When Argyle ISD opens Legacy High School, freshmen and sophomore students will not have a choice to stay at Argyle High School, like what was previously discussed.
The district voted Monday to fill the school with freshmen and sophomores that are in the new campus’s zoning boundary, which would help solidify enrollment numbers and allow the district to start staffing.
It will also allow students to select courses in November, along with the rest of the students in the district.
The district had originally hoped to give students in the class of 2030 the option to choose which campus they wanted to go to when LHS opened, but the board said Monday it brought a plethora of unintended consequences that have muddied the waters.
“The transfer option has created unnecessary uncertainty, speculation and confusion among families,” said Argyle ISD Superintendent Courtney Carpenter. “In many cases, decisions are being driven by perceived ‘what ifs,’ peer conversations and assumptions about Legacy High School rather than known facts.”
Some families had concerns that certain classes or organizations would not have enough students to be offered, but the district said with each school having students enrolled based on zoning boundaries, all organizations and classes will have the chance to make.
Other concerns included sports and other extracurricular programs.
Because of the overall uncertainty, the Argyle ISD board believed it was best to follow the precedent set when opening other schools, like Argyle West Elementary School, and have the students go to whichever school they were rezoned for.
“I appreciate the fact we went through this exercise, but you open it up… and get these unintended consequences, and you have to turn around and make the decision,” said trustee Leona McDade. “I want to do what’s best for the kids, and sometimes you have to make a decision and the kids will fall in line.”
Legacy High School will open for 2027-2028 school year as a 3A classification, and is expected to have about 168 freshmen and 173 sophomores.
Had the district allowed sophomores to choose what campus they attended for the 2027-2028 school year, the enrollment numbers might not have been known until well after the school year started.
The ability to have an accurate enrollment number ahead of time will give Argyle ISD the opportunity to start staffing the new campus and preparing for its opening.
Argyle ISD Board President Leigh Ann Artho believed the choice option might not have been the best thing to explore, as it put a lot of pressure on families and students.
The board also said it took a long time and a lot of time and effort to create the boundaries for the new high school, and ensured students wouldn’t have to cross the train tracks when getting to school. It was important to them to use those boundaries.
“Sticking to the same school [students] are zoned to has made the most sense,” she said. “It’s a big decision to put on a family, and it’s a really big decision to put on 14 year olds.”
Argyle ISD voted to build a new middle school and transform Argyle Middle School (which served as Argyle High School before the Canyon Falls campus was built) back into a high school, which will open as Legacy High School.
Since that decision, not much has been easy for the district throughout the process.
“Once we made the decision to split, there was no perfect answer,” said trustee Rich McDowell.
Looking back on the process, McDowell suggested the district stay true to its original position, rather than putting families through a stressful and uncertain process.
The new campus will be called Legacy High as a nod to its previous role as Argyle High School, and will have the Red Hawks serve as the mascot and a red, white and blue color scheme.
That decision also came with a lot of input from the community.
Argyle ISD has also come under scrutiny for some of its recent land acquisitions: one in Northlake and another expected to host the new Argyle Middle School along Hwy 377.
When Legacy High School opens, there will not be a varsity football team, but all other sports will be eligible for varsity competition in class 3A.
In the campus’s second year of operation, it will become 4A and begin varsity football in Division II. The sophomores will then become the first class of juniors and eventually the first seniors in the class of 2030.
According to the district, there will be 7th and 8th-grade students sharing the campus with the sophomores and juniors until the new middle school is ready in the 2029-2030 school year.
By then, Legacy High School will only have 9th through 12th-grade students.
Argyle ISD projects the enrollment at Legacy High School to be about 860 by the 2032-2033 school year.
The district also opened up the search for Legacy High School’s first principal Monday evening.
