BBEZONE/NEW TERRITORY COMMUNITY MEETING
Sunday, November 7th
3 p.m.
Sports Complex
PAVILION
PLease submit your questions IN ADVANCE to: bbezone@googlegroups.com -- ***Make sure you enter "QUESTIONS" in the Subject line so it is not missed!!!
A few guidelines:
1. Questions should be clear & detailed, but concise.
Also, consider whether it has already been addressed on the site!
2. Bring a PEN & PAPER to take notes on HOW YOU CAN HELP!
3. Come with solutions in hand to the problems YOU see and meet with our CORE TEAM LEADERS to VOLUNTEER!
4. Most IMPORTANTLY, Please remember we are all Moms & Dads volunteering in this effort! Please be respectful when
addressing volunteers and other parents, even if you don't agree with them.
5. Show your support by getting involved in our petition drive! - We have foot soldiers out going door to door, but not ENOUGH! If you can help with petitions, let me or Becky Zaffuta know ASAP! JoeandBecky21@comcast.net Conniejwc@earthlink.net Don't let someone else be the reason YOUR kid stays at SARTARTIA...MAKE YOURSELF PART OF THE SOLUTION AND VOLUNTEER.
6. We are working on possibly selling community t-shirts! $10.00 each. If we can get them done, they will be available for sale at the meeting. Please bring cash!
Don't let someone else be the reason YOUR kid stays at SARTARTIA...
MAKE YOURSELF PART OF THE SOLUTION AND VOLUNTEER!
Don't forget our Community slogan,
"FBISD, Don't Divide New Territory!"
on your rear windshield!
WE CAN WIN THIS THING TOGETHER!
SEE YOU THERE!!!!
Showing posts with label middle school #14. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middle school #14. Show all posts
Friday, November 5, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
FBISD: Changing It's Tune on Busing?
In March, FBISD announced the need to cut bus routes as well as the need for students to walk greater distances to bus stops in order to reduce the deficit. New Territory is a master-planned community whose kids can already conveniently walk or bike to it's elementary schools and middle school. Now FBISD is changing it's tune. In 2011, middle schoolers from the west half of New Territory could be bused out of the neighborhood (between 5- 9 miles away) to middle school #14 in Pecan Grove. So now, how is increasing busing throughout the district going to reduce the FBISD deficit?
This article was posted on the Ultimate Fort Bend site on March 13, 2010.
Less bus service, more walking in FBISD?
by Zen T.C. Zheng, published March 13, 2010 6:34 am
It seems innovation and creativity is needed now more than ever in the financially distressed Fort Bend school district.
As officials scramble to look for fat to trim to remedy a $21 million budget deficit, they have discovered a 2.2 million potential savings in transportation operations if they cut back on routes, size up the bus load, let kids take longer walks, and get rid of paid transportation services.
District Chief Financial Officer Tracy Hoke said the state's funding for school transportation has remained flat since 1984.
Chief Auxiliary Services Officer Ben Copeland said low school bus ridership, designation of more hazardous routes than necessary, as well as a heavy task to transport students to and from after-school activities are among the costly concerns.
Proposal to eliminate routes
He proposed eliminating 42 of the 331 regular bus routes those that don't include the 86 routes for special education students to save $1.6 million.
The route reduction could be achieved by ending bus service in areas within two miles of schools, which are designated as hazardous but in fact not meeting hazardous criteria. Officials have identified safe walk paths in service areas for about 10 campuses.
Also, increasing average bus load to 50 secondary-level students per run and 60 elementary-level pupils per run also would result in fewer routes needed.
No more after-school activity runs?
In addition, Copeland proposed doing away with busing for general after-school activities, which currently requires 46 runs for 728 high school riders and 46 runs for middle school riders. Those eliminations would yield $622,000 in savings.
However, he recommended continuing bus service for after-school tutorial programs.
More saving could be attained by cutting back on route mileage while letting students walk longer to bus stops.
