Katy ISD portable buildings number in the hundreds as district deals with growth

Official says temporary classrooms always part of district's growth strategy

By Sebastian Herrera Published 2:41 pm, Tuesday, August 18, 2015

WoodCreek Junior High is listed as having the most portables in the district at 17. Here's a view of some of the school's portables from Katy-Flewellen Road. Photo: Sebastian Herrera

Photo: Sebastian Herrera

WoodCreek Junior High is listed as having the most portables in the district at 17. Here's a view of some of the school's portables from Katy-Flewellen Road.

The steep trajectory of growth experienced by the Katy school district is reflected by the hundreds of portable buildings it is using for classrooms.

The district has 353 portables in its schools, including 38 new buildings purchased for this school year, according to documents received from the district. Each portable purchased costs $93,000.

In elementary schools, the district had at least 15 of 37 schools that were over enrollment capacity last school year, and the district is projected to have at least 11 that will be overcapacity when the school year begins Aug. 24, according to the documents.

Use of temporary classrooms has always been a part of the district's growth strategy, the district's chief operations officer, Tom Gunnell, said in an email message.

"Placing temporary buildings on an interim basis allows the District to assess growth carefully before constructing new campuses and to open new buildings with enrollments that are large enough to make them cost-effective to operate," Gunnell wrote. "Portables are utilized as a planning tool to enable the school enrollment to grow to support the construction of an adjacent school."

The district, which is the 10th largest in Texas with about 73,000 students in 60 schools across 181 square miles, is expected to have an enrollment of 95,000 by 2023, and is adding about 3,000 students per year. It will add three elementary schools, two junior high schools and a high school with a $748 million bond issue approved last year.

In comparison, neighboring Fort Bend ISD has 175 portables in its 75-school, 73,377-student district, which is growing by 2,000 students per year. Cy-Fair ISD, which enrolls 114,693 students and is growing by 2,000 per year, has 233 portables across 87 campuses.

Keiko Davidson Elementary, which opened last August, tops the chart for projected overcapacity at Katy ISD elementary schools for the coming school year. It is projected to have 227 more pupils than its capacity of 1,030 and has 10 portables.

While most teachers and students don't mind using portables, the large number in the district demonstrates lack of preparation for growth, according to Diane Wilson, president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators' Katy chapter and a retired teacher who worked at the district for 28 years.

"It takes 18 months to build a junior high school, about two years to build a high school and about a year to build an elementary school, but I'm not sure (the district) understood or took into account several years ago the growth that would happen," said Wilson, who worked at Wolfe Elementary last year and has a daughter who attends WoodCreek Junior High School.

"In (Wolfe Elementary School), they spent $18 million dollars for a capacity of about 500 students," she said. "The kids easily adjust to portables, but the district failed to see how much it would grow; so there will continue to be portables."

The district's process for determining school capacity includes multiplying the number of classrooms for a new school by the average of students per classroom of a similar district school, as well as studying enrollment numbers throughout the district, according to a document provided by the district.

The legal student-to-teacher ratio for classes can vary from primary to secondary levels, but under the Texas Education Agency, elementary grades kindergarten through 4 may not have more than 22 students per teacher, though districts can file for exemptions. Across Katy ISD, nine elementary schools filed for a classroom size exemption for the 2014-15 school year.

Under each exemption, the reason stated is for unanticipated growth and financial hardship, with each exemption's description saying the exemption is granted "with the expectation that the district will initiate changes that will lead to compliances with state law in the immediate future."

WoodCreek Junior High is listed as having the most portables in the district at 17, while WoodCreek Elementary takes second place with 16. Gunnell wrote that the WoodCreek campuses lead in the number of portables because of their central location in the community. Morton Ranch High School and King Elementary tie for third most portables used, with 15 each.

But despite Katy schools having capacity issues, Wilson said most people in the district don't bring up the issue to administrators because it's not worth the time.

"Administrators here are really protected. Even if a teacher or a parent has a complaint, it really goes nowhere," Wilson said. "Katy has the best possible education … but for the past three years, in Katy, our schools are beginning to be run like a business … and nobody wants to say anything negative."

In an email, Katy ISD communications specialist Lindsey Sanders said the district could not respond to Wilson's comments because administrators were busy preparing for the new school year.

Gunnell wrote that the district has been dedicated to keep up with growth.

"We have worked diligently to resolve any concerns we have for using portables. Each portable building typically contains two functional classrooms which are outfitted to the same standards as a regular District classroom including furniture, technology, etc," Gunnell wrote.

"Katy ISD spends a lot of time discussing and addressing our plan to deal with growth, both long- and short-term. We strive to seek a balance with capacity, taking into consideration regular capacity and program capacity, as well as extending capacity by the judicious use of portables. Over time we expect portables to decrease; however, since the District is still experiencing rapid growth, portables are crucial in managing capacity."