Split Log Road and the neighborhoods of Glenellen, Morgan Farms, the future Ragsdale subdivision, future section of the Reserve @ Raintree, Sonoma, Taramore, and Tuscany Hills. (143 current, 105 future students).
-Mill Creek Middle sends Clovercroft Rd west from and including The Farm at Clovercroft and Scales Farmstead, and Pleasant Hill Rd to Sunset Middle (12 current; 85 future students)
-Mill Creek Middle sends its side of Owl Creek subdivision to Sunset Middle to keep the neighborhood from being split (2 current; 12 future students)
The new elementary to middle school feeder patterns will be:
• All of Nolensville Elem and Mill Creek Elem attend Mill Creek Middle (no change)
• All of New Split Log Road Elem and Sunset Elem attend Sunset Middle (until such time the new middle school is built on the Split Log Road property)
• All of Crockett and Kenrose attend Woodland Middle (no change)
• Clovercroft splits to Page Middle and Woodland Middle (no change); Clovercroft splits to: Page Middle 69% Woodland Middle 31%
New North High School Zoning
Ravenwood, Centennial, Page, Franklin and Nolensville High Schools’ zoning will be tweaked.
Changes include:
-Centennial sends the areas north of McEwen Drive and off Clovercroft Rd who attend Woodland Middle to Ravenwood High (166 current; 42 future students)
-Independence sends Henpeck Lane west of Durham Manor subdivision, which includes Oakwood and Oak Leaf, to Centennial (39 students)
-Page High sends Garden Club, Haddon Hall, and McKays Mill to Centennial (201 students)
Changes middle to high school feeder patterns will be:
-Page Middle splits to Centennial and Page High School
-Sunset Middle splits to Nolensville and Ravenwood High Schools along the current line (no change)
-All of Woodland Middle attend Ravenwood High
Open Zoning
The plan allows for opening. Every February, certain schools that will be under capacity for the next year will be announced as open zone, and any student wishing may apply to go to them. The board passed an amendment to the open zoning which allows rising 6th and 9th graders students who are currently at Woodland Elementary, Mill Creek Middle and Page High School who will be moved to allow to apply to stay now, instead of in February.