In Copeland's proposal, the maximum walking distance for secondary students would be increased from 1,000 feet to a half mile, or 2,640 feet, while elementary pupils would walk up to 1,000 feet to a stop, compared to the current limit of 500 feet.
Bell schedules could change
Another idea is to shift bell schedules - stretching the timeframe in which a driver is able to make trips to more campuses during each run.
Under the proposal, elementary schools will start 8:10 a.m. and terminates at 3:10 p.m. while middle schools' day runs from 8:55 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. High schools' schedule would remain unchanged.
Copeland also suggested canceling a paid transportation program service to students who don't qualify for free transportation but pay a $27 monthly fee to ride school buses.
He said the fee isn't enough to cover the cost of service. Doing away with the program would save the district $20,000, he said.
Some school board trustees expressed concerns about the proposed changes during a recent workshop.
Susan Hohnbaum said she is worried about pupils having to walk more.
Kids are riding the bus obviously they need a ride to the school," she said. If they don't, their neighbors will have to take them or their mom and dad have to take them if their schedule allows that."
Trustee Sonal Bhuchar said safety is a concern.
Hoke suggested enhance campus education on safe walking and practice safe walking.
But trustee Marilyn Glover urged parental involvement.
Parents have the same role in teaching safety. Schools can not do everything," she said.
Copeland said more crossing guards would have to be enlisted if his proposal is adopted.
This article was posted on the Ultimate Fort Bend site on March 13, 2010.
Less bus service, more walking in FBISD?
by Zen T.C. Zheng, published March 13, 2010 6:34 am
It seems innovation and creativity is needed now more than ever in the financially distressed Fort Bend school district.
As officials scramble to look for fat to trim to remedy a $21 million budget deficit, they have discovered a 2.2 million potential savings in transportation operations if they cut back on routes, size up the bus load, let kids take longer walks, and get rid of paid transportation services.
District Chief Financial Officer Tracy Hoke said the state's funding for school transportation has remained flat since 1984.
Chief Auxiliary Services Officer Ben Copeland said low school bus ridership, designation of more hazardous routes than necessary, as well as a heavy task to transport students to and from after-school activities are among the costly concerns.
Proposal to eliminate routes
He proposed eliminating 42 of the 331 regular bus routes those that don't include the 86 routes for special education students to save $1.6 million.
The route reduction could be achieved by ending bus service in areas within two miles of schools, which are designated as hazardous but in fact not meeting hazardous criteria. Officials have identified safe walk paths in service areas for about 10 campuses.
Also, increasing average bus load to 50 secondary-level students per run and 60 elementary-level pupils per run also would result in fewer routes needed.
No more after-school activity runs?
In addition, Copeland proposed doing away with busing for general after-school activities, which currently requires 46 runs for 728 high school riders and 46 runs for middle school riders. Those eliminations would yield $622,000 in savings.
However, he recommended continuing bus service for after-school tutorial programs.
More saving could be attained by cutting back on route mileage while letting students walk longer to bus stops.
In Copeland's proposal, the maximum walking distance for secondary students would be increased from 1,000 feet to a half mile, or 2,640 feet, while elementary pupils would walk up to 1,000 feet to a stop, compared to the current limit of 500 feet.
Bell schedules could change
Another idea is to shift bell schedules - stretching the timeframe in which a driver is able to make trips to more campuses during each run.
Under the proposal, elementary schools will start 8:10 a.m. and terminates at 3:10 p.m. while middle schools' day runs from 8:55 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. High schools' schedule would remain unchanged.
Copeland also suggested canceling a paid transportation program service to students who don't qualify for free transportation but pay a $27 monthly fee to ride school buses.
He said the fee isn't enough to cover the cost of service. Doing away with the program would save the district $20,000, he said.
Some school board trustees expressed concerns about the proposed changes during a recent workshop.
