Judson ISD officials hope to get more input from community members and employees ahead of a December workshop where they will discuss proposed school zoning changes, one of which could include closing Coronado Village Elementary School.
Trustees tentatively plan to hold a Dec. 11 public workshop on recommendations that the school district’s growth and planning committee recently made to accommodate projected student enrollment figures, the opening of two new campuses and efforts to best utilize school facilities.
“There’s a lot of people who are concerned about how the staff will be moved around and about how we will fill positions at new schools,” trustee Monica Ryan said at the Nov. 21 board meeting.
Based on a demographics report unveiled in October, the growth and planning committee voted to recommend the following changes:
- Close Coronado Village Elementary School in Universal City and relocate staff and students to Selma Elementary School, which opens in 2025-2026;
- Relocate the dual language program at Coronado Village to Selma Elementary;
- Relocate the Spanish immersion program at Wortham Oaks Elementary School to Selma Elementary;
- Split the attendance zone for Rolling Meadows Elementary School at Kentucky Ridge in Selma and send some students to Selma Elementary;
- Relocate the JSTEM Academy from Judson Middle School in Converse to Kitty Hawk Middle School in Universal City.
At a Nov. 21 briefing with district administrators, some board members expressed concern that they are rushing into rezoning some school populations and programs.
Superintendent Milton Fields apologized to trustees who felt administrators overlooked details in the growth and planning committee’s recommendations.
However, Fields added, board members have time to collect feedback from residents and employees who could be affected by rezoning or closure.
Coronado Village Elementary opened in August 1971 with an initial enrollment of 400 students. It is one of two JISD schools currently offering a two-way dual language program.
During growth and planning committee meetings on Oct. 28 and Nov. 6, demographer Bob Templeton of Zonda Education said his company does not project a significant increase in young families anytime soon in the Coronado Village attendance zone.
Coronado Village currently has 319 students and is projected to start 2025-26 with an even smaller enrollment of 302, meaning only 55% of the 550-student capacity campus would be filled next school year. Coronado Village has the smallest student enrollment of the 20 existing JISD elementary schools.
According to district officials, Selma Elementary will open its doors next school year with 390 students — below the campus capacity of 880 — but could accommodate additional students from Coronado Village and Rolling Meadows, and a relocation of language programs.
Fields said the district would be open to ideas for repurposing Coronado Village if it were closed.
Templeton’s projections also show that recommended zoning changes will help maintain manageable student populations at Wortham Oaks and Rolling Meadows elementary schools for the short term.
Located in the northernmost section of Judson ISD, Wortham Oaks is seeing the highest new housing activity among JISD elementary school zones, with 141 homes under construction and another 400-plus in the works, Templeton said.
“I really struggled because I couldn’t find a way to relieve Wortham Hills,” Templeton said at the Oct. 28 growth and planning committee meeting.
Despite considering changing several middle school feeder patterns, the growth and planning committee voted on a plan to relocate the JSTEM Academy and its 400-plus students.
Under this plan, Templeton’s projections show that Judson Middle School will open 2025-26 with 690 students and Kitty Hawk Middle School will open with 907 students. Judson Middle School has a capacity of 1,728 students while Kitty Hawk can accommodate 1,248 students.
JISD is also preparing to open Cibolo Creek Middle School, which is projected to initially serve 613 students, with capacity for 1,080 students.
Administrators said they hope the board makes a decision on rezoning by January so campus-level officials can begin planning for the next academic year.
“By January, we need to be able to tell students, faculty and staff where they’re going to be housed and what’s going to happen,” Fields told committee members on Nov. 6.
At the Nov. 21 board meeting, Ryan said the district must engage the entire community about any changes.
“A great communication plan of what the process is going to look like is going to be important for our staff because a lot of people are wondering where they’re going to be next year,” she added.
Trustee Jose Macias agreed with Ryan: “This way, we’d look at the recommendations naturally. But we have questions and we’ll spend hours here asking questions that we could have had at a workshop where there’s a little bit more back and forth.”
A start time for the Dec. 11 workshop has not been announced yet.
