Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 32

Town Center Slated for Closure … Eventually • Closed School Would Become Temporary Site • CISD Aims to Pivot from Defense to Offense • Proposed Attendance Zones May Affect You

Because this is the only September edition of the Coppell Chronicle that was sent to everybody on the mailing list, let’s go ahead and check the tote board. When I woke up this morning, this newsletter had 1,281 paid subscribers and 2,060 additional free subscribers. Those free subscribers can become paid subscribers (and receive the Chronicle on a weekly basis instead of a monthly basis) by forking over just $40 per year.

This week’s edition is dominated by Coppell ISD news, and rightly so. But next week’s edition, which will be sent to paid subscribers only, will include an article about a dog-related dispute in Coppell that has led to documents being filed in at least three Dallas County courts. Y’all are definitely gonna wanna read that one.

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Town Center Slated for Closure … Eventually

In case you haven’t heard by now, Coppell ISD administrators have recommended closing Town Center Elementary School. What follows is my attempt to summarize why that particular campus was chosen.

Due to declining enrollment and budget deficits, Town Center is one of five candidates for closure at the end of this school year. The other four elementaries are Austin, Cottonwood Creek, Lakeside, and Mockingbird.

Nearly two hours into a Board of Trustees workshop on Sept. 22, Interim Superintendent Doug Williams revealed Town Center as the administration’s recommendation. Williams said his team got there by process of elimination. That process was influenced by several factors:

District enrollment growth: Although the elementary schools within Coppell’s city limits have hundreds of empty seats, the district’s elementaries in other cities are closer to their capacities. “Growth in the south is going to force enrollment north,” William said. If kids from Valley Ranch and Cypress Waters are going to be rezoned to campuses in Coppell, Williams said, the most logical schools for them to end up at are Austin and Mockingbird.

Geography and proximity: Williams classified Cottonwood Creek and Lakeside as boundary schools that are close to Coppell ISD competitors. Lakeside is near Universal Academy, and Cottonwood Creek is close to the borders of Lewisville ISD and Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, which both offer open enrollment. Additionally, if you closed Cottonwood Creek, then Wilson would be the district’s only elementary school west of Denton Tap Road.

Regeneration: Williams said the following statistics about home sales near the five schools were supplied by a local Realtor. Based on these stats, the administration believes the neighborhoods around Austin and Mockingbird are most likely to bring in younger families with elementary students.

Facilities expansion: Later in this edition, I’ll explain why Coppell ISD administrators want to expand a couple of elementary schools even though they closed one this year and intend to close another next year. Williams said they don’t believe Mockingbird and Town Center can be expanded. Lakeside is set for expansion in 2026-2027, and either Austin or Cottonwood Creek will be expanded during the following school year.

Board of Trustees President David Caviness hinted that he was surprised by the Town Center recommendation. He also mentioned the allegations from some district residents that the choice was made before any of the recent “community dialogue meetings” at the five campuses.

“A week ago, if you were to ask me where I was putting my chips, I would have probably had a different answer than, you know, what you presented tonight,” Caviness said. “So I’ll say the community input was invaluable.”

Since the Sept. 22 workshop, a Town Center parent has shown me (and other people) an email acquired through an open-records request. The July 2 email to Assistant Superintendent Kristen Eichel from Rocky Gardiner — who works for the district’s demographer, Zonda Education — includes this statement: “I wanted to share this plan I made that closes Town Center.”

I asked Coppell ISD Director of Communications Amanda Simpson what the district has to say to people who think this email is evidence that a decision was made before the community dialogue meetings. Simpson noted that the plan referenced in the email was generated by Gardiner, not requested by Eichel or any other administrators. She also pointed out that Williams reset the debate about New Tech High after he joined the district as interim superintendent in June, and he subsequently reset the closure conversation.

I’m sure dozens if not hundreds of Town Center parents will sign up to speak during the trustees’ meeting on Sept. 29 and during a town hall meeting at their school on Oct. 1. The trustees are expected to make a decision on Oct. 6.

“Town Center families completely have my empathy. I know how hard it is,” Trustee Nichole Bentley said during the Sept. 22 workshop. Her sons attended Pinkerton Elementary, which closed this year; the original Coppell Middle School West, which became the Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus a few years ago; and New Tech High, which is in its final school year as a standalone campus.

