Katy Independent School District

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Katy Independent School District Or KISD
KatyISD-logo-2021.jpg
Location
Katy, TX, Fulshear TX
United States
District information
TypePublic
MottoBe the Legacy
GradesPre-K – 12
SuperintendentKen Gregorski
Budget$
Students and staff
Students85,000 [1]
Other information
Websitewww.katyisd.org
Leonard E. Merrell Center
Katy School 1899-1909 Elementary School 1909-1927
Katy High School building 1909-1947
Elementary School addition 1927-1951

The Katy Independent School District (KISD) is a public school district based in Katy, Texas, United States with an enrollment of over 85,700 students. As of August 2009, the district was rated as "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.[2]

The district serves 181 square miles (469 km2) in parts of Harris County, Fort Bend County and Waller County. Most of the district lies within the boundaries of the City of Houston, the City of Katy or their municipalities' extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). Unincorporated areas in Katy ISD include Barker, Cinco Ranch, and Cimarron.[3]

All residential areas of the district are assigned to an elementary school, a junior high school, and a high school by subdivision.

History[]

During the 2004–2005 school year Katy ISD began a new and revolutionary program in the history of the district, with the use of random drug testing for all individuals involved in UIL competitive organizations, student leaders of any official school clubs, and anyone wishing to park on campus.[4] This caused much controversy prior to its instatement. Many parents complained to the school district, citing the new policy as the violation of individual rights. The district responded to this by having every student who wished to participate in the said activities sign a waiver granting the school district to test them randomly. This matter had already been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States as constitutional before KISD chose to implement it.[5]

In 2015 two sections of Thornwood, two and three, currently served by KISD, proposed being removed from KISD and placed in the Spring Branch Independent School District, but both KISD and SBISD's boards denied the proposal.[6]

Controversy[]

Lance Hindt[]

Lance Hindt, who served as the district's superintendent from 2016 to 2018, was an alumnus of Katy Taylor High School,[7] and in 2012 wrote a PhD thesis for the University of Houston (UH).[8]

During a school board meeting in March 2018, an individual named Greg Gay (also known as Greg Barrett) spoke during a public forum segment of the meeting, and accused Hindt of shoving his head in a urinal when they were both enrolled in a secondary school within the district, and said the incident drove him to the brink of suicide.[9][10] Hindt denied Gay's allegations, claiming he will only be judged by God.[10] Hindt's laughter as Gay made his allegations, characterized by some as "dismissive," also drew outrage.[10]

Following the incident, Alabama judge David Carpenter also accused Hindt of bullying during their secondary school years. While Carpenter said he was not a victim of Hindt's bullying, he has witnessed "frightening, intense and near constant" bullying of weaker classmates by Hindt. Carpenter even labeled Hindt a "thug."[9]

It was also revealed, after the bullying allegations surfaced, that Hindt was accused in the 1980s of assaulting a man during an altercation at a party, leaving him with a fractured skull, among other injuries. The man spent five days in a coma, and needed two brain surgeries afterwards.[10] Criminal charges related to the incident were later dropped, but a civil lawsuit filed in 1983 by the victim resulted in a five-figure settlement against Hindt.[10]

Prior to the incidents' surfacing, Hindt was noted to have taken very public stance against bullying.[11]

At around the same time, a man named Sean Dolan ran Hindt's dissertation through a software, and discovered that it matched with another paper, leading to accusations of plagiarism.[8][12] The University of Houston administration stated that it would investigate the matter.[13]

After an 18-month investigation, the University of Houston removed Hindt's dissertation from their official website. In May 2018, Hindt announced his resignation and retirement effective January 1, 2019, saying that he cannot fulfill his duties as superintendent and that he had done "dumb things".[14] The district agreed to pay $955,795 as severance; a payment which violated Texas Education Code Section 11.201 and resulted in a loss of $513,755 in funding.[15]

To pursue any defamation claims on behalf of Hindt, the district hired the law firm Feldman and Feldman.[16]

Hindt would later campaign for the KISD board members who had defended him and arranged his huge severance bonus.[17]

The district has been criticized for its perceived inaction on Hindt's plagiarism allegations, which critics say run afoul of the district's responsibility to provide an ethical education to its students.[12] The district's decision to retain a law firm for possible defamation lawsuits was also criticized as possibly an act of bullying in and of itself by the district against its critics,[12] or even an attempt by a taxpayer-funded entity to silence those who were thinking about criticizing a public official.[18]

Schools[]

High schools[]

Cinco Ranch High School

Note: In addition, Katy ISD [2] lists under high schools:

  • Miller Career & Technology Center[21] - Offers students from other campuses specialized career and technology programs as well as core classes.
  • Raines High School - A project-based learning campus that allows students to earn credits at an accelerated pace.

