Lake Highlands High School will be home to a new ninth-grade center, according to plans released recently by RISD administrators.
“We think this is something that the community will be proud of, and it will be good for all of the kids in this area,” says RISD Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kirk London.
The new school will be constructed northwest of the high school, and the adjacent eight tennis courts on the high school’s campus will be torn down for parking. RISD plans to build “state of the art” tennis courts across the street, London says.
After several months of research and public meetings, RISD determined the community didn’t want the attendance boundary change that would come with the original plans for a new junior high school on White Rock Trail, he says.
According to an RISD summary on the ninth-grade center, the benefits include:
- More high school preparatory classes to address the new 24 credit graduation plan.
- More classes offered with fewer scheduling conflicts.
- Higher test scores and fewer discipline problems have been reported at monitored ninth-grade centers in other school districts.
- Immediate relief for junior high overcrowding.
- Easy student access to the high school for upper level classes.
Some neighborhood residents aren’t as optimistic about the ninth-grade center, says Gene LaFaille, a homeowner who lives off Church near the high school.
“I want to know where else in Richardson they have three schools, a popular soccer field and a stadium all in the same area,” LaFaille says.
The most similar set-up in Richardson is the area encompassing Richardson High School, Richardson West Junior High and the Eagle Mustang Stadium, Jacob says.
The main entrance to the ninth-grade center will be on the wider portion of White Rock Trail, London says, where no homes are built. Plans for a street light to manage traffic at a new intersection of Church Road and White Rock Trail have been discussed, London says.
The ninth-grade center will make traffic “a nightmare” no matter where the entrance is built, says LaFaille, adding that traffic already is congested in the area.
LaFaille bought his home on Fieldcrest two years ago partly because the neighborhood was already developed, he says. He didn’t want any building surprises that would offset his property value, he says.
LaFaille, who sends his children to a private school, says the school board hasn’t carefully studied the ninth-grade center – just like RISD didn’t research the White Rock Trail land purchased for a new junior high, LaFaille says.
LaFaille’s solution to the overcrowding is to expand existing junior highs or tear down surrounding apartments and build a new school on that land.
Expanding existing schools would make the schools too large, Jacob says.
The district wants schools to accommodate no more than 900 students; expanding the schools would result in each junior high with 1,200-plus students, Jacob says.
The district has investigated purchasing nearby apartment complexes for school land use, Jacob says, but complexes are rarely for sale, and they’re expensive and time consuming to purchase, Jacob says.
“No one around Lake Highlands want to sell them,” London says.
Also, an apartment complex condemnation – necessary if a selected site’s owners refused to sell – would require RISD to buy out tenant leases and find alternative places for apartment residents to live, Jacob says.
“We are certainly not opposed to it, and we could do it if the conditions are right,” Jacob says.
Funds for the ninth-grade center will come from the $174.6 million bond issue, and construction will begin in February or March, Jacob says.
The district wants to hear suggestions from homeowners about the ninth-grade center, London says. (You can reach London at 301-3380.)
“We have 50 campuses, and we’re good neighbors on all of them, and we’ll be good neighbors here.”