Trustee Jonathan Powers has more recently been in the Town Center parents’ shoes. His oldest child was a student at Pinkerton last school year.

“There’s nothing that we’re gonna say tonight that’s gonna make this better for the people that are affected by it,” Powers said.

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Closed School Would Become Temporary Site

If a majority of the trustees accept the administration’s recommendation, then Town Center Elementary would technically close at the end of this school year. But the building would still host students and classes during the next two school years.

For reasons that I promise to explain in the next article, Coppell ISD administrators want to expand two elementary schools. They are proposing to shift those campuses’ students to Town Center during the renovations. In the scenario laid out below, Campus Z would be Town Center, and Campus X would be Lakeside. Campus Y would be either Austin or Cottonwood Creek.

(The Coppell City Council has already approved the Lakeside expansion plans. See “Lakeside May Close, or School May Expand” in Vol. 5, No. 26, and “Lakeside Traffic Study Deemed Unnecessary” in Vol. 5, No. 30.)

When Valley Ranch Elementary was recently expanded, its students remained on campus. The district used portable buildings and completed the renovations in phases to ensure that children and construction workers never crossed paths. “We played musical students throughout the year,” said Chief Operations Officer Sid Grant, who added that the cost of keeping kids on the Valley Ranch campus during that process exceeded $2 million.

This proposed strategy is not without precedent in the Dallas area. Highland Park ISD completed construction of a fifth elementary school in 2017, but that campus did not get its own name, colors, or mascot until three years later. In the interim, it served as the temporary home of Bradfield, Hyer, and University Park elementaries for one-year rotations as each of those schools was demolished and rebuilt.

Interim Superintendent Doug Williams said the parents of Town Center third-graders and fourth-graders could opt to keep their children on that campus, no matter what it is called for the next two school years, until those kids’ elementary eras are over. “The only students displaced in this model are students that are currently in kinder, first, and second grade,” Williams said. But some of those youngest Town Center Texans might also stay there, depending on where their homes sit in the newly realigned attendance zones, which will be detailed in today’s fourth article.

The campus utilization plan got good reviews from the trustees. “This makes a ton of sense,” David Caviness said, and Nichole Bentley called it a wise plan that would save money.

“I get that it’s a year of inconvenience, potentially, of your kid being bused from Campus X to Campus Z, or however we would do the transportation, but at least the whole campus would be in it together,” Bentley said.

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CISD Aims to Pivot from Defense to Offense

Going into last week’s workshop, I expected Coppell ISD administrators to recommend closing two elementary schools. Interim Superintendent Doug Williams said the numbers justified doing so, but he also said that would send the wrong message to the families the district wants to attract.

“It’s a perception issue. If we close two, the perception is we are in contraction mode,” Williams said. “We are sending the message that we are in retreat, and we cannot live in retreat.”

Williams said the district knows of 700 kids who were once Coppell ISD students but are now enrolled in charter schools. Because Texas bases school districts’ funding on their average daily attendance, luring those families back could add more than $4 million to Coppell ISD’s coffers.

The administrators laid out a multi-pronged plan to attract more students:

• The district is launching a “Cowboys United” marketing campaign. One aspect of that campaign will be a billboard along Interstate 635, not far from a pair of charter schools just outside the district’s boundaries (Uplift North Hills and Great Hearts).

• Coppell ISD already offers open enrollment to families who live in specific neighborhoods just beyond the district’s boundaries. That list of neighborhoods will likely grow, and the district also plans to create enrollment pathways for grandchildren of current residents and alumni.

• The district also wants to launch more choice programs in its elementary schools, aside from the Dual Language Immersion program at Denton Creek and the International Baccalaureate program at Wilson. No specific programs have been decided upon, but possible areas of focus include the fine arts or a school offering a low-tech or no-tech education.

If all of these efforts can boost the district’s elementary enrollment, then the pendulum may swing in the other direction. Hence, the plan to expand Lakeside and either Austin or Cottonwood Creek with bond dollars.

