FBISD Meeting Update (from FBNow.com)

Plan To Ease LOMS Overcrowding Doesn't Fly With Parents
by Bob Dunn, Feb 28, 12:49 am

Fort Bend Independent School District administrators unveiled a “temporary plan” to reduce overcrowding at Lake Olympia Middle School by moving Burton Elementary’s 5th grade class to Baines Middle School.

Read Monday night at a packed FBISD Board of Trustees meeting by Acting Superintendent Manuela Pedraza, the plan caught many in the room by surprise. That included Board Trustee Cynthia Knox, who said the report Pedraza read differed from the version provided to board members in preparation for the meeting.

The plan also provoked a hostile reaction from several of the 21 parents who signed up to speak to the board about overcrowding and related issues at LOMS.

A month ago, nine people complained to the board about overcrowding, which Pedraza said prompted the administration to come up with its temporary plan.

Beginning in the 2006-07 school year, about 160 Burton Elementary 5th graders would attend the new Billy Baines Middle School instead of LOMS, according to the plan Pedraza outlined. The Burton students would spend their entire three-year middle school stint at Baines.

According to the plan, “if one of these Burton students has a sibling who will be an 8th grader at LOMS, then that student must complete his/her 8th grade career at LOMS. If one of the students has a sibling who will be in a different middle school grade, then the family may apply for an IDT (interdistrict transfer) to Baines, but there is no guarantee that the sibling would be able to attend.”

“In the future,” Pedraza read from the report, “the district will be studying possible zoning adjustments throughout the district, including the middle schools, to provide for a more long-term solution to better balance the enrollment at all campuses.”

“So are you saying we’re changing the interdistrict transfer policy?” Knox asked.

“We are not changing the policy… This is a unique administrative action,” Pedraza replied, “to address the problems at LOMS.”

The board took no action on the plan, however. Board President Lisa Rickert noted the plan had not been included as an agenda item, and the board’s legal counsel advised tabling it until it can be placed on the agenda at next week’s meeting.

Initial reaction from the public was less than enthusiastic.

“What impact will this have on the students of this one class?” asked resident Donald Groves. “It appears this solution is a loose band-aid at best.”

“You’re using a class of students as a solution to a problem that should be solved” by conducting a rezoning of area middle schools, said Ellen Hughes, adding that she believes the district could complete a rezoning before the school year ends in May.

“I’m here to state that the school board can and must do better for our children,” said a woman identifying herself as president of the Burton Elementary PTO. “Examine your consciences and be fair. Do not place a band-aid on a gaping wound.”

Several residents asked the board to conduct a rezoning to even out the number of students at area middle schools.

Last month, district figures showed LOMS had 1,717 students, but parents Monday night said the school now has 1,726 or 1728. Records received from the district indicate the school has capacity for only 1,371 students.

“Not every student has their own locker,” one parent told board members. “There are not enough. Not every student has their own textbook. There are not enough.”

Overcrowding has spawned other issues, too. said Parent Jenny Haines, “The test scores are dismal.”

Enrollment projections by the district show LOMS opening the 2006-07 school year with 1,264 students – presumably based on the assumption that the 500 Burton 5th graders would attend new Billy Baines Middle School.

Those same enrollment projections show Baines opening at 65% capacity, with just 864 students.

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Comment: Are these figures current or based on the old numbers and do they include the 2700 apt. projection numbers?