Campus name suggestions can be submitted through Friday
tiated the naming process during the July 19 board meeting, and the public comment period will end on Aug. 12. CISD trustees will publicly consider the winning suggestions on Sept. 14.
Residents who’d like to have a go at naming the two new schools can submit their suggestions through an online form at conroeisd.net/about/school-naming-process.
“It’s very easy for the public to navigate and be able to share their ideas. We will be sharing with the community that this is available; we want to seek their input,” Null said. “It’s an exciting time to name a high school. We don’t do that very often.”
The new high school marks the sixth for the district and the second in the Oak Ridge area. The last high school to be built in CISD was The Woodlands College Park, which was constructed in 2005.
While some residents may be eager to throw their own names in the mix, there are some guidelines since taxpayer money is being used.
High schools can only be named after geographic areas, according to CISD board policy, which is why high schools tend to have more generic names — Conroe, The Woodlands, Oak Ridge high schools.
But elementary schools are more flexible with regard to potential names. Residents can suggest the names of prominent persons or public officials who have served CISD or the community, leading figures in education or the arts, national or state heroes, the name of a donor who has given land or money for the facility or a geographic area, according to board policy.
“Conroe ISD has come a long way since our first public school in 1886. Since that time, CISD schools have always belonged to our community. Why not allow the community’s input in the naming of our schools?” said CISD trustee Skeeter Hubert.
All suggestions must accompany a short explanation as to why the board should consider the name. Suggestions can be made anonymously.
CISD is expected to spend about $224 million in bond funds for four new schools in the Oak Ridge area constructed as part of a $487 million bond package, which was approved by voters on Nov. 3. New school construction in Oak Ridge is expected to cease by fall of 2019. The bond also includes a fifth school to be constructed in Conroe.
The district hopes the bond will meet the growing pains the district is experiencing. During the 2015-16 school year alone, the district saw an influx of 1,800 new students. Over the last nine years, CISD has seen an average annual uptick of 1,500 students, and enrollment has jumped from about 42,000 in 2005 to more than 56,000 students in 2015.
The most recent growth has centered around the Oak Ridge area, which is considered the fastestgrowing part of the district. As new residential developments go up, pressure on existing schools also rises.
The current Oak Ridge high school is the most overcrowded campus in CISD. The combined student enrollment capacity at Oak Ridge High and its ninth-grade campus is 3,768. CISD expects enrollment at the high school campus to far exceed 5,000 students by 2024, according to a 2015 demographic study. The senior campus is already 550 students over capacity.
The second Oak Ridge high school is slated for completion by fall of 2018, and the Flex 17 elementary school is slated for completion by the fall of 2017.
Schools like Birnham Woods Elementary — close to the 1,500-acre Falls at Imperial Oaks community — and Cox Intermediate in the Oak Ridge area are expected to reach 200 percent of capacity in less than nine years.
The two other schools slated for the Oak Ridge area are a K-6 elementary slated for the Harper’s Preserve residential community of Texas 242 and an intermediate school off Riley Fuzzel Road. CISD trustees approved land deals for both sites. The intermediate school is slated for completion by fall of 2018, and the elementary school is slated for completion in the fall of 2019.
Naming opportunities for the final two Oak Ridge schools haven’t been announced.