Spring Independent School District

Westfield High School

Spring Independent School District is a school district based in the Gordon M. Anderson Leadership Center in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States.[1] It is located in north Harris County.[2]

The district will serve over 32,100 pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade students this fall in a diverse and growing district located 20 miles (32 km) north of downtown Houston in a suburban area of Harris County that spans 57 square miles (150 km2). The district's ethnic breakdown is 38.9 percent African American, 37.6 percent Hispanic, 18.6 percent white, 4.6 percent Asian and Pacific Islander and 0.2 percent Native American.

Spring ISD serves a small portion of Houston and portions unincorporated Harris County including the community of Spring.

In 2009, the school district was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency.[3]

History

Spring ISD formed in 1935 from the combination of the Harrell Common School District and the Spring Common School District.[4]

The district's demographics changed as time passed. In the 1995–1996 school year the district had 28% low income students. Its racial demographics were 56% White, 20% Black, and 18% Hispanic.[5] In the 2002-2003 school year the low income percentage was 43.9%.[6] In the 2005-2006 school year the district had 55% low-income students. The demographics included 39% Black, 33% Hispanic, and 23% White.[5] These demographic changes caused tension as, in 2007, residents of Northgate Forest unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw from Spring ISD.[5][7] By 2012-2013 the percentage of low income students was 73.2%.[6]

In 2006 its two high schools, Spring and Westfield, had a combined population of 7,500. Dr. Robert Sanborn, the president and CEO of the organization Children at Risk, said that Spring ISD should have had schools in the top ten high schools featured in the Houston Press article "These Kids Go to the Best Public High School in Houston" as Humble ISD and Spring Branch ISD did. Instead, both Spring ISD schools ranked in the "Tier Two" list.[8]

In 2008 Spring ISD's virtual school opened.[9]

Northgate Forest secession proposal

Northgate Forest, a subdivision, garnered attention all over the Houston area when 190 residents filed a petition to withdraw from Spring Independent School District and join neighboring Klein Independent School District. The petition for detachment began circulating in December 2006, after Northgate residents helped defeat a bond issue for the district that November. Northgate Forest's primary complaints were that the district's SAT and TAKS scores had been declining consistently in recent years, that the district was spending money inefficiently, and that taxes were too high. Residents cited a section of the Texas Education Code that allows a given area to secede from the school district they are zoned to if another district will agree to absorb them. Jim McIngvale, an area resident and salesman also known as "Mattress Mac", said that he disagreed with the proposal.[5]

In April 2007, the Klein ISD Board of Trustees denied Northgate's petition for detachment, shortly after Spring ISD unanimously rejected the proposal. Klein ISD stated that the petition did not fulfill all the legal requirements stipulated by the Texas Education Agency for the detachment to be valid. A small contingent of Northgate residents filed a new claim immediately after. Both school districts involved have declared they view the matter as closed.[10][11][12]

The spokesperson for the group, Tom Mathews, said in 2007 that 45 school-aged children reside in the community. Seven attend Spring ISD schools, and the rest attend private schools. According to Mathews, the schools are low performing, so most parents do not send their children to the zoned schools.[11]

Schools

All of the schools are located in unincorporated Harris County.

Elementary schools

Middle schools

Zoned schools

School of Choice

High schools

Andy Dekaney High School
Spring High School

Zoned schools

Former schools

Other facilities

Spring ISD Department

The Spring Independent School District Police Department opened in 1991. Its current command facility opened in 2003.[4]

Zangle ParentConnect

Spring ISD once had a web-based program called "Zangle ParentConnect", a program for parents to monitor their child's academic progress. That has now been replaced by mySpringISD, which is similar to Zangle.[19]

PIV

Spring ISD began using the Pinnacle Internet Viewer software in spring 2005 at Westfield Ninth Grade Center and the following school year district-wide. This software enabled students and parents to view their grades at home via the Internet. Beginning in the 2006–2007 school year, Spring ISD no longer uses the software.

See also

Alumni organizations

References

  1. ↑ "Board Calls for Bond Election on May 12." Springboard News (Spring Independent School District). March 2007. Vol. 15, No. 8. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
  2. ↑ Zaveri, Mihir and Ericka Mellon. "Spring ISD finds mass scheduling errors, scrambles to help seniors graduate." Houston Chronicle. February 11, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ "2009 Accountability Rating System". Texas Education Agency.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 "75 Years of Education, 1935-2010." Spring Independent School District. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Mellon, Ericka. "SUBURBAN SECESSION / Neighbors petition to join Klein / Northgate Forest residents complain of lower property values and performance with Spring" (Archive). Houston Chronicle. Thursday April 5, 2007. B1MetFront.
  6. 1 2 Binkovitz, Leah; Mihir Zaveri (2015-03-15). "School districts seeing rise in poor students". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-12-02. See graph
  7. ↑ Spencer, Jason. "A new kind of white flight?" Houston Chronicle. March 12, 2007.
  8. ↑ Spivak, Todd. "The Also-Rans." Houston Press. March 2, 2006. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  9. ↑ Sanz, Alex. "Virtual school goes online in Spring." Texas Cable News. Friday August 22, 2008. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  10. ↑ Mellon, Ericka. "Spring subdivision staying in current district - for now / Northgate wants to join Klein ISD, but its detachment petition is denied" (Archive). Houston Chronicle. Friday April 6, 2007. B3.
  11. 1 2 Jackson, Kim. "Texas Education Agency to hear Northgate Forest detachment petition" (Archive). Houston Chronicle. Thursday April 26, 2007. ThisWeek 8.
  12. ↑ "Spring ISD Board Rejects Northgate Petition" (Archive). Spring Independent School District. April 5, 2007.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ "Chet Burchett Elementary School." Burchett Elementary School. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  15. ↑ "About Salyers Elementary School." Salyers Elementary School. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  16. ↑ "About Winship Elementary." Winship Elementary School. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  17. ↑ "Home Page." Spring Independent School District. October 5, 2006. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  18. ↑ "Spring ISD Will Open Middle School of Choice in August 2009." Spring Independent School District. December 1, 2008.
  19. ↑ mySpringISD Can be accessed here

External links

Other

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