Northside Independent School District
Northside Independent School District is a school district headquartered in Leon Valley, Texas.[1][2] It is the largest school district in the San Antonio area and the fourth largest[3] in the State of Texas (and is projected to surpass the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District for the third-place position). Northside serves 355 square miles (920 km2) of urban landscape, suburban growth and rural territory in the San Antonio suburbs and the Hill Country. Northside is roughly 50 percent built out with the center of the district's boundaries near Helotes, just north of the Bandera Road and Loop 1604 intersection. Because of fast-paced growth, the district envisions possibly another four high schools over the next few decades, including far west areas off Potranco Road and Hwy 211 (near the Medina County line), Culebra Road (FM 471) past Talley Road, I-10 near Boerne Stage Road (north of the Dominion) and far north Bandera Road (Hwy 16) near the Pipe Creek/Bandera County/Medina County areas.
Northside Independent School District | |
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Location | |
United States | |
District information | |
Type | Public |
Grades | K-12 |
Superintendent | Dr. Brian Woods |
Deputy Superintendent(s) | Ray Galindo, David Rastellini, Dr. Janis Jordan |
NCES District ID | 4833120 |
Students and staff | |
Students | 106,000+ |
Teachers | 6240 |
Staff | 12847 |
Student–teacher ratio | 15.6:1 |
Other information | |
Website | nisd |
Northside ISD serves a portion of the city of San Antonio as well as the cities of Grey Forest, Leon Valley, Shavano Park, Helotes, and the unincorporated communities of Cross Mountain, Leon Springs, and Scenic Oaks. The district also serves some unincorporated portions of Bexar, Bandera and Medina counties.
In 2011, the school district was rated "recognized" by the Texas Education Agency for the fourth consecutive year.[4]
Campuses
Northside ISD has over 110 campus locations:
Traditional high schools
Northside has chosen a unique method of naming its traditional high schools; each school is named for a former or current United States Supreme Court justice. Under current district policy,[5] eighth graders who will be part of a new high school's first graduating class are encouraged to research prior justices and submit nominations.
The justices so honored are Louis D. Brandeis, Tom C. Clark, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Jay, John Marshall (the oldest high school; originally named Northside Rural High School but later renamed to conform to the naming convention), Sandra Day O'Connor (attended the school's dedication), John Paul Stevens (also attended the school's dedication), William Howard Taft, and Earl Warren. The district's 10th high school, which opened in 2010, honors justice William J. Brennan. The newest high school in the district is named after John Marshall Harlan and was opened in 2017.
- Louis D. Brandeis High School, San Antonio
- William J. Brennan High School, San Antonio
- Tom C. Clark High School, San Antonio
- John Marshall Harlan High School, San Antonio
- Oliver Wendell Holmes High School, San Antonio
- John Jay High School, San Antonio
- John Marshall High School, Leon Valley (formerly Northside High School, renamed in 1960)
- National Blue Ribbon School in 1992-93[6]
- Sandra Day O'Connor High School, Helotes
- John Paul Stevens High School, San Antonio
- William H. Taft High School
- National Blue Ribbon School in 1997-98[6]
- Earl Warren High School, San Antonio
Magnet high schools
- Business Careers High School, San Antonio
- Communications Arts High School, San Antonio
- Construction Careers Academy, San Antonio
- Health Careers High School, San Antonio
- National Blue Ribbon School in 1990–91[6]
- John Jay Science and Engineering Academy, San Antonio
Middle schools
- Dolph Briscoe, North San Antonio
- Joe J. Bernal, North San Antonio
- John B. Connally, Northwest San Antonio
- Hector Garcia, Northwest San Antonio
- William P. Hobby, North-Central San Antonio
- Wallace B. Jefferson, Northwest San Antonio
- Anson Jones, North San Antonio
- Jack C. Jordan, San Antonio
- Gregory Luna, North San Antonio
- Pat Neff, North Central San Antonio
- E. M. Pease, North San Antonio
- Ed Rawlinson, San Antonio
- Sam Rayburn, San Antonio
- Sul Ross, Northeast San Antonio
- Earl Rudder, North Central San Antonio
- Coke R. Stevenson, Northwest San Antonio
- National Blue Ribbon School in 1990-91[6]
- Katherine Stinson Central San Antonio
- Robert L. Vale Northwest San Antonio
- H. B. Zachry Northwest-Central San Antonio
- John M. Folks Northwest San Antonio
Elementary schools
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Special schools
- Alternative Middle School
- Alternative High School
- Children's Center
- Excel Academy
- Habilitation Program
- Holmgreen Center
- Northside Vocational Transition Program
- Special Education Night School
Student locator project
The school district has spent over $500,000 on a system whereby students wear an RFID chip and barcode around their necks, allowing the school to track their location during the school day. The students need the tag "to use the library or cafeteria, vote in school elections, and in some cases for toilet breaks".[8] One student was expelled in 2012 after refusing to either wear the tag or to wear a version of it that included the barcode but not the RFID tag. Her objections were for reasons of religion, privacy, and freedom of expression; the school had also forbidden her from handing out leaflets criticizing the program. She later returned to the school following a federal judge's injunction.[8] The school district's website was brought down in retaliation for the program. An individual claiming responsibility for the website disruption described the school district as "pervs" for their policy of RFID tracking children.[9]
Effective for the 2013-2014 school year, the RFID tracking program has been discontinued. Even during the controversy, the program was very limited in scope. The schools chosen have the fewest percentage of white students (Jones M.S.: 4% and John Jay H.S.: 13%).
History
The district was formed in 1949 via consolidation of several rural school districts, having a mere 823 students:
- Clifton
- Culebra
- Helotes (including the former Los Reyes district which Helotes absorbed in 1939)
- Hoffman
- Leon Springs
- Leon Valley (including the former Evers district which Leon Valley absorbed in 1924)
- Locke Hill
- Lockhart
- Mackey
- San Antonio Heights
References
- "Contact Northside ISD." Northside Independent School District. March 12, 2011. "5900 Evers Rd. • San Antonio, TX 78238-1606"
- "Leon Valley city, Texas." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on March 12, 2011.
- "Facts and Figures : Northside Independent School District - San Antonio, TX 78238". Archived from the original on 2007-12-23. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- "2009 Accountability Rating System". Texas Education Agency. Archived from the original on 2015-10-25.
- http://www.tasb.org/policy/pol/private/015915/pol.cfm?DisplayPage=CW(LOCAL).html Archived 2006-08-30 at the Wayback Machine Local District Policy for naming schools
- "Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982–1983 Through 1999–2002" (PDF). United States Department of Education. n.d. pp. 77–82. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- "Namesake: Thomas L. Hatchett, Sr". nisd.net. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
- Thomson, Iain (November 21, 2012), Texan schoolgirl expelled for refusing to wear RFID tag, The Register, retrieved December 11, 2012
- Sharwood, Simon (November 27, 2012), ‘Anonymous’ takes down Texan RFID-tracking school, The Register, retrieved December 11, 2012
External links
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