Community Collaborative Day 5
Community Collaborative Day 5
Our last meeting, visiting Conroe High School to learn about planning & construction, summer school, school safety, and a discussion on weather closures.
On the fifth and final meeting of the Conroe ISD Community Collaborative group, we met at Conroe High School, where we took a lengthy tour through the empty hallways and ongoing construction, learned about how the district manages planning & construction projects at scale, received a breakdown in which summer programs are offered, and closed with a presentation on safety from the district Chief of Police.
It was an interesting visit to an aging high school, as we were able to step back in time from decades past. Built in 1964, you can still see (and smell) the different layouts from the 60s, 90s, and the most recent expansions and renovations from the last twenty years of bonds passed.
Eventually, it will all look the same with the more modern look and feel, which should be completed within the next few years - just in time for the next needed expansion.
As part of our continued theme of CISD doing more with less, Conroe High School is the largest in the district in both students and building square footage, yet it sits on the smallest amount of acreage. 5,500 students are stuffed within old and new buildings sitting on only 27 acres, compared to newer high schools where they have 90+ acres of space to expand within. Conroe High has 700,000 sq ft of building space, compared to Grand Oaks or The Woodlands High Schools which have around 440,000 sq ft.
It was an eye-opening visit, and it was even nostalgic for someone like myself who did not attend there. Older schools, like where I attended in Latexo ISD, have a certain feel to them. Could be the asbestos.
Weather Closures
On the day we visited the high school, there was yet another wave of May thunderstorms passing through that morning. I had almost expected them to cancel the meeting, but the weather cleared right before most of us drove in. When we arrived, Dr. Null used the moment to talk about how the district decides when to close due to weather.
It is a no-win scenario for the district. When your schools are spread across 348 square miles, you may have to close the entire district for severe weather that may only impact one of the feeder zones. This seemed counter-intuitive to me, as much of the time bad weather only impacts certain areas of the county. After further discussion, it makes total sense:
Staff work across the district. A teacher that lives in Grand Oaks might not be able to travel to Conroe High. Same for bus drivers. Closing one area or sets of schools would be very difficult to account for staff who could not reach the open schools.
The make-up of lost days due to weather would be difficult to manage when only certain schools were closed. Making up the minutes or days, and the waiver process that goes along with it (another discussion) would require rethinking how these are calculated. That is more of a Texas question rather than district, as it relates to how schools are financed.
The communication to the public on which schools are closed would likely add to the chaos of the weather event. This is especially so for schools that support multiple feeder zones.
Similarly, weather can be difficult to predict even locally, like when certain areas flood due to Lake Conroe being released or drainage channels get backed up.
Dr. Null also discussed the impact closing schools has downstream. Students who are not old enough to be at home by themselves require a parent to be at home, which may keep them from going to work. If schools are closed across the district, it can have wide-ranging impact to local services and businesses. It may also mean children go without breakfast or lunch, or even food for the weekend if the schools are closed on Fridays when bags are given to those in need.
The decision to close the district itself is essentially using the best information you have to make a choice which best protects students and staff, while keeping in mind the community impact it will have on the 70,000+ students and families within the district.
During a current or pending weather event, Dr. Null and his team are up at around 3am with Montgomery County Emergency Services, reviewing the information they have. Although it is Dr. Null’s call to close the district, it is based on data and recommendations provided by the county and weather models.
In order to mitigate weather related closures, two inclement weather days are added to the calendar, which provides extra minutes to use for starting school later in the morning or closing for an entire day.
Facebook chatter would have you believe the district either does not close schools enough or that they overreact for weather that turns out to be minimal.
However, we have learned here that these decisions are made with a great deal of thought and consideration, using all the resources available to protect students and staff.
The next time that the district closes because of the weather, but you see it is bright and sunny outside, maybe give Dr. Null a break instead of blasting it on Facebook.
Side note:
The only time an individual school is typically closed is if the local utilities are not functioning, such as power or air conditioning. So there are some circumstances where one or two schools can be closed, but that is usually unrelated to the current weather conditions.
Planning & Construction
Easy Foster, the district’s Director of Planning & Construction, provided an overview of how CISD builds and renovates schools. As usual, there is a level of technical knowledge on the topic that would require its own deep-dive, and the layers of complexity on this topic match what we see in other areas of district management.
Everything we do is complicated in construction. - Easy Foster
Although some of the work might actually use a crystal ball, we see yet again that CISD has very knowledgeable people who can run the gamut of requirements to support the needs of the district.
Public school construction is planned way in advance, and it takes years to move from concept to implementation. Based on growth projections and future needs, the planning teams are continuously working to keep up with influx of new students as families move to the area. As Montgomery County sees no signs of slowing growth, we can foresee more planning and construction needs well into the next decade.
Easy provided a sample of the construction project process by showing a Gantt Chart, but as someone who works in Agile my eyes glazed over that. What we did see is that the district has become very good at building and renovating schools. Here are notes from the discussion:
It can take up to nine years to go from purchasing land, design, going through bond process, and then completing construction.