During the Sept. 22 workshop, Williams reminded everyone that Coppell High School consistently produces some of the highest numbers of National Merit semifinalists in the state. Two years ago, Coppell High had the most semifinalists in Texas; this year and last year, it was the runner-up.

“You want to send your kid to a place where they’re gonna get a great education and prepare them for the future? You don’t have to look very far,” Williams said. “We’re the choice!”

(See “Coppell ISD Continues National Merit Success” in Vol. 5, No. 30.)

The trustees seemed to like this pivot from defense to offense. “This is us staking our claim, standing firm in the ground,” Nichole Bentley said. “We are going to go after every single kid who values what we value.”

Trustee Jonathan Powers also liked the proposed tactics to attract more students. “We’re the best choice in town,” he said. “So if somebody’s not sending their kids here, they’re making a mistake. And it’s our job to convince them to come back.”

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Proposed Attendance Zones May Affect You

This fourth article will be heavy on graphics and light on words, because you’ve already read more than enough words in this edition (assuming you made it this far).

During their Oct. 6 meeting, Coppell ISD trustees will consider new attendance zones associated with the proposed closing of Town Center Elementary. In the graphic below, the current attendance zones are on the left, and the proposed attendance zones are on the right.

This may affect your family, even if your kids are not enrolled at Town Center. Assistant Superintendent Kristen Eichel said Coppell ISD had 5,217 elementary students on Sept. 22. The proposal calls for moving 763 students, representing 15 percent of the elementary population. But 453 of those 763 are enrolled at Town Center. So Town Center would comprise 59 percent of the shifted students; the other 41 percent go to other schools.

The district is also proposing new middle school attendance zones that would align with the new elementary zones. Students zoned to Austin, Lakeside, and Mockingbird would go to Coppell Middle School East, and students zoned to Cottonwood Creek, Denton Creek, and Wilson would go to Coppell Middle School North.

As you may have noticed, the City of Coppell is installing a railing on the east side of Denton Tap Road, not far from Coppell Middle School North. One of the primary reasons for that project was to keep kids safe as they ride bikes to North from the neighborhoods directly south of Andrew Brown Park Central and Andrew Brown Park East. Under this scenario, those neighborhoods would be rezoned to Coppell Middle School East.

(See “Kids’ Commutes Will Get a Bit Safer” in Vol. 5, No. 18.)

Although all four headlined articles in this edition stemmed from the plans proposed in the Sept. 22 workshop, I realize there are aspects of that meeting that went unmentioned. Paid subscribers are welcome to chime in.

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Congratulations Are in Order

• Congratulations to the bean counters at Coppell ISD, which has earned the highest possible financial accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency for a 23rd consecutive year.

• Congratulations to the student journalists of KCBY, who are among the 17 finalists for the prestigious Pacemaker award facilitated by the National Scholastic Press Association. Coppell High School’s broadcasters are among only four teams of finalists from Texas. KCBY has previously been nominated eight times and has won four Pacemakers.

• Congratulations to the plethora of Coppell High School choir members who advanced from the Texas Music Educators Association All-State District Auditions on Sept. 20 to the Region Auditions in October. Coppell High’s total of 69 advancing singers is well over double the number from any other single school in the region.

• Finally, congratulations and farewell to Hannah Cook, who is about to begin her final week as the City of Coppell’s Chief Communications Strategist. When Cook told me she is launching a consulting firm, this was my response: “Inventing a one-person business out of thin air? Only a crazy person would try that.” Since I started publishing this newsletter as a solo act in 2021, there has not been a single week in which Cook hasn’t fielded at least one phone call, email, or text message from me. She has handled all of my requests with efficiency, professionalism, and a far more pleasant attitude than I probably deserved. I’m sorry to see her go, but I wish her well in her future endeavors.

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Chronicle Crumbs

• The City of Coppell announced last week that the Cozby Library and Community Commons would be closed from Oct. 13 through Oct. 27 so its roof can be replaced, but that closure has been delayed until November. A new set of exact dates will be shared as soon as possible.

• The City of Irving announced last week that many of its libraries’ online services will be unavailable from Oct. 8 through Oct. 14, when they will be shifted to a new database. The Valley Ranch Library and other branches will remain open during this transition.

