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Northwest Board Notes: Dec. 11 Meeting
The Northwest Independent School District Board of Trustees met yesterday - Monday, Dec. 11 - during a regularly scheduled meeting. This is a recap of the major actions and reports from the meeting. To see every item that was discussed or voted on, click here.
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Next elementary school named after Lizzie Curtis, first teacher in Haslet
Northwest trustees unanimously approved Lizzie Curtis Elementary School as the name for the district's 18th elementary school, paying homage to the school area's community history.
The school is named after Alice Elizabeth Curtis, who went by "Lizzie" and was the first teacher in Haslet. She taught at Blue Mound School in the late 1870s, before the school was renamed after the city. Prior to the school's construction, Ms. Curtis taught children in the home of a Haslet community member.
Curtis Elementary School will open at the start of the 2018-19 school year with a full slate of grade levels, from kindergarten to fifth grade. It is currently under construction and is located in the Revelstoke subdivision, north of U.S. Highway 287, east of F.M. 156 and south of Bonds Ranch Road.
For more information on the school's namesake, click here.
High school courses updated for 2018-19
Northwest ISD and other school districts annually review their high school course selection guides to meet the academic needs and desires of students. For the 2018-19 course list, Northwest ISD administrators met with principals, counselors and educators to decide class changes.
The district plans to add six courses for the coming school year. For career and technical education, the district plans to add child guidance (human services and education pathways), general employability skills (general CTE), environmental sustainability (STEM Academy), cybersecurity (STEM Academy) and digital electronics (STEM Academy). At Steele, a dual-credit college math course for non-STEM majors will be added.
Trustees unanimously approved the additions.
Growth report shows increasing housing developments
The construction of new homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area continues to rise, with Northwest ISD currently ranking No. 4 in the area in annual home closings, according to Templeton Demographics. During the third quarter of 2017, Northwest ISD's annual closings came in at 2,074.
Of the top 20 school districts ranked by annual closings in the same quarter, Northwest ISD has the second-most future undeveloped lots at 24,277. Only Prosper ISD has more at 25,970, and only one other school district in the top 20 has more than 20,000 future undeveloped lots. In all, Northwest ISD has about 29,100 planned future lots for homes.
Northwest ISD had more new home closings through the first three quarters of 2017 than the district had in all of 2016. Templeton expects Northwest ISD to hit 30,000 students between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. It expects the district's growth rate to remain between 4.5 to 5 percent (accounting for between 1,100 to 1,700 new students per year) through 2026-28, the last year of its current projections.
Results of refunding series 2012 bonds presented
Northwest ISD's financial department saved taxpayers $4,596,975 by refunding series 2012 bonds to lower the interest cost. The authorization of refunding exceeded the Nov. 13 estimate of $4,344,599 in savings for taxpayers. These savings were achieved by selling series 2017 bonds at a true interest cost of 3.04 percent, refunding the series 2012 bonds with an interest rate of 5 percent.
Fast-growth school districts such as Northwest ISD typically sell bonds, as authorized by voters, to pay for new schools and facilities occupied by an expanding student population. The final projects of Northwest ISD's 2012 bond, Adams Middle School and Curtis Elementary School, are currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2018.
In other action, the board
- Heard proposed updates to 24 local district policies to streamline language or comply with changes to the law and guidance from regulatory agencies. The board will take action on the updates at an upcoming meeting.
- Recognized the top finishers in the district's holiday design contest: Brylan Villines, Halen Helmer, Shea Jackowski, Paula Patton and Anatalie Nguyen. Brylan's artwork will be featured on the district holiday card for winning the contest.
- Recognized Wilson Middle School's band for performing at the grand opening of Tanger outlets. The band was also recently recognized by the Foundation for Music Education as having a top wind ensemble.
- Recognized Charles Ashby, the district's energy manager, for helping Northwest ISD obtain the Outstanding K-12 School Award at the CATEE 2017 Texas Energy Summit.
- Recognized Compass Church for serving as a district Partner in Education and adopting Cox Elementary School to support.
- Recognized Superior Fiber & Data Services for adopting Seven Hills Elementary School to support.
- Recognized Tanger Outlets for serving as a district Partner in Education.
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| Lakeview Elementary School students led the pledge. |
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| Trustees recognized the winners of the district's holiday artwork contest. |
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| Trustees recognized Wilson's band for performing at Tanger's grand opening as well as earning a recent award. |
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| Trustees recognized Charles Ashby for his work helping the district obtain a recent energy award. |
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| Trustees recognized Compass Church for serving as a district Partner in Education and adopting Cox. |
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| Trustees recognized Superior Fiber & Data Services for adopting Seven Hills. |
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| Trustees recognized Tanger Outlets for serving as a district Partner in Education. |
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