Susan Hohnbaum said she is worried about pupils having to walk more.
Kids are riding the bus obviously they need a ride to the school," she said. If they don't, their neighbors will have to take them or their mom and dad have to take them if their schedule allows that."
Trustee Sonal Bhuchar said safety is a concern.
Hoke suggested enhance campus education on safe walking and practice safe walking.
But trustee Marilyn Glover urged parental involvement.
Parents have the same role in teaching safety. Schools can not do everything," she said.
Copeland said more crossing guards would have to be enlisted if his proposal is adopted.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
New Territory Rallies Against Proposed FBISD Zoning Plan
New Territory residents have geared up for a community wide initiative to try to keep Brazos Bend Elementary students zoned to Sartartia Middle School instead of a new middle school that opens in Pecan Grove next year. That’s the plan proposed by Fort Bend Independent School District in their efforts to best utilize middle school #14 on Plantation Drive.
In an effort to persuade FBISD to consider another option to keep Brazos Bend zoned to Sartartia, residents have started a google group (http://groups.google.com/group/bbezone) and started a petition which can be found posted at the Club.
Also, they have planned a “Walk or Bike to School Day” for Friday, October 29 whereby students from the west side of New Territory will forego riding the bus to and from school that day to demonstrate how close they live to Sartartia. Students will start walking at 8 a.m. and converge at the underpass at New Territory Blvd. on the east side of 99. To further emphasize their close proximity to the school, they will print and wear the number of miles they live from Sartartia on their t-shirts. All subdivisions in the southwest section of New Territory are less than 2 miles from Sartartia Middle School and all subdivisions in the northwest section are within 3 miles of the school.
At an FBISD workshop on October 25, FBISD’s Chief Auxiliary Services Officer Ben Copeland presented three “A” plans, all of which showed the west side of New Territory zoned to the new middle school. “We were blindsided,” commented New Territory Connie Chastain who lives in River Glen. “We really didn’t expect that there would be no options presented to keep Brazos Bend at Sartartia. It seems like they feel this part of New Territory is expendable,” she said.
When Trustee Laurie Caldwell acknowledged that students in New Territory are being displaced and “people are upset”, Copeland suggested that they could “go back and consider other options” if she wanted. The crowd yelled “yes!”, but Caldwell did not direct him to do so.
Of the six board members present, Daniel Menendez said he was in favor of considering another plan that keep Sartartia’s zone “closer to where it is now”.
“I don’t see a choice,” said Trustee Susan Hohnbaum. “I feel strongly in going through this process this year that we equalize our campuses.”
The district staff said that the 471 students currently residing on the west side of New Territory are needed to help fill the new middle school which might be significantly underutilized if not. Plus, schools like Baines Middle School in Missouri City are currently overcrowded and rezoning is necessary to bring relief, said Copeland. “There are a dozen different ways to skin a cat...we attempted to balance the western side of the district,” he said. “If we start rezoning First Colony and Fort Settlement, this crowd will just be replaced by a different crowd,” he said of the New Territory residents who filled the board room.
Copeland’s main argument for rezoning the west side of New Territory to middle school #14 was that they already go to Travis High School which is off US 99 on Harlem Road. “This plan follows the high school path. Middle School 14 is a feeder for Travis,” he said. In addition, students on the west side of New Territory are already bused across 99, even though they are less than three miles away, because crossing the busy freeway is considered a hazard. “They would just be bused a little further than they are now. In the long term, this provides balance and meets our objectives for efficient use of our facilities,” said Copeland.
But some New Territory residents fiercely objected to that argument, pointing out that a pedestrian path exists from the west side of New Territory Blvd. to the east side.
Zoning Plan Option 2A, favored by most of the trustees, buses students from subdivisions several miles down Hwy. 90, including old Sugar Land (south of 90), Hall Lake, Venetian Estates and Alkire Lakes. Also included is the Lakes and Meadow Lakes along First Colony Blvd. and an apartment complex along Fluor Daniel Drive. Another apartment complex along FM 1464 would also go to Sartartia, according to the proposed plan. Chelsea Harbour, too, would be zoned to Sartartia.
