I participated on LISD’s Boundary Committee because I’m a parent first and foremost. I did not seek out the job, in fact I recommended other people. I agreed to do it when my children’s principal had trouble finding other parents to do the job. As a parent, I knew it was important my children’s school have a voice on the committee.
I am very proud of the work the committee did through December 5th. To that point, we were a group of parents trying to do the best thing for our community while sharing information that committee members believed was important to the process. We discussed ideas including magnet schools, redrawing boundaries, leaving kids in elementary school for the 6th grade and even doing nothing. I think LISD got a wealth of ideas to explore. It’s my opinion, as a parent, LISD should go back to that point and supply data to those proposals and determine if any of them are workable.
As a council person, I am concerned for my community and the damage this fight is doing. I also realize the council has no formal role in this decision. The State of Texas has given that responsibility to LISD. The council is working to make sure LISD understands the diverse concerns and ideas of our residents.
There is a wealth of misinformation in the community about SMARTGrowth and the recent amendments to it. Most of this misinformation is being supplied for purposes that may be more than a little political. The amendment to the school component of SMARTGrowth was done to prevent any potential conflicts with State constitutional requirements. With the new amendment, Flower Mound is required to notify the appropriate school district of any potential development at the time an application is submitted and receive confirmation from the school district that it has or will have all of the needed infrastructure. This process allows the Town to work with the school district and the prospective developer to resolve any issues prior to a development being approved.
SMARTGrowth was not put in place to influence or prevent school boundary rezoning. It was adopted to ensure adequate infrastructure capacity. In the case of schools, it is up to the school district to determine how to best use that capacity.
My resignation from the committee was not due to a conflict of interest but a conflict of schedules. It became necessary for me to attend a council meeting in order to complete a quorum on January 22nd. I resigned to allow OSEs principal to appoint a replacement who could attend a Boundary Committee meeting that was also scheduled for January 22nd.
This is a very stressful time for parents in Flower Mound. I urge you all to communicate your concerns and ideas to LISD. There is no perfect solution, but if we work together we can work with LISD instead of against each other.
Kendra Stephenson
Flower Mound, TX
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