Galveston Independent School District

Catchment area

Galveston ISD takes students from the cities of Galveston and Jamaica Beach. Galveston ISD also serves unincorporated areas of Galveston County, including the communities of Port Bolivar and Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Each Galveston ISD house or residential area is assigned to an elementary school and a middle school. In Port Bolivar, the houses and residential areas are zoned to a K-8 center. All high school students in Galveston ISD attend Ball High School.

Galveston College serves the catchment area of Galveston ISD.

History

In 1881, the citizens of Galveston, authorized by the legislative act of 1879 which specified that all cities of a certain size could initiate and maintain their own school system, organized a public school district and elected a board of trustees. Some 20 teachers were employed to teach students in grades one through seven. Prior to this time, all education in Galveston was private or parochial.

In the summer of 1883, a local dry goods businessman, George Ball, offered to finance construction of new schools. Ball's offer was accepted, and the cornerstone for what would become Ball High School was laid on February 15, 1884. Ball died on March 11, 1884 without seeing his gift completed.Ball High School opened its doors to 200 pupils on October 1, 1884, with a building consisting of 12 classrooms, two offices and an auditorium. According to Gary Cartwright's "Galveston, A History of the Island", two alderman pressured the school board to open the new school to all races. At first, the school board agreed to do that, but changed its mind when Ball's heirs offered to give another $10,000, if the high school was only for white students. Susan Wiley Hardwick's "Mythic Galveston: Reinventing America'a Third Coast" documents that Central High School was opened as a high school for black students in a storefront in 1885. Central High and Ball High merged into one high school in 1968.

Public schools in Galveston were operated by the city from 1884 until 1949, when Galveston ISD was established by the Texas Legislature.

Enrollment decline

In the 2000s skyrocketing home prices created by the completion of many high-rise projects have forced many middle class Galveston residents to move off of the island to many cities, including Texas City, League City, and La Marque. Galveston ISD's tax base grew by 13% in 2005. Including all students, GISD lost 8% of its students (780) between the 2002-2003 school year and the 2006-2007 school year, with a 7% loss (610) in 2006 The district lost 12% of its students during the same years when Hurricane Katrina evacuees and out-of-district students are excluded.

Galveston ISD lost students to mainland school districts such as Clear Creek ISD and Dickinson ISD. District enrollment fell by 101 students from 2004-2005 to 2005-2006. The district missed 772 students on October 30, 2006. Elementary school enrollment had dropped about 2.3 percent from the 1996-1997 school year to the 2006-2007 school year. If the trend continues for fall 2007, the district would lose 300 students to the newly opened Ambassadors Preparatory School, a charter school, in addition to 94 students, translating to a loss of 10.6% of the district's total elementary school students. At the end of 2006, GISD's total enrollment was about 8,700.

On January 2, 2007, the Galveston County Daily News published a report about parents frustrated over plans to close Scott Elementary School. On May 15, 2007, the Houston Chronicle reported that the League of United Latin American Citizens, in an attempt to prevent schools from closing, filed a complaint with the U.S. federal government asserting that GISD violated a desegregation order. Pat Guseman, an official with Pasa Demographics, predicted that GISD would lose about 1,468 students in the five years after 2007. Guseman said that many of the student losses would originate from the East End of the island. The demographer, characterizing the change in Galveston demographics as "Hamptonization," stated that economically disadvantaged children and Hispanic children are increasing, while African-American children are decreasing, as of 2007. Guseman cited increasing private school enrollment, increasing costs of housing, and a dearth of local employment as reasons for the loss of students in Galveston. During that year, Christine Hopkins, a spokesperson for the district, said that the housing costs and perceptions of GISD schools caused many families to move from the GISD area.

Before Hurricane Ike hit Galveston in September 2008, GISD had 7,900 students. After Ike hit Galveston, the district lost 25% of its total enrollment. Burnet and Scott elementary schools and Central Middle School received severe damage; the district said the schools would not open in fall 2009. In March 2009 GISD cut 163 positions, including 99 teaching positions; 40% of the total cut positions had already been vacant.

In the fall of 2009 the district had 6,235 students, 1,665 fewer than the previous year. This was a 20% decrease from pre-Ike. The district had expected 6,000 students to be enrolled during the 2009-2010 school year; it had 235 more than expected.

School configuration change plans

In March 2007, Galveston ISD announced that it would introduce plans to change the configurations of its elementary and middle schools within the city of Galveston.

Some parents expressed concern about consolidating the middle schools, because Weis and Central had different student demographics, with Weis having a wealthier student body.

Ending in the 2007-2008 school year, Galveston ISD operates:

After spring 2008, Alamo Elementary School would be converted into a multi-purpose center.

Starting in the 2008-2009 school year, Galveston ISD would operate four PreK-4 elementary school and two K-4 elementary schools.

Weis Middle School would become a 5-6 school. Central Middle School would become a 7-8 school. Austin Middle School would become a magnet school for grades 5-8.

Now GISD is configured in-

GISD Police

Galveston ISD Police Department is a school district police department established under the provision of the Texas Education Code. The department was established during the 1967-68 school year to assist during the consolidation of Central High School (an African American school) into the all Caucasian Ball High School to bring an end to segregation of schools in Galveston ISD.

Dress codes

All elementary and middle school students residing in Galveston Island are required to wear school uniforms. Crenshaw School students are not required to wear school uniforms.

Ball High School has a detailed dress code requiring solid-colored polo shirts, turtlenecks, solid-colored trousers, and blue denim jeans.

Students in Ball Preparatory Academy wear same as greater Ball High School

GISD TV

Galveston ISD has its own TV channel available on Comcast Cable channel 17. The channel includes current information about the school district including recent news in short video clips; school board meetings are also shown.

High schools

Zoned

Open enrollment

Middle schools

Comprehensive

Magnet

K-8 schools

Zoned:

Alternative:

Primary schools

All of the following schools are in Galveston. Zoned:

Unzoned:

Former high schools

Former middle schools

Former elementary schools

Athletic facilities

As of 2010 Kermit Courville Stadium is the district's stadium. The stadium was 62 years old as of January 22, 2010, Before 2010 GