Many parents forced to fight for a spot in coveted schools
As HISD clamps down on class sizes, some campuses turning away more students
HER daughter was struggling with math at her Spring Branch elementary school, so Cynthia Thibodeaux researched other options. She fell hard for Poe Elementary. She loved its fine-arts focus and the charming campus near Houston’s museum district.
Thibodeaux put her house on the market over the summer and moved to an apartment a half-mile from Poe. She stopped by in June to register Brooklyn for second grade.
Thibodeaux left in a panic. The school was crowded, she was told, and Brooklyn was placed on a waiting list.
“I have this little girl who needs me, and this school is the one I really want her to attend,” said Thibodeaux, who adopted Brooklyn, now 8, away from a troubled home life.
Superintendent Terry Grier’s administration is taking a harder line this year on elementary classes that exceed the state’s 22-pupil limit, surprising parents like Thibodeaux as popular schools may have to turn away more children than usual. Last year, more than 960 students were “capped” out of their neighborhood campus.
With school starting in two weeks, some families continue to confront uncertainty because administrators do not have to make official enrollment decisions until they count who shows up on day one.
The class-size crackdown also highlights deeper issues in the Houston Independent School District: Parents are flocking to certain schools, of-
ten in more affluent neighborhoods. Some areas of the city, particularly on the west side, are booming with new residences and young families, while others are losing school-aged children.
HISD’s unique choice system, which allows students to seek transfers to any school in the district, also complicates the enrollment puzzle. Principals of coveted magnet schools are supposed to curb acceptances to have enough seats for those in the neighborhood, while some campuses are left below capacity as students transfer out.
In short, HISD has enough space for all its elementary students — just not in the desired locations.
Zoned students
Though it’s not widely known, HISD has had a policy for years allowing schools to cap out zoned students. However, the district’s stricter stance on class sizes — and the timing of the crackdown — appears to be confounding the process, particularly for magnet campuses. Students from any neighborhood may apply to attend these specialty schools, with themes such as fine arts and gifted education.
Principals had to decide how many spaces to allot for magnet students between February and March, according to district spokeswoman Ashley Anthony. Grier’s staff had been talking to principals about reducing class sizes before that, she said, but a formal meeting that also included discussion of capping took place May 6.
A follow-up memo on May 12 explained: “Schools should not enroll any new students once they have reached the 22-student level in K-4 classrooms. Any parents arriving to enroll their children in one of these grade-levels or programs should be added to a list of registered students for whom it is unsure whether there will be room.”
Texas law says that kindergarten through fourthgrade classes should not exceed 22 students per teacher. Districts, however, can request class-size waivers, and the Texas Education Agency typically grants approval. Schools rated low-performing are not eligible.
Nearly 40 percent of HISD’s K-4 classes exceeded the cap last fall. Its waiver numbers have skyrocketed, from 572 in 2009 to 1,499 last fall. Dallas and Cypress-Fairbanks, the second- and third-largest districts behind HISD, had 78 and 177 waivers, respectively.
An HISD news release in January said the district planned to cut the number of waivers in half in 2015-16 as part of a proposed overhaul of school attendance boundaries. But the school board rejected four of Grier’s six rezoning plans in May, as parents lobbied against shifting schools.
Grier said in an interview this summer that he is not forbidding waivers, but he wants them reduced to a “reasonable” number. He said he told principals who inquired to use “common sense” regarding how many to request.
Susan Kaler, the officer of school support services, said district officials were trying to ensure the capping process was standardized this year and to give parents earlier notice that crowded campuses may have to turn students away. Those students would receive spots at designated “hub” schools and get transportation if they live two miles away.
“Our commitment is to provide your child a seat in a district school. It may not be the school building your address is zoned to. There’s simply a physical limit,” she said. “I certainly understand the sense of, ‘What do you mean? I bought a house here.’ ”
Setting zone rules
Texas law says students who live within a district’s boundaries must be admitted, but districts can set the local school zone rules, according to Texas Education Agency spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson.
In some cases, schools have a fix to reduce class sizes. A campus may have enough space for a principal to split an oversized class into two rooms, though another teacher may be needed. Under HISD’s funding system, about 15 new students would cover the cost.
A school also could cut waivers by shuffling students. Instead of having two classes with 23 firstgraders, requiring two waivers, a school could have one class with 24 students and another with 22. District officials, however, plan to make sure principals don’t pack in too many children and game the system, Kaler said.
Last year on average, the classes with waivers had about 25 students each, HISD data show. Roughly a quarter of the elementary schools were over capacity, based on the district’s calculation that takes classroom space and outdoor trailer buildings into account.
At Poe, the school where Thibodeaux hoped to send her daughter, the capacity is set at 815. Enrollment hit 805 last year, including nearly 180 children who transferred in from outside the zone, data show. The school sought nine classsize waivers.
HISD has designated The Rice School, a K-8 magnet campus about three miles south, as the “hub” campus for Poe and three other popular schools: Roberts, Twain and West University. The Rice School, however, was full last year, enrolling about 1,150 students, with an official capacity of 1,056.
Magnet programs
HISD trustee Mike Lunceford said crowding will decline as some packed schools phase out their magnet programs. However, he said, the Bellaire area needs another school, and perhaps could use the Mandarin immersion campus when that school gets a new building.
He criticized Grier’s administration for pushing strict capping rules.
“That’s crazy,” he said. “It’s up to the principal.”
In an effort to solidify enrollment numbers sooner next year, students applying to magnet schools mayhave to commit in December on their top choices. Under a proposal from an assistant superintendent, students no longer could hold spots on numerous waiting lists and decide later.
Still, the process remained maddening to HISD families as they tried to figure out where their children would attend school Aug. 24.
On Wednesday morning, Manish Vakil joined about a half-dozen parents on the front steps of Wharton Dual Language Academy in Montrose. Some had arrived before dawn, hoping to secure the first spot in line before the doors were unlocked at 8 a.m.
Vakil had moved from New Jersey five days earlier and planned to register his twin sons in kindergarten. He and his wife rented an apartment three blocks away, specifically because it was zoned to Wharton, where students receive instruction in Spanish and English. He said he called the school in May and was told to show up Aug. 5 for registration.
He thought it was a formality.
Fifth in line, Vakil soon learned that his sons were not guaranteed admission. There was hope, however, as some students may have moved or transferred and not alerted the campus.
As a backup, Wharton staff gave Vakil a brochure listing HISD’s other duallanguage campuses.
“We already bought all the school supplies and the uniforms,” Vakil said as he left, pulling up a map on his cellphone.
Walking distance
Thibodeaux, who rented an apartment within walking distance of Poe, said she called before moving to ensure the address was zoned there and that Brooklyn could attend.
She emailed Principal Jeff Amerson in July after learning her daughter was put on a waiting list.
“I’m sorry for the stress this has caused you,” he responded. “This is a brand new thing in our district so when you called us, no one knew about it. I’m pretty sure #2 on the list isn’t going to be a problem at all.”
Last week, Thibodeaux said she received news that her daughter had a spot. Amerson told her to come to the school Tuesday to register and not to worry.
“He was very kind,” she said. “I hope that’s the case. It’s hard being a single parent and not knowing.”