Junior high and high schools take 8-9 years.
Elementary schools take around 5 years.
Grand Oaks High School started design one year before the bond committee was formed.
Where many school districts wait after a bond passes to initiate projects, CISD hits the ground running as soon as they receive the bond results. We are good at moving projects as quickly as possible.
Similar to other aspects of government, there are government codes that must be followed:
Each of these must be well understood and followed to prevent any issues or delays. This is why you need effective leaders running these projects, as they understand the process and provide the expertise needed to support the type of growth CISD continues to see.
The group had several questions, including myself on topics like adding contingency to bonds (we can’t), and how the bidding process works. You can view the slide deck here for more info.
If you visit the CISD Planning & Construction website, you will find all of the construction updates per bond, as well as pictures of project updates.
Tour of Conroe High
After the planning and construction discussion, we took a tour of Conroe High where Easy and Dr. Null (Principal of CHS 2010-2014) showed us the growth of the school over time. Here are the pictures I collected:
We also took pictures to show the size of the school, which can be seen in the endlessly long hallways and with the latest construction:
Lastly, a few pictures of the old parts of the school, which included some tight spaces, old gyms, and other areas that a ghost hunter would be thrilled to visit:
Summer School
Dr. Winkler, in place for Lisa Garrison, gave a presentation on the summer school options that CISD provides. Similar to construction, planning for summer school begins way in advance, often within August or September of the previous year.
What many people may not know is that summer school isn’t just for kids who fall behind. It includes academic programs, enrichment programs (e.g., choir, robotics, GT), and credit offerings for students wanting to free up their normal schedule for extracurriculars, or to graduate early.
The schools used for classes changes each year, and summer schools are used as training grounds for Assistant Principals looking to one day be Principals themselves.
Depending on the type of program, classes may range from a week to a month.
Also an important note, summer schools are used as food distribution locations, where free breakfast and lunch are provided to children in need.
If you are interested in enrolling your kids into summer school, then give this slide deck a read and contact the district. Here are the enrollment numbers for last year:
School Safety & Police Department
Chief of Police for Conroe ISD, Matt Blakelock, gave us a presentation on the police department and its various roles within the district.
Here is the makeup of the district police department and a sample of trainings they attend or provide:
Notes:
School police officers are indeed real police officers. They can write you speeding tickets if needed, but their focus is on school safety.
The district provides about 100 hours of training to its officers every year, even though only 40 hours are required.
The CISD Police Dept is the third largest in the county, and they are one of the five 911 operation centers in Montgomery County.
They also have three full-time detectives for investigations, two narcotics-sniffing K9s, and one bomb-sniffing K9.
As of June 2024, there is not yet an officer at every campus all day, but the goal is to eventually staff an all-day officer at each campus (see Texas HB3 for more info). However, other law enforcement entities such as the Sheriff’s or Constable’s officers are invited to visit as they can to keep them familiar with our schools.
The most important aspect from the presentation, in my opinion, was the discussion on how officers are selected to work within the district. Obviously, working in schools is different than working for other law enforcement agencies. Officers require a great deal more patience and specialized training to deal with adolescents who, thanks to hormones and lack of understanding, may act in ways that would get them in serious situations with normal law enforcement.
“We turn away a lot of applicants because they would not be a good fit around children.” - Matt Blakelock
We also had a short discussion around school shootings and the trainings they undertake to prepare for such an event. It is indeed extensive, and unlike Uvalde, there is a clear chain of command in place (i.e. Chief Blakelock would be in charge) as well as expectations for the first officers on the scene (i.e. get in there). It’s absolutely terrible to think about as someone who has three young children. But, this is America.
I appreciated Chief Blakelock’s candor and willingness to explain the details to us. We have a great police presence in the district, and it will only get stronger as we make progress to get more officers in schools.
You can learn more about the CISD Police Department on their website. Here is a link to the slide deck from this presentation.
Conclusion & Takeaways
This post ends our part in the ‘Cohort 1’ of the Conroe ISD Community Collaborative. It is likely the district will host these during the spring of each school year, bringing on another 30-40 interested community members that are wanting to learn more about how our school district works.
I truly appreciate the effort the district put forth to share all of the information they have about how things work. It was a very eye-opening experience for someone who knew very little about public education.
The district also received feedback from the group before and after each meeting, so these community collaborations will only get better.
I hope these meetings were especially informational for the people running for school board, and I hope future board candidates attend them as well.
There is so much more I could say about getting people in a room together, talking in person, sharing experiences, and just being in the discussion. Too many people take to social media to vent their frustrations with our schools, and if they took the time to understand “the why”, then I am certain we would find more opportunities for improvement and make actual progress.
These community meetings are certainly a new and great way to do just that.
Thanks for reading!
Collab Meeting Summaries:
Meeting 1: Intro to Conroe ISD, Finance, Procurement
Meeting 2: Growth & Transportation
Meeting 3: Staff Development, Recruitment, Retention
Meeting 4: CTE, SPED, Extracurriculars, Zoning
Meeting 5: Planning & Construction, School Safety, Summer School