BUDA — By and large, the Hays CISD Growth Impact Committee's recommendations for new school attendance zones went over pretty well.

If only it were that easy. The school district's reshaping of attendance boundaries, which stands to crop up every couple years for the next decade, never makes everyone happy, nor can it.

Between the school district's desires to keep neighborhoods unified, establish coherent feeder patterns, account for future growth, send kids to neighborhood schools and balance schools as much as possible by socio-economic status (SES), some parts of this ever-shifting puzzle never fit.

This time, citizens from two east Buda neighborhoods, Green Pastures and The Ridge, voiced the loudest complaints at Monday night’s public hearing on the plan. Although construction on Science Hall Elementary School and Armando Chapa Middle School is visible from many points in those neighborhoods, the plan calls for students in the area to remain at Hemphill Elementary School in deep southeast Kyle and Dahlstrom Middle School west of Buda.

Ordinarily, parents don't complain unless their children are scheduled to change schools. But residents in the two neighborhoods complained that their kids should go to new schools closer to their homes.

"Our children can see these (new) schools from their front porch," Green Pastures resident Veronica Warnock told the Hays CISD Board of Trustees. "Why aren't we going to those schools?"

Parents from the neighborhoods complained that their children are being used to balance SES, especially among the more affluent students at Dahlstrom Middle School. In addition, they complained about the distances to be traveled to the assigned schools. Warnock said the drive from her home in Green Pastures to Chapa is about three minutes, compared with 25 minutes across two middle school zones and IH-35 to Dahlstrom.

Another Green Pastures resident, Vera Gutierrez, said the distance from Dahlstrom back to Green Pastures poses a safety threat, particularly if an enterprising middle school child should miss the bus and try walking back home.

Trustees will take a couple weeks to consider the zoning recommendations made Monday night, with a decision to be made at the Dec. 12 board meeting.

Hays CISD Superintendent Kirk London weighed in with his support for the recommendations Tuesday, saying the committee made the right call on the east Buda neighborhoods. While acknowledging that SES balance factors into the recommendation to keep those students at Dahlstrom, London added that the likelihood of more new schools as future bonds are passed makes it premature to re-zone those students.

"Those kids are at (Dahlstrom) now, and it makes sense to move the kids closer," London said. "But we have plans for a new middle school in two to three years near Hemphill and we'll have to move them then. If we make the kids move this time, then we have to move them again, that would be more disruptive."

Buda parents who raised loud concerns two years ago when students were moved from Elm Grove Elementary to Buda Elementary mostly expressed satisfaction with the new proposal, which would leave those elementary school boundaries generally unchanged. Then again, the new schools - Chapa, Science Hall and Negley Elementary - all are located in Kyle.

Another complaint came from Joe DeLeon, a Spring Branch resident, who objects to the plan's split of the subdivision between the Hays High School and Lehman High School feeder patterns. The committee split Spring Branch in half, with the northern half assigned to Hays and the southern half assigned to Lehman.

"You're breaking up our identity," DeLeon said. "It's still one community. Don't break us up."

A couple citizens suggested that the school district maintain a flexible enough transfer policy to allow students with special needs to remain at their schools, where they’ve bonded with teachers and advisors.

The plan calls for Kyle Elementary School, Rosalio Tobias International School and the south half of the Hemphill Elementary zone to feed Wallace Middle School, while Science Hall, Susie Fuentes Elementary and the north half of Hemphill (except Green Pastures and The Ridge) would feed Chapa Middle School. In turn, Chapa and Wallace would feed Lehman High School.

On the Buda side of the district, Elm Grove Elementary and Buda Elementary, along with Green Pastures and The Ridge neighborhoods attending Hemphill, would feed Dahlstrom Middle School. Tom Green Elementary and Negley Elementary would feed Barton Middle School. In turn, Barton and Dahlstrom would feed Hays High School.

The new school zoning would close the SES gap between Lehman and Hays High Schools. Under the present arrangement, 48.7 percent of Lehman students are low SES, compared with 26.7 percent at Hays. Under the proposed zoning, the numbers rise to 52 percent at Lehman and 39 percent at Hays.

London said the higher numbers in both schools under the new plan is due to a discrepancy between how many students are eligible for free and reduced lunch and how many actually apply for the program. The present-day numbers, London said, indicate how many students actually apply, while the projected numbers count the students who are eligible.

Members of the growth impact committee said they support attempting to equalize all the schools as much as possible for SES, adding that a firm transfer policy at the high school level is imperative for maintaining the desired balance. The school district maintains a lightly restrictive transfer policy for elementary school students, generally limited by the space available in schools. However, as the district is into only its second year with two high schools, trustees just now are beginning to see the need to restrict transfers at the high school level.

Lehman High School administrators have indicated that they're losing high SES students, particularly in extra-curricular activities, who transfer to Hays so they can participate in more established programs. London said his experience in the Richardson ISD, which included four high schools, told him the lack of a restrictive high school transfer policy makes it's too easy for students to bolt for new schools when they don't see eye-to-eye with coaches or advisors.

However, London said, he doesn't expect to ask the trustees for a transfer policy decision until the January meeting.

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