• Shout-out to the Coppell Community Experiences Department for explaining why we’ve seen so much of an invasive weed called King Ranch Bluestem around town. This stuff has been standing tall along the curb in front of my house lately, but I figured it was a widespread issue when I saw it on the property of a neighbor who takes much better care of his lawn.

• Coppell’s Building and Standards Commission will conduct three public hearings on Oct. 2. One of those will be the fourth hearing since last December about the house at 407 Greenway Court, which I first wrote about in an article called “Burnt Home’s Owner Given Deadlines.” The others will be initial hearings about the water-damaged house at 631 Stratford Lane and the fire-damaged house at 192 Freeport Parkway.

• During the Coppell City Council’s Sept. 23 meeting, Mayor Wes Mays read a proclamation promoting National Night Out, which is coming up on Oct. 7. Someday, I’m going to fully devote my investigative resources to figuring out who wears the National Night Out Knight costume during these events.

We can rule out everybody pictured with the National Night Out Knight.

• Earlier in the Sept. 23 meeting, the council was briefed on a plan to turn a vacant Old Town parcel next to Twisted Root into a venue for small gatherings. I’ll tell you more in a future edition, because the council did not provide clear direction regarding that plan and because they ran out of time before they could discuss another Old Town idea — potentially installing digital signage at the intersection of Bethel Road and Main Street.

• Worried about your teen? The Assistance League of Coppell offers free drug and alcohol testing kits to parents. Just call or text 972-977-3105, or send an email to alcoppelldtk@gmail.com.

• The Coppell Alumnae Panhellenic Association will award $1,000 scholarships to three active sorority members this fall. The application deadline is Nov. 1.

• I was not able to attend the Denton County Levee Improvement District No. 1 Board of Directors meeting on Sept. 24, when the agenda included authorizing repairs and maintenance of district facilities and related items. But I noticed a form filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on that same date indicates the district will spend $2.5 million on about half a mile’s worth of public walking trail between Rockbrook Drive and MacArthur Boulevard, as well as approximately 700 feet of public sidewalk, 16 curb ramps, and four school driveways along Rockbrook.

• According to another form filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation last week, a California chain of bakeries and coffee shops intends to open a Smoking Tiger Bread Factory in Carrollton, specifically on the northwest corner of Old Denton Road and Jackson Street.

• Speaking of businesses named after animals in our neighboring cities, I noticed last week that there’s a gorilla-themed shop on Round Grove Road in Lewisville called “Planet of the Vapes.” Although I don’t partake in any of the store’s mind-altering offerings, that name still sent me into a giggle fit.

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Community Calendar

Coppell High School Football Fundraiser: If you mention Coppell High School football on Sept. 30 at San Daniele Italian Eatery & Bar, 15 percent of your bill will be donated to the Coppell Cowboys Football Boosters Club.

Coppell Women’s Club: Professional organizer Tina Hazen will discuss strategies for creating a stress-free living space when the club meets at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 1 at the Church of the Apostles.

Coppell Cowboys Baseball Tailgate: The Coppell High School baseball program will host a tailgate party from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 3 before the varsity football team’s game against the Guyer Wildcats.

Ecos: AXIS Dance Company will celebrate the full scope and strength of disability dance artistry at 8 p.m. on Oct. 3 at the Coppell Arts Center.

Caregiving Heroes: The support group for people who are assisting loved ones with aging or other concerns will meet at 10 a.m. on Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church of Coppell.

Art, Sip & Stroll: The Coppell Arts Council’s annual fundraiser, featuring a performance by Elevation – An Emerald City Band, is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 4 in Old Town.

Rumors: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of “possibly the best farce ever written by the modern king of comedy,” Neil Simon. The first show is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Oct. 10 at the Coppell Arts Center.

Dog Days Fashion Show and Adoption Event: If you want your dog to participate in a fashion show scheduled for 9 a.m. on Oct. 11 outside the Coppell Arts Center, you must register in advance. But admission is free, as will be the microchipping of pets courtesy of Coppell Animal Services.

Assistance League of Coppell: An Atmos Energy representative will speak when the league meets on Oct. 16 on the second floor of the Coppell Family YMCA. The 11:30 a.m. meeting will be preceded by 30 minutes of social time. Non-members are welcome to attend.