VOL 8 No. 3
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FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County, Missouri City & Sugar Land
FBISD re-organizes academies By SESHADRI KUMAR Fort Bend ISD has re-organized the academy programs by offering them in three campuses. The academies were previously located in five high school campuses. Notably, the Global Studies Academy, which was opposed by Clements High School parents, is moved to Travis High School. International Business and Marketing Academy has also been moved from Bush High School to Travis. The Engineering Academy has been moved from Elkins to Dulles High School. Dulles retains its Math and Science Academy. Similarly, Hightower High School keeps both its existing Medical Science Academy and Digital Media Academy. Fort Bend ISD will host its annual Academy Expo on Tuesday, Jan. 27, to give current eighth-grade students and their parents the opportunity to learn about the district’s high school academy programs. The event will be held from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at Wheeler Field House (16403 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land, 77479). Academies exist to provide specialized learning communities with concentrated and robust course pathways comprised of career and academic classes, according to the district. During the Academy Expo, representatives from each FBISD academy will provide an overview of their academy course of study and opportunities available to students. Students and families who are unable to attend the Academy Expo may learn more about the high school academies by visiting the website at www.fortbendisd.com. The location of the academic programs does not require Board approval, but recommended policy changes will address the implementation of these changes. The proposed policy states that students enrolled in grades nine or ten of an academic program will be assigned to the program’s new location, while students entering grades eleven or twelve will remain at their current campus. Superintendent Charles Dupre in his blog said, “In order to balance enrollment at high school campuses, the administration plans to relocate three of the District’s academies. “These changes will be implemented in the fall semester for students entering grades nine and ten, allowing the freshmen to begin their academies with mentors who are already in the program. Students entering grades eleven and twelve and currently enrolled in academies will complete their programs at their current campuses.” The application process for all high school academies will
open by the end of the month, following the adoption of the District-wide Feeder Pattern and Boundary Plan. “It is also important to note that we will soon be announcing important changes to the admissions and program requirements for each academy program. The changes are designed to ensure each program represents a coherent career pathway leading to a graduation endorsement, as required by House Bill 5. We are also dedicated to providing programs that are accessible to all students, and that possess the rigor and admissions standards that are representative of a highly selective college and career preparation program,” Dupre said. Boundary Plan Meanwhile,the FBISD administration presented a comprehensive District-wide Feeder Pattern and Boundary Plan to the FBISD Board of Trustees on January 12. The plan was created to balance enrollment and plan for future growth in the fast-growing District. The administration will be asking the Board of Trustees to adopt the plan on Jan. 26, and two Community Information Meetings are planned for the community to learn more about the boundary recommendations and an implementation plan prior to the Board’s vote. The first Community Information Meeting will take place on Jan. 20 at Travis High School (11111 Harlem Road, Richmond, 77406). The Jan. 21 meeting will be held at Elkins High School (7007 Knight’s Court, Missouri City, 77459). Both meetings will begin at 7 p.m. Efforts to better align high school feeder patterns and establish attendance boundaries began in August of 2014, when the FBISD Board of Trustees adopted policy that defined the purpose of establishing attendance areas. Over the last several months, the administration’s work has been guided by that policy, as well as enrollment projections from an independent demographics firm and with consideration of feedback from the community. Updated projections from Population and Survey Analysts, or PASA, were considered as the District developed its final recommendations. In addition to aligning feeder patterns, the District is also recommending the establishment of attendance boundaries for Elementary Schools 46 and 47, which are scheduled to open in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Additional boundary recommendations included in the plan would align the District’s high school feeder patterns and alleviate overcrowding at several campuses. “This is the first time in FBISD history that the District
has taken such comprehensive actions to update feeder patterns and boundaries Districtwide,” said Dupre. “Our administration and Board began this difficult and complex task with the realization that it would be impossible to please everyone within the community, but I could not be more pleased and proud of the way our parents and community members joined together to help for the future of FBISD. We believe our recommendation serves each student of Fort Bend ISD and with the annual review of enrollment projections, the plan can stand the test of time.” During the fall, the administration worked with consultant DeJONG-RICHTER to develop two attendance and boundary proposals, known as Scenarios A and B, and sought community feedback during four Community Dialogue Meetings and through online questionnaires. Information from the more than 18,000 completed surveys was considered. The administration will be asking the Board of Trustees to approve policy on Jan. 26 that would guide the implementation process for any current and future boundary changes. While attendance boundary changes would go into effect for elementary and middle school students, as well as students entering grade nine in 2015-2016, students who will enter grades ten through twelve in the fall would complete their studies at their current campus. New plan Based on discussion at the Jan. 12 meeting, the administration will explore the following scenarios that are not included in the current plan: •Consider moving the Lakefield, Lakes of Austin Park, and Lake Colony communities from the Clements High School feeder pattern to the Elkins High School feeder pattern. This change was included in the original Scenario A. •Provide the Board a scenario in which the Lake Olympia community is rezoned from Lake Olympia Middle School to Quail Valley Middle School. •Consider the consolidation of the entire Woodstream community at Colony Meadows Elementary School. Currently, a portion of the Woodstream community attends Colony Bend Elementary School. The administration will discuss this information with the Board at a scheduled work session on Thursday, Jan. 22. A community feedback opportunity will also be scheduled at Goodman Elementary School regarding a proposed boundary change that was recommended based on revised enrollment projections. This change was not included in prior scenarios provided to the community.
