NEW TERRITORY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS REZONING PLAN

BRAZOS BEND AND WALKER STATION REZONING PLAN TO BALANCE STUDENT POPULATION

As expected, FBISD approved a zoning plan for 2007-2008 in their February 26 meeting that includes sending Telfair children to Sartartia Middle School instead of First Colony Middle School and officially shifting four New Territory neighborhoods from Brazos Bend Elementary to Walker Station Elementary. In a surprise move, however, the board also decided to re-zone the Broadstone Apartments on New Territory Blvd. to Walker Station as well. Doing so will likely result in about 100 less students for Brazos Bend next year, said
Associate Superintendent of Facilities and Planning, Lee Petros. Brazos Bend, with a design capacity for 795 students and a functional capacity for 716 students, has about 952 students this year. Walker Station, with a slightly larger design capacity (908), is better equipped to handle the students from the apartments because of its size, lesser students, and “greying” population. Walker Station Principal Chris Morgan said enrollment numbers are projected to decline over the next several years as kids get older and move on to middle and high schools and as fewer families with young children move into the community. “We have fewer and fewer kindergartners each year,” he noted.
Morgan also expressed no concern with the increased numbers for next year. With the rezoning, Walker Station will go from 804 to about 900 students. “We’ll be fine. Our teachers are excellent and will provide the same level as education no matter what. This is not going to change things for us.” He also said he does not think they will need an extra portable as they have one vacant one on site.
Brazos Bend Principal Beverly Croucher expressed the same confidence as Morgan. “We manage very well over here and will continue to do the same for our kids as we’ve always done,” she said. The rezoning will provide some relief, she said, but they will still require portables. There are 8 portables, or 16 classes, on campus now. This is the entire fourth and fifth grades.
The rezoning results in both schools being equally overcrowded so that Brazos Bend is not overly burdened, said Petros. “It just evens the population and makes it more evenly distributed,” he said.