Junior High schools[]

Elementary schools[]

Support Facilities[]

Other Campuses[]

  • Katy ISD Virtual School
  • Opportunity Awareness Center
  • Robert R. Shaw Center for STEAM
  • Simon Youth Academy

Katy ISD has done an extensive study and maintains and updates a District Growth and Facilities Planning Study.[3]

A future High School #8 site is located on 140 acres (0.57 km2) at the southwest corner of Peek Road and Stockdick School Road to relieve Morton Ranch High School and the growth along the Grand Parkway and far north part of the district. Future High School #9 is planned on 123.09 acres (0.4981 km2), purchased in 2006, within Cross Creek Ranch (a 3,000 acre (12 km2) master-planned community in Fulshear), in the southwest quadrant of the district. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Departments[]

The Katy ISD Police Department was created in 1989 because the district had jurisdictional issues and low response times from other police agencies.[28]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "About Katy ISD". www.katyisd.org.
  2. ^ Writer, Luciano BattistiniTimes Staff. "KISD earns recognized rating from TEA". katytimes.com.
  3. ^ Johnson, Trish. "Location helps make Cimarron popular." Houston Chronicle. April 7, 2009. Retrieved on March 25, 2010.
  4. ^ "Random Drug-Testing Program Question and Answers" (PDF). Katy Independent School District. 2006-06-03. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  5. ^ Bretting, Sandra (2004-05-27). "Random Drug-Testing Program Question and Answers". Katy Independent School District. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  6. ^ Herrera, Sebastian (2015-07-29). "Spring Branch ISD denies subdivision petition to join district, leave Katy ISD". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  7. ^ Alfonso, Fernando (2 April 2018). "Judge claims Katy ISD superintendent was a 'vicious bully' in school". Houston Chronicle.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Ketterer, Samantha (3 August 2018). "Higher education leader asks UH to investigate plagiarism claims against Katy ISD superintendent". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Glenn, Mike (January 7, 2019). "Lance Hindt's final year at Katy ISD". Associated Press. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Groogan, Greg (27 Mar 2018). "More brutality emerging in Katy ISD superintendent's past". FOX 26 Houston. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  11. ^ Groogan, Greg (March 26, 2018). "Judge says Katy superintendent was once a 'vicious bully'". FOX 26 Houston. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c Lieber, Dave (February 27, 2020). "After the Allen ISD superintendent left to lead his hometown district, the wheels came off his career". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  13. ^ Glenn, Mike (2018-10-28). "UH says it 'thoroughly investigates' plagiarism allegation against Hindt". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  14. ^ Simon, Erica (May 11, 2018). "Katy ISD superintendent's resignation effective Jan. 1, 2019". KTRK-TV. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  15. ^ Reporter, R. Hans Miller | Times Senior. "KISD penalized more than $500K for Hindt payout". Katy Times. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  16. ^ Glenn, Mike (12 May 2018). "Katy ISD's Lance Hindt resigns top job, will get $750,000 payout". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  17. ^ Glenn, Mike (2019-04-17). "Ex-Superintendent Lance Hindt endorses Katy ISD board candidates". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  18. ^ Blain, Charles (May 10, 2018). "Katy ISD Votes to Sue Complaining Citizen". Texas Scorecard. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF) Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ [1]
  21. ^ "Katy ISD MCTC". www.katyisd.org. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2017-03-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Trustees name 3 new Katy schools." Houston Chronicle. April 5, 2008.
  24. ^ Miles, Jason (2018-08-02). "Katy ISD school built in reservoir ready to reopen post-Harvey". KHOU-TV. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  25. ^ Seward, Larry (2018-08-14). "Creech Elementary reopens nearly a year after Hurricane Harvey". KHOU-TV. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  26. ^ "Microsoft Word - list-2003.doc" (PDF). ed.gov.
  27. ^ "Katy ISD approves name of second stadium - Community Impact Newspaper". communityimpact.com. 28 February 2017.
  28. ^ Gordon, Cathy. "Katy ISD solves jurisdiction problem with creation of its own police force." Houston Chronicle. February 26, 1989. Section C p. 1W. Available at NewsBank, Record: 02*26*606156, accessible from the website of the Houston Public Library with a library card.

External links[]

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