DSISD holds first in-person meeting, approves attendance zones

Members of the public were welcomed back in-person at last week’s Dripping Springs Independent School District Board of Trustees meeting. This was the first time since last year the Board conducted a meeting in person or allowed stakeholders to attend due to the pandemic. Previously, the Board met via video conferencing and allowed public comments to be submitted prior to the meetings.

On the agenda was the approval of attendance zones. After a lengthy process by the Attendance Zones Planning Committee, which began in the fall, the Board unanimously (7-0) approved new elementary and middle school zones that will go into effect in August of 2021. The zones incorporate the district’s new elementary school being constructed on Darden Hill Road: Cypress Springs Elementary.

The committee worked with the district’s demographer to develop starter options for boundaries. Community input was collected through a Thought Exchange, two Google surveys, and comments shared at three public forums.

After some adjustment to the starter options, three elementary attendance zone options and three middle school feeder patterns/ attendance zones were posted for consideration, the committee recommended removing one of the middle school maps. All options were analyzed, taking into account future enrollment projections. In all, five options were presented to the public. The modified elementary and middle school attendance zones that were approved incorporated key areas of community feedback.

The approved attendance zone configuration is a modification of previously presented options. When Elementary “Option E” and Middle School “Option 1” were recommended to the board on March 29, trustees asked if the committee had reviewed all possible scenarios to avoid splitting elementary campuses based on community feedback. The committee made three adjustments to create Elementary Option E-1 and Middle School Option 1-A; these modified versions were approved, and can be viewed at https://www.dsisdtx.us/ Page/2789.

The board also approved a one-year plan to “grandfather” incoming fifth- and eighth-graders who are zoned to the new schools but would prefer to remain at their current campus for the 2021-22 school year. To aid parents, siblings of grandfathered fifth- and eighth-grade students also will be given the option to remain at the same school as their sibling for one year. District transportation will not be provided to grandfathered students.