Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 2
Apartments Rezoned to Cottonwood Creek • Demolition to Make Way for Fire Station 5 • City Selling Land to Jacaranda Shop Owners • Coach Honored for 25 Years of Service
If you watch broadcast television — especially the “old people” block of local news, national news, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune — then you’re probably aware that this is election season. Those over-the-top commercials are hard to miss. You might also be aware due to all the campaign texts dinging your phone and flyers stuffing your mailbox.
Some primary races will wrap up on Tuesday, when the polls will be open from 7 to 7. If you still have decisions to make, I suggest consulting the information compiled by the League of Women Voters.
However, several campaigns with large fields will need to be settled by runoffs that won’t be decided until May 28. That means more commercials, more texts, and more mailings.
Apartments Rezoned to Cottonwood Creek
After a detailed discussion of pros and cons, the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved expanding Cottonwood Creek Elementary School’s attendance zone to include a big chunk of Cypress Waters.
“These are tough decisions, and they’re not easy for anyone,” Superintendent Brad Hunt said during Monday’s board meeting.
Under the policy approved Monday, elementary students who reside north or east of Olympus Boulevard will be zoned to Cottonwood Creek. At the moment, there are 68 such students, but that number will probably grow after the August Hills development — which is on the east side of this map — is completed.
Students who reside in Cypress Waters were previously zoned to Richard J. Lee Elementary, the only one of the district’s 11 elementary campuses that was expected to be above 90 percent of its capacity next school year. In fact, Coppell ISD’s demographer projected Lee to be at nearly 99 percent of its capacity.
“We have to relieve the pressure from Lee; I totally get that,” Trustee Leigh Walker said. But she wanted to know why Canyon Ranch, the next closest elementary school, wasn’t a better option than Cottonwood Creek, which is on the opposite side of Coppell.
Lee, Canyon Ranch, and Valley Ranch are Coppell ISD’s only elementary schools that aren’t within Coppell’s city limits. Lee is in Dallas, and the other two are in Irving. Canyon Ranch and Valley Ranch are expected to be at 81 percent and 89 percent of their respective capacities next school year.
While it would seem Canyon Ranch has space overall, Chief Operations Officer Chris Trotter said the grade levels of the kids in the shifted area may be too crowded.
“When we looked at the enrollment numbers by grade level, that gave us some angst,” Trotter said. “We have some grade levels at Canyon Ranch that could put us into a predicament with these 68 children.”
Cottonwood Creek is at the other end of the capacity spectrum. Demographer Bob Templeton has said the school could be only 63 percent full this autumn, and that stat could drop to 57 percent by 2028.
Its empty seats were not the only reason Cottonwood Creek was determined to be the best option for the Cypress Waters kids. Hunt said Mockingbird Elementary and Wilson Elementary “didn’t make sense” because both schools are about to undergo bond-funded refreshes. (On Monday, the board also approved the guaranteed maximum prices for those projects; each one was about $3.5 million.) Town Center and Lakeside are scheduled to be refreshed during the 2025-2026 school year.
Wilson was also not a good option because of its classrooms devoted to Dual Language Immersion; the same goes for Denton Creek. Similarly, Pinkerton was not a possibility due to its status as an International Baccalaureate campus.
Hunt also said Cottonwood Creek was an attractive option because it’s located on Coppell’s outskirts, thereby making the commute possibly easier than getting to, say, Austin or Town Center. Trotter said the district will work with transportation provider Durham School Services over the summer to determine the most-efficient bus route.
In response to a question from Trustee Jobby Mathew, Trotter said the rezoned apartment complexes near The Sound at Cypress Waters are about 4 miles from Cottonwood Creek. Mathew lives in the Parkside West neighborhood south of State Highway 114, which is zoned to Canyon Ranch Elementary. That school is about 5 miles from his house.
“I understand that this is not that easy, especially for after hours, going to performances and things like that,” Mathew said.
Hunt and Trotter stressed that this rezoning applies to elementary students only. Residents of Cypress Waters who attend Cottonwood Creek would still advance to Coppell Middle School West, even though kids who live near Cottonwood Creek go to Coppell Middle School North. That split bothered a couple of the trustees, but the administrators pointed out that no Cypress Waters resident would make that transition alone.
“We’re trying to move them as a neighborhood,” Hunt said, “so they have other kids to be with and know and support.”
Trustee Manish Sethi made the motion to approve the rezoning as presented, after echoing Hunt’s comment about such decisions never being easy.
“It affects our community members. It affects the parents. It affects how their mornings and evenings turn out to be with their kids, and we don’t take it lightly,” Sethi said. But he said such moves are necessary, “given the fiscal responsibility we have towards our taxpayers.”
In the short term, Director of Communications Amanda Simpson told me on Friday that the district has emailed every Cypress Waters family impacted by the rezoning. She said they have an opportunity to apply for a transfer to Lee, if it has space in their child’s grade level, or another school.
In the long term, expect more rezoning debates. When Board President David Caviness asked about the potential need for a district-wide realignment, Trotter said that will probably need to be discussed a few years from now.
The trustees also approved the district’s strategic plan on Monday. This is one of the nine objectives in that plan: “Determine a long-term properties plan taking into account age of facilities, available space, current and projected enrollment, and program needs.”
Demolition to Make Way for Fire Station 5
You know that little building in front of Austin Elementary School that used to be a home for Theatre Coppell and other arts groups? Its days are officially numbered.