PAINTED BUNTING. In the Jan. 14 edition of the Fort Bend Independent, the bird of the month photo was that of the Eastern Phoebe. I had the pleasure of meeting Photographer Margaret Sloan and got to do some bird shooting with her in her backyard sanctuary last year. Here is a photo of the Painted Bunting that I took last April during the Spring migration. This beautiful little male spent about a week at my backyard feeders and I was so excited to see him, I couldn’t believe that I actually had one here! I sure hope he remembers my feeders and returns this Spring. — JOHN PITTS
FCCA sues homeowner for fencing landscape area
By SESHADRI KUMAR The First Colony Community Association has sued one of its residential members for fencing and installing a gate around landscape reserve, an easement that the association had given to the homeowners in the past. The homeowner has been maintaining the landscape as stipulated in the deed, but the lawsuit arose after the homeowner installed a fence and a gate and locked the front entrance to the landscape, abutting the house. The association wants the homeowners Arthur J. Valentz and Lynn Valentz to remove the fence and gate around the landscape reserve, that was given to the homeowners in 2000. The lawsuit filed in 2012 is continuing in the 268th District Court in Fort Bend County. Attorney Russell C. Jones is representing the homeowners, while Rick Butler, formerly of Butler & Hailey, now Roberts Markel,Butler and Hailey Lawfirm, represents the association. The landscape easement does not authorize the homeowner to install the fence and locked gate, according to the association. The lawsuit has given rise to a new legal issue, namely the current FCCA, lacked jurisdiction because the easement was deeded by another FCCA. Defendants’ attorney Jones argued that the original FCCA lost its charter with the state of Texas which was originally established in 1982 as it was “involuntarily dissolved by the Secretary of State for failure to comply with applicable law.” Subsequently, the new FCCA filed for a new charter under the same old name in 1987. The
second FCCA is not the same as the first FCCA, according to the defendants. The homeowners filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit stating that the association had no standing and lacked jurisdiction. The association filed a response and the judge did not grant the motion for dismissal. The issue of whether the plaintiff is the proper Association to enforce the restrictive covenants has not yet been ruled upon. Even if the court determines that the plaintiff may enforce the restrictive covenants, there are a number of defenses largely created by the fact that the Association previously granted a landscape easement to the defendants, Jones says. In a partial ruling the court has held that the rear fence of the landscape is on the land owned by the Sweetwater Country Club and the association has no jurisdiction to enforce its deed restriction. Depositions are continuing regarding the front gate and lock. The defendants maintain that they are in full compliance with the landscape easement, and that they were given the authority to deal with the property in the original easement document. The Association did not retain any right under the easement to approve subsequent landscaping, as long as it was in compliance with the easement, the defendants argued. Moreover, the restrictive covenants only provide for architectural review for residential and commercial tracts, and specifically excluded “reserves”, which is what this
easement is, from the definition of those tracts of land which require architectural review, Jones said By law, the rights of a holder of an easement (in this case, the defendants) are superior to the rights of the holder of the subservient estate (in this case, the Association [if, in fact, the Association is the proper party]. Among other issues, the easement document does not retain a right of access for the benefit of the Association. The law provides that the holder of the subservient estate may not interfere with the use of an easement by the holder of the easement. The front gate is currently locked. The defendants state that the landscape easement is available for use by First Colony residents for reasonable purposes. Such reasonable purposes in the past have included wedding photography and a memorial service. They even allow a representative of the plaintiff to come into the easement solely for the purpose of taking pictures to be used by the plaintiff in the lawsuit, Jones says. The only requirement is that the persons wishing to come upon the property make a request to do so. Purposes which probably would not be recognized as appropriate would include an individual who wishes to come on the property for the purpose of doing drugs, loitering, crossing the property from the street to the golf course for the purpose of accessing the private property of the golf course. The FCCA did not respond to queries for this article.