“FBISD’s zoning plan A gets an F from New Territory parents,” says a flyer recently distributed by parents.
. The next FBISD meeting is November 8 at 4:30 at the administration building on Lexington. Watch the google group postings for constant updates on community meetings.
In an effort to persuade FBISD to consider another option to keep Brazos Bend zoned to Sartartia, residents have started a google group (http://groups.google.com/group/bbezone) and started a petition which can be found posted at the Club.
Also, they have planned a “Walk or Bike to School Day” for Friday, October 29 whereby students from the west side of New Territory will forego riding the bus to and from school that day to demonstrate how close they live to Sartartia. Students will start walking at 8 a.m. and converge at the underpass at New Territory Blvd. on the east side of 99. To further emphasize their close proximity to the school, they will print and wear the number of miles they live from Sartartia on their t-shirts. All subdivisions in the southwest section of New Territory are less than 2 miles from Sartartia Middle School and all subdivisions in the northwest section are within 3 miles of the school.
At an FBISD workshop on October 25, FBISD’s Chief Auxiliary Services Officer Ben Copeland presented three “A” plans, all of which showed the west side of New Territory zoned to the new middle school. “We were blindsided,” commented New Territory Connie Chastain who lives in River Glen. “We really didn’t expect that there would be no options presented to keep Brazos Bend at Sartartia. It seems like they feel this part of New Territory is expendable,” she said.
When Trustee Laurie Caldwell acknowledged that students in New Territory are being displaced and “people are upset”, Copeland suggested that they could “go back and consider other options” if she wanted. The crowd yelled “yes!”, but Caldwell did not direct him to do so.
Of the six board members present, Daniel Menendez said he was in favor of considering another plan that keep Sartartia’s zone “closer to where it is now”.
“I don’t see a choice,” said Trustee Susan Hohnbaum. “I feel strongly in going through this process this year that we equalize our campuses.”
The district staff said that the 471 students currently residing on the west side of New Territory are needed to help fill the new middle school which might be significantly underutilized if not. Plus, schools like Baines Middle School in Missouri City are currently overcrowded and rezoning is necessary to bring relief, said Copeland. “There are a dozen different ways to skin a cat...we attempted to balance the western side of the district,” he said. “If we start rezoning First Colony and Fort Settlement, this crowd will just be replaced by a different crowd,” he said of the New Territory residents who filled the board room.
Copeland’s main argument for rezoning the west side of New Territory to middle school #14 was that they already go to Travis High School which is off US 99 on Harlem Road. “This plan follows the high school path. Middle School 14 is a feeder for Travis,” he said. In addition, students on the west side of New Territory are already bused across 99, even though they are less than three miles away, because crossing the busy freeway is considered a hazard. “They would just be bused a little further than they are now. In the long term, this provides balance and meets our objectives for efficient use of our facilities,” said Copeland.
But some New Territory residents fiercely objected to that argument, pointing out that a pedestrian path exists from the west side of New Territory Blvd. to the east side.
Zoning Plan Option 2A, favored by most of the trustees, buses students from subdivisions several miles down Hwy. 90, including old Sugar Land (south of 90), Hall Lake, Venetian Estates and Alkire Lakes. Also included is the Lakes and Meadow Lakes along First Colony Blvd. and an apartment complex along Fluor Daniel Drive. Another apartment complex along FM 1464 would also go to Sartartia, according to the proposed plan. Chelsea Harbour, too, would be zoned to Sartartia.
“FBISD’s zoning plan A gets an F from New Territory parents,” says a flyer recently distributed by parents.
. The next FBISD meeting is November 8 at 4:30 at the administration building on Lexington. Watch the google group postings for constant updates on community meetings.
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