HOUSTON – When Cypresswood Elementary opens next year, 180 students from over a mile away will fall into new boundaries and attend the school.
The Aldine Independent School District said AW Jones Elementary opened in 2008 with enrollment over capacity and they currently serve 1,097 students. The new elementary school has been in the plans since.
Overcrowding relief means Felecia Liggins' first grader will be moved to Cypresswood Elementary, which she said she didn't know about until a letter arrived in the mail.
"I contacted the superintendent, I emailed her kind of voicing my concerns and my issues and I'm still not getting, I guess, a clear answer as to why my child is being rezoned to another school," said Liggins.
When new boundaries are drawn, the district said considerations include the number of students needed to relieve the campus in addition to moving an entire subdivision when possible so that the boundaries do not split a neighborhood.
Liggins said considering she is less than a mile to her current elementary school, she doesn't know why this change affects her.
"You know kids that live farther out, maybe they should think about rezoning them instead of rezoning the kids that live literally across the street," she said.
Aldine ISD said they experienced three percent growth last year and expect the same next year.
In addition to Cypresswood Elementary opening this fall, another elementary is scheduled to open in 2016 to further relieve crowded elementary campuses.