Comprised of parents, administrators and elementary principals, the Goose Creek committee charged with rezoning Pumphrey Elementary School students to other campuses will hold its first meeting Tuesday night.
The Goose Creek Board aims to approve a rezoning plan for all Pumphrey students and staff before the end of the school year. Every effort will be made to rezone students based on keeping neighborhoods and families together. The district will provide transportation for all Pumphrey students to their new campuses.
The Pumphrey Elementary School Rezoning Committee membership includes parents Elvia Rodriguez, Marsha Johnson, Tanya Hayes, Karen Edwards, James Brown, Michelle Bitterly, and Darrell Westerman. Goose Creek administrators and staff on the committee include Dr. Toby York, superintendent; Diana Cox, executive director of elementary education; Dr. Patty Bing, director of student service; Rachel DeLeon, Pumphrey Elementary principal; Brenda Gongora, Travis Elementary principal; Greg Lynd, Lamar Elementary principal; Stefanie Noble, Carver Elementary principal; Michael Wahl, Harlem Elementary principal; and Cyndy Newport, transportation router. The administrators are serving in an Ex-Officio capacity. The panel will meet at the administration building. The first meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 5.
The Goose Creek Board of Trustees voted April 23 to form the committee to revise the attendance zones of Pumphrey so those students could be sent to other schools. Pumphrey staff members will also be reassigned to other Goose Creek schools. The decision comes after the Board voted to close Pumphrey Elementary at the end of the school year. The closing of the 39-year-old school and West Town complex follows a risk-analysis study of the two sites situated between two aging pipeline corridors.
The risk-analysis study commissioned by the district concluded that should an incident — such as a leak or rupture — occur to a pipeline near the school or complex, there is a potential that students and/or staff could be injured or worse. After reviewing data and looking at possible sites in the district, the administration realized that it could not relocate Pumphrey Elementary students and staff in one location because of classroom space requirements and support services needs such as a gymnasium, cafeteria, and parking.
The purpose of the Pumphrey Elementary School Rezoning Committee is to:
Review and study data regarding student enrollment projections, current attendance boundaries, and current and future GCCISD demographics.
Study the impact of various attendance boundary scenarios.
Gather input from constituents regarding campus, district, parent and community expectations.
Prepare and present a recommendation to the Board of Trustees for their consideration regarding the relocation of Pumphrey Elementary School students.
The Board of Trustees will make the final decision about where Pumphrey students will attend school next year. Pumphrey Elementary School opened in 1971 on Fairway Drive. Today, the school is home to some 474 students and 67 staff members.
The school is named for a longtime teacher and school administrator, Jessie Lee Pumphrey, who had been principal at Lorenzo De Zavala (known as the Mexican School) from 1928 to 1965. The original De Zavala at Cypress and Magnolia streets in old Baytown was closed in 1965. Pumphrey Elementary School marked the first time that an elementary in Goose Creek CISD had been named for a local individual.
Anyone who wants to submit a question about the Pumphrey/West Town relocation may do so by calling Board secretary Noemi Garcia at 281-420-4816 or emailing her at ngarcia@gccisd.net. The answers will be sent to those inquiring and placed on the school district website, www.gccisd.net.