Attendance zones and feeder patterns for some schools to change this fall

When school starts on Aug. 27, parents and students will see changes in school attendance zones, grade configurations, and feeder patterns at about 50 schools.

The changes will improve student safety, allow for better building use, and align feeder patterns. Some students also will be able to attend schools closer to home.

Some of the changes were made to accommodate the new schools that will open for the 2007-2008 school year. Larry G. Smith Elementary School and Hector P. Garcia and Harold Wendell Lang Sr. middle schools will open in August.

Even if the attendance zone changes, most students currently enrolled in a high school or middle school can choose to stay at their current school. However, students now enrolled at Sam Tasby Middle School and new and incoming students must attend their assigned campuses.

Under the district’s sixth-grade transition plan – in which sixth grade moves from elementary to middle schools starting in the 2006-2007 school year – Garcia and Lang middle schools and six more middle schools will add sixth grade this fall.

Those schools are W.E Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy and Fred F. Florence, W.H. Gaston, Robert T. Hill, John B. Hood, and Thomas J. Rusk middle schools.

Adding sixth grade to middle schools will help relieve overcrowding in elementary schools and provide students more time to prepare for high school.

Maps giving more information about the changes in attendance zones and feeder patterns can be found at www.dallasisd.org/demo/indexzones.htm.