Katy Independent School District

The Katy Independent School District (KISD) is a public school district based in Katy, Texas, United States with an enrollment of over 85,000 students. As of August 2009, the district was rated as "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.[2]

Katy Independent School District
Location
Katy, TX
United States
District information
TypePublic
MottoBe the Legacy
GradesPre-K – 12
SuperintendentKen Gregorski
Budget$
Students and staff
Students85,000 [1]
Other information
Websitewww.katyisd.org
Leonard E. Merrell Center
Katy School 1899-1909 Elementary School 1909-1927
Katy High School building 1909-1947
Elementary School addition 1927-1951

The district serves 181 square miles (469 km2) in parts of Harris County, Fort Bend County and Waller County. Most of the district lies within the boundaries of the City of Houston, the City of Katy or their municipalities' extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). Unincorporated areas in Katy ISD include Barker, Cinco Ranch, and Cimarron.[3]

All residential areas of the district are assigned to an elementary school, a junior high school, and a high school by subdivision.

History

During the 2004–2005 school year Katy ISD began a new and revolutionary program in the history of the district, with the use of random drug testing for all individuals involved in UIL competitive organizations, student leaders of any official school clubs, and anyone wishing to park on campus.[4] This caused much controversy prior to its instatement. Many parents complained to the school district, citing the new policy as the violation of individual rights. The district responded to this by having every student who wished to participate in the said activities sign a waiver granting the school district to test them randomly. This matter had already been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States as constitutional before KISD chose to implement it.[5]

In 2015 two sections of Thornwood, two and three, currently served by KISD, proposed being removed from KISD and placed in the Spring Branch Independent School District, but both KISD and SBISD's boards denied the proposal.[6]

Superintendents

Superintendent Lance Hindt was an alumnus of Katy Taylor High School,[7] and in 2012 wrote a Phd thesis for the University of Houston (UH).[8] In 2018 individuals accused Hindt of severe bullying while he was enrolled in KISD's secondary schools.[9] A former classmate of Hindt, later a judge in Alabama, accused him of severe bullying while he was enrolled in high school.[7] National Association of Scholars president Peter Wood accused superintendent Lance Hindt of plagiarizing his dissertation.[8] The University of Houston administration stated that it would investigate the matter.[10] After an 18-month investigation, the University of Houston removed Hindt's dissertation from their official website. That year Hindt resigned, and the district agreed to pay $700,000 as severance; that time Hindt described the allegations as a "smear campaign" against him. To pursue any defamation claims the district hired the law firm Feldman and Feldman.[11]

Schools

High schools
Cinco Ranch High School

Note: In addition, Katy ISD lists under high schools:

  • Miller Career & Technology Center[14] - Offers students from other campuses specialized career and technology programs as well as core classes.
  • Raines High School - A project-based learning campus that allows students to earn credits at an accelerated pace.

Junior High schools

Elementary schools

Support Facilities

Other Campuses
  • Katy ISD Virtual School
  • Opportunity Awareness Center
  • Robert R. Shaw Center for STEAM
  • Simon Youth Academy

Katy ISD has done an extensive study and maintains and updates a District Growth and Facilities Planning Study.

A future High School #8 site is located on 140 acres (0.57 km2) at the southwest corner of Peek Road and Stockdick School Road to relieve Morton Ranch High School and the growth along the Grand Parkway and far north part of the district. Future High School #9 is planned on 123.09 acres (0.4981 km2), purchased in 2006, within Cross Creek Ranch (a 3,000 acre (12 km2) master-planned community in Fulshear), in the southwest quadrant of the district.

Departments

The Katy ISD Police Department was created in 1989 because the district had jurisdictional issues and low response times from other police agencies.[21]

See also

References
  1. "About Katy ISD". www.katyisd.org.
  2. Writer, Luciano BattistiniTimes Staff. "KISD earns recognized rating from TEA". katytimes.com.
  3. Johnson, Trish. "Location helps make Cimarron popular." Houston Chronicle. April 7, 2009. Retrieved on March 25, 2010.
  4. "Random Drug-Testing Program Question and Answers" (PDF). Katy Independent School District. 2006-06-03. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  5. Bretting, Sandra (2004-05-27). "Random Drug-Testing Program Question and Answers". Katy Independent School District. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  6. Herrera, Sebastian (2015-07-29). "Spring Branch ISD denies subdivision petition to join district, leave Katy ISD". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  7. Alfonso, Fernando (2 April 2018). "Judge claims Katy ISD superintendent was a 'vicious bully' in school". Houston Chronicle.
  8. Ketterer, Samantha (3 August 2018). "Higher education leader asks UH to investigate plagiarism claims against Katy ISD superintendent". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  9. Groogan, Greg (27 Mar 2018). "More brutality emerging in Katy ISD superintendent's past". KRIV. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  10. Glenn, Mike (2018-10-28). "UH says it 'thoroughly investigates' plagiarism allegation against Hindt". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  11. Glenn, Mike (12 May 2018). "Katy ISD's Lance Hindt resigns top job, will get $750,000 payout". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  12. Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF) Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Katy ISD MCTC". www.katyisd.org. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  15. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2017-03-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "Trustees name 3 new Katy schools." Houston Chronicle. April 5, 2008.
  17. Miles, Jason (2018-08-02). "Katy ISD school built in reservoir ready to reopen post-Harvey". KHOU-TV. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  18. Seward, Larry (2018-08-14). "Creech Elementary reopens nearly a year after Hurricane Harvey". KHOU-TV. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  19. "Microsoft Word - list-2003.doc" (PDF). ed.gov.
  20. "Katy ISD approves name of second stadium - Community Impact Newspaper". communityimpact.com. 28 February 2017.
  21. Gordon, Cathy. "Katy ISD solves jurisdiction problem with creation of its own police force." Houston Chronicle. February 26, 1989. Section C p. 1W. Available at NewsBank, Record: 02*26*606156, accessible from the website of the Houston Public Library with a library card.

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