Round Rock v LTISD

[centralaustinite]

For me, personally, it would be. I would never send one of my kids to Bowie either. I attended a HS that had over 2000 kids, I would try to avoid sending my kids to a school much larger than that. There are advantages to large comprehensive high schools but I think that advantage peaks at about 1600-1800 kids and declines pretty rapidly once you get much above 2000-2500.

I thought Eanes should have added a second HS at the time, remember that battle? so ugly! But now, it looks like wisdom. LTISD is a well run district, I would not contest that . . . but if I was coming to the Austin area with young kids, the stability of RRISD for example over the growth of LISD and LTISD would definitely affect where I would look for housing.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

I just recently learned the Lake Travis ISD is committed to a one high school system and they plan to expand the high school (eventually) to 3500 kids! for me that would be a deal breaker.

DW is on a LTISD advisory board. They discussed this on Thursday. I think the model they are attracted to is the one I am well familiar with -- the Carroll ISD model. Facing the same issue of building a second HS, the community made the decision to open a 9-10 campus, and make the "old" Carroll HS the 11-12 campus. Happened when my kids were a senior and freshman.

Doesn't look like it turned out too badly.

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by scm53

DW is on a LTISD advisory board. They discussed this on Thursday. I think the model they are attracted to is the one I am well familiar with -- the Carroll ISD model. Facing the same issue of building a second HS, the community made the decision to open a 9-10 campus, and make the "old" Carroll HS the 11-12 campus. Happened when my kids were a senior and freshman.

Doesn't look like it turned out too badly.

Yes, this is what Manor ISD just announced they are doing too, one high school, two campuses. It is an interesting option, especially as a tax payer I would probably favor it, not as sure about it as a parent. What did your kids think?

[tom331]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Yes, this is what Manor ISD just announced they are doing too, one high school, two campuses. It is an interesting option, especially as a tax payer I would probably favor it, not as sure about it as a parent. What did your kids think?

We had 52 students in a class when I was a kid. I don't see a big issue for large school and class.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

What did your kids think?

My son loved the fact that the 9th grade girls had to pay attention to the 9th grade boys. My daughter liked the fact her dopey freshman brother wasn't on the same campus as her.

This won't work everywhere. If a district is eventually going to get to three campuses, then go ahead and bite the bullet. But Carroll wasn't -- they knew what the projections were at build out. The downsides to two HS in a single district are significant, and all Carroll had to do was to look next door to Grapevine when they built Colleyville Heritage. Two schools, two agendas, two competitions for money. Inevitable boundary disputes when attendance patterns change. And in a place like Southlake, like as in Lake Travis, when the identity of the area gets wrapped up in the HS -- for good mostly, but some see it as bad -- then the dilution isn't worth it. There is undeniable strength in unity.

Look around Texas. Single HS districts are some of the best in the state -- Highland Park, Eanes, Carroll, Alamo Heights, Lake Travis, Coppell, Dripping Springs, Allen, Friendswood, Aledo. The list goes on and on.

[LakeTravisAlum]

LTISD will never reach 3 campuses. The built out projections for the district are on the district website if anyone is interested. I'm hoping that they will do something similar to Carroll. However, it's not exactly the same situation as Carroll and Eanes experienced. LTHS is already equal in size to both Carroll and Westlake. Eventually, at built out, the district is proposed to have ~5,000 kids going to high school give or take. Whether they are all in one school or in two separate high schools is the question. So this means that even with the current expansion that they are doing to increase the capacity of LTHS to 3,500 kids, the district will still need to find a way to put more kids into schools around the year 2020.

I'm a strong proponent of single HS districts for reasons aforementioned in this thread, and I would not be against LT becoming the Allen of the Austin area. I just don't know if enough of the voters in the district will agree with me, and the board will have to actually propose that idea in the first place and forgo the idea of a second HS.

All of this is still about 5-7 years out. We will see what happens when the time comes.