Ashford Elementary

[Vicman]

It may be easier to do the latter in other states (which of course have different laws): For example a section of Independence, Missouri petitioned to join the Independence School District (from the Kansas City, Missouri School District) and did so successfully. The Independence School District paid KCMO School District to compensate them for the school buildings that were taken away (one high school and a few elementary schools were transferred). It may be interesting to compare the education codes of Missouri and Texas in that regard.

Originally Posted by ilikeme

Theres a difference between other neighboring school districts taking over entire failing school districts vs. changing boundary lines and only taking over small sections of districts that are remaining in operation. The latter is extremely rare.

[gwarnecke]

At one point Katy ISD announced intentions to build an IB campus on the vacant land next to Wolfe. I don't know if this is canceled or just postponed indefinitely. It would dramatically improve the desirability of the KISD portion of 77079.

Even if it could be done, I don't know if transferring Wolfe and the KISD portion of 77079 to SBISD would be in students' best interest. MPJH and THS are at least as well-regarded as their SBISD counterparts, and will be less likely to face overcrowding pressures in the future.

[descovy]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

At one point Katy ISD announced intentions to build an IB campus on the vacant land next to Wolfe. I don't know if this is canceled or just postponed indefinitely. It would dramatically improve the desirability of the KISD portion of 77079.

Even if it could be done, I don't know if transferring Wolfe and the KISD portion of 77079 to SBISD would be in students' best interest. MPJH and THS are at least as well-regarded as their SBISD counterparts, and will be less likely to face overcrowding pressures in the future.

There was talk about 6-7 years ago of turning Wolfe into an IB school. It didn't happen in part to the controversy of the IB curriculum. There was much noisy protest in Katy ISD about IB curriculum.

I personally don't see the controversy. If you dont like it don't send your kid to the IB school. But good grief, the outrage in Katy was huge.

Politically, KISD is not ready for IB.

[TXbywayof]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

Thornwood should NOT leave KISD. Wolfe elementary is already a small school, it shouldn't have to lose a sizeable chunk of its student body because some dense homeowners couldn't read a map before buying their homes.

I think the neighborhood that really throws me off is Memorial Thicket. It is small but I see listings that have some homes in HISD and some in Katy ISD. The Katy ISD I can see but the HISD I don't.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by TXbywayof

I think the neighborhood that really throws me off is Memorial Thicket. It is small but I see listings that have some homes in HISD and some in Katy ISD. The Katy ISD I can see but the HISD I don't.

Barbara Bush (the HISD zoned elementary school) has had so many students their attendance boundary had been reduced multiple times, with more and more territory given to Ray K. Daily.

Here is its attendance zone today: http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/T...ps/Bush_ES.pdf

Here's what it was back in 2005: http://web.archive.org/web/200503011...aps/bushES.pdf

The area is quite close to West Briar and Westside, the zoned middle and high schools.

BTW in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama there had been secessions from parish/county school districts, but only after the areas incorporated as independent cities.

[gwarnecke]

Originally Posted by TXbywayof

I think the neighborhood that really throws me off is Memorial Thicket. It is small but I see listings that have some homes in HISD and some in Katy ISD. The Katy ISD I can see but the HISD I don't.

The zoning in Thicket is determined by the original course of Buffalo Bayou, before it was straightened. The old path of the bayou still exists as a dry creek running through the neighborhood, and still divides the HISD and KISD portions.

The confusion isn't helped by realtors who frequently mix up the schools in their listings. One of the current listings in Memorial Thicket mentions Bush elementary, even though the house is in KISD.

FWIW, the two halves of the Thicket seem to sell for comparable price/sq ft.

[TXbywayof]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

The zoning in Thicket is determined by the original course of Buffalo Bayou, before it was straightened. The old path of the bayou still exists as a dry creek running through the neighborhood, and still divides the HISD and KISD portions.

The confusion isn't helped by realtors who frequently mix up the schools in their listings. One of the current listings in Memorial Thicket mentions Bush elementary, even though the house is in KISD.

FWIW, the two halves of the Thicket seem to sell for comparable price/sq ft.

Fascinating, I had no idea Buffalo Bayou was straightened.Great info, thank you. . Now I'm curious when this occurred...and why....was it done to help alleviate flooding issues?

[gwarnecke]

I'm not sure when it was straightened, but I think it was around the time that the reservoirs were built. Was indeed done to minimize flooding.

The topography of Memorial Thicket and the surrounding area is quite interesting. The creekbed that used to be Buffalo Bayou runs right through the neighborhood, giving many residents sloping lots and great views/privacy. The big pond on the Republic Square grounds (now open to the public) used to be an oxbow lake associated with the Bayou. The old Lake Thicket that was filled in by Skanska may have been too.

BTW...I don't mean to sound like I'm stumping for Memorial Thicket. I don't live there, but came close to buying a house there last year (walked away when I realized that the house was slowly sliding towards the creekbed), so learned a thing or two about the topography and schools.

[TXbywayof]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

I'm not sure when it was straightened, but I think it was around the time that the reservoirs were built. Was indeed done to minimize flooding.

The topography of Memorial Thicket and the surrounding area is quite interesting. The creekbed that used to be Buffalo Bayou runs right through the neighborhood, giving many residents sloping lots and great views/privacy. The big pond on the Republic Square grounds (now open to the public) used to be an oxbow lake associated with the Bayou. The old Lake Thicket that was filled in by Skanska may have been too.

BTW...I don't mean to sound like I'm stumping for Memorial Thicket. I don't live there, but came close to buying a house there last year (walked away when I realized that the house was slowly sliding towards the creekbed), so learned a thing or two about the topography and schools.

Don't stop now, I'm enjoying this history lesson. Since you mentioned Republic Square, anything new with that? I thought originally it was supposed to be similar to City Centre. I read that some office space opened. Anything on the retail/restaurant front?

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by TXbywayof

Don't stop now, I'm enjoying this history lesson. Since you mentioned Republic Square, anything new with that? I thought originally it was supposed to be similar to City Centre. I read that some office space opened. Anything on the retail/restaurant front?

The developers that were initially the faces of the project are no longer involved, apparently. The site is still planned in the long run for dense mixed-use development (not sure if they will keep the same plan initially publicized), but for now they have turned the old office building into a new location of the Houston Technology Center incubator, which is a welcome development and hopefully an opportunity for laid-off oil industry professionals who have struck out on their own.

Given that the primary uses for Republic Square were planned to be office, multifamily, and hotel, none of which are really needed given the local economic conditions, I would expect it to be awhile before serious new vertical development happens on the site.