Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 17
Private School Plans Coppell Expansion • Interim Superintendent Takes on New Tech • Longtime Pastor Retiring from Preaching • Consultant Disturbed City Council Members
This issue of the Coppell Chronicle includes five headlined articles. Consider that bonus article my Father’s Day gift to you. It’s in here because four articles were written before I learned of the news at the top of this edition.
Private School Plans Coppell Expansion
A Houston private school plans to open a new campus in Coppell.
The Saint Constantine School opened in 2016, and it expanded to Pittsburgh (of all places) last year. The school aims to start educating students at a third location this fall: the Church of the Apostles on MacArthur Boulevard.
On Wednesday evening, the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission will conduct a public hearing on a proposed rezoning of the church’s property. According to documents attached to the commission’s agenda, the school plans to offer classes ranging from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The anticipated enrollment for the upcoming school year is 60 students; as proposed, the size of the student body would be capped at 100. Some kids would go there every weekday, while others would be enrolled for only two or three days per week.
Matt Steer, an administrator in the city’s Planning Department, said in a memo that he initially had concerns about traffic due to the church’s proximity to Riverchase Elementary School, a Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD campus on Starleaf Street. However, those concerns were allayed by a circulation plan that shows Saint Constantine parents would queue their vehicles within the church’s parking lot.
A letter to the commission from Catharine Clayton, who is identified as the school’s Director of Operations, says Saint Constantine’s pickup and dropoff times would be offset from Riverchase’s by 30 and 45 minutes, respectively.
“We believe TSCS will be an asset to the City of Coppell as an additional high-quality educational option, and we look forward to serving families in the community,” Clayton wrote.
The Saint Constantine School of Dallas, as the Coppell campus has been branded, already has a website, and its Facebook page has been active since last August. The website says tuition fees range from $10,500 to $16,550. As I’m sure you’re aware, Texas has a new law on the books that will provide parents with $10,000 vouchers that can be used for tuition at private schools.
Wednesday’s hearing will be the second one this week regarding the Church of the Apostles. On Monday evening, the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation will welcome the public’s thoughts on the city spending $790,000 to buy the land under the MacArthur Park parking lot from the church. That hearing will be a formality, though, because the City Council approved that purchase in February.
Interim Superintendent Takes on New Tech
We don’t know how long Doug Williams will serve as Coppell ISD’s interim superintendent, but we do know he intends to get some work done while he has the job.
During the Board of Trustees’ budget workshop on Monday, Williams said he intends to facilitate a “New Tech High @ Coppell Transition Planning Project Team.” Composed of New Tech parents and students, Coppell ISD employees, and volunteers from the Coppell ISD Efficiency Review Committee, this project team will meet at least four times before making a recommendation about New Tech’s future to the trustees on Aug. 11.
“We want to look at where New Tech needs to be going forward,” Williams said.