Boundary Lines: Reagan and Johnson
Anel Monge & Amanda Jackson
Boundary Lines: Reagan and Johnson
Posted September 2, 2008
By Jon David
There aren’t many ways that heighten a community’s emotions, tensions and anxieties quite like redrawing school boundary lines. Not only are student bodies affected, so too are athletic teams – groups of individuals who have forged iron bonds with one another in their pursuit of teamwork and victory. Likewise, once-aligned parents, alumni, fans and financial supporters often find themselves rooting against their neighbors.
In short, it divides communities - just ask the Ronald Reagan High faithful, who recently experienced such an ordeal.
Originally built to handle 2,500 students, Ronald Reagan simply outgrew itself, ultimately accommodating more than 3,500 pupils. This stressed the school’s staff and infrastructure, which eventually reached critical mass. The situation had to be remedied – and it was clear that another high school was needed. Thus Ronald Reagan and several of its feeder middle schools began the delicate process of incorporating the new Lady Bird Johnson High School into its community.
So it was decided that Reagan, located on the west side of U.S. Highway 281 just north of Loop 1604, would be joined by Johnson, on the east side of 281 a little farther north, up from 1604, to help ease the overcrowding. But that was the easy part. Next came the arduous process of drawing new boundary lines. Some say the easy solution would have been to draw the line along Highway 281. But NEISD said it would have proven unsuccessful. “If you just looked at 281 as an east/west dividing line, populations are going to stay small in Johnson High School, and Reagan is going to stay big,” NEISD spokesperson Deb Caldwell said a parents meeting last year, as reported by WOAI’s Liela Walsh.
Drawing lines that would assure equal populations required that neighborhoods on the west side of 281 be included in the Johnson High territory. The final version dictates that children graduating from Lopez Middle School head to Reagan, while Tejada middle schoolers move on to Johnson. Bush Middle School kids are split between the two high schools with the majority going to Reagan.
Naturally, athletic teams at Reagan High School were affected. Though the impact of the new boundaries has yet to be seen, it will surely affect Reagan's emerging and established teams.
“I think it’s a lot tougher when it happens once you’ve started then (if it would have happened) before you start,” former Reagan soccer player Michele Stewart says. But it’s not the end of the world, either. Stewart is confident that Reagan will successfully adapt. “Coach (Frankie) Whitlock will forge on, she’s been doing what she does long enough that she too has been through boundary changes and school changes, and she always perseveres. I’m not sure how the boundaries will affect her talent pool, but I know she’ll handle it just fine.”
Johnson High will not be starting from scratch, either. Transplants from Reagan’s strong athletic program will almost assuredly give the new school a leg up. And the new lines also mean Johnson will tap into emerging middle school talents in the years to come.
Though difficult, splitting the athletes from these areas may be a blessing for both schools. Johnson will field some athletic teams with proven players. And younger athletes at Reagan will have the chance to prove themselves much earlier.
But that doesn’t downplay the seriousness of the community’s sentiments. Terri Saari is a local parent whose children would have had to move from Reagan to Johnson. When asked if her children were affected by the boundary decision, she answered: "If you count us having to buy a new home in the Reagan School Boundaries to stay at Reagan."
Even so, Saari admits that the change was inevitable, and that the split was done correctly. "I felt since my daughters started at Reagan they should have been able to finish at Reagan and it was stupid how my one daughter would have had to go to three high schools. So we made the decision to move to allow them to stay at Reagan and let the rest of my children to start and finish at the same school."
Changing school boundaries is a tough issue. It tears communities apart. It causes massive changes within sports teams. It even caused at least one family to move to stay in the preferred school district. Is it for the best? It depends who you ask. But as our city grows, these decisions become inevitable. Though it’s always tough at the individual level, don’t forget the bigger picture: once the dust settles, more schools mean more teams, which means more young athletes will have the opportunity to compete.
