When Viola Wilson Elementary School opens in August, students who formerly attended Van Raub, Fabra and Kendall elementary schools will be sitting in its classrooms.
Boerne ISD officials April 15 selected a school boundary line adjustment plan that moves an expected 469 students to Wilson, on Corley Road off Scenic Loop Road in south Boerne.
Curington is a fourth elementary with boundary changes from the “Option A” selection made by the board of trustees at their regular monthly meeting.
The board unanimously selected Option A over B, which sought to create balanced attendance throughout all seven existing schools.
Dr. John O’Hare, Boerne ISD chief administrative officer, led a presentation that included school attendance figures for the 2024-25 school year under each of A and B.
Under Option A, O’Hare said, only Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary will exceed capacity, which it will do for the next two years and during four of the next five.
Until the 2026-27 school year, Fair Oaks Ranch will be the only BISD elementary school over capacity, as Wilson’s opening eased attendance at Fabra and at Van Raub, which is still expected to exceed capacity in the 2026-27 school year.
Figures O’Hare shared with the board show how the district will continue to battle attendance issues in the coming years.
Given current demographics and growth projections, half of the eight elementaries will exceed capacity by the 2028-29 year, and all but two will be over capacity in 2030-31 without the district making additional attendance adjustments or building additional schools.
A “moderate growth scenario” chart shows yetto- open Wilson exceeding its capacity within seven years.
O’Hare reviewed the results of a community survey, with respondents favoring Option A 66-33%.
More than 1,750 respondents told the district they wished to retain the “community feel” aspect of the elementaries.
“As much as possible, they wanted to keep communities together,” O’Hare said. “Commute was another thing; they wished to avoid adding any additional length to the travel time to and from campus for families.”
As for Wilson, students becoming fifth graders this fall, and their siblings, have the option to “grandfather” for one year — allowing them to stay enrolled at their current campuses. Families who opt to “grandfather” students are responsible for providing their own transportation.
Despite being the only school going over-capacity in the fall, several Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary School (FORES) parents attended the meeting, ready to oppose any effort to move Fair Oaks Ranch students to nearby Cibolo Creek Elementary School.
Parent Shawna Verrett, who has three of her four children at the school, said Option B “threatens to divide our tight-knit community into two groups; those attending FORES and those who don’t.”
She spoke to a deep bond forged throughout the city with FORES at its core.
“The bond between residents from all parts of Fair Oaks Ranch is strong and interwoven. The friendships our children form at school and through extracurricular activities are crucial to their development,” Verrett said.
She called any plan to send Fair Oaks Ranch children to Cibolo Creek Elementary “impractical.”
“For working parents, changing to Cibolo Creek is impractical. Option A allows parents to maintain their commute to San Antonio after 7 a.m. school drop-off,” she said.
“In contrast, Option B adds over 40 minutes to a parent’s drive, 20 of those minutes in the opposite direction from San Antonio,” she added.
Verrett thanked the board for listening to their concerns and for abiding by the amount of support given to Option A in the survey.
“This (decision) leaves the ‘Back 40’ of Fair Oaks Ranch at Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary School, where we have been zoned since inception in 1994-1995 and we are extremely grateful,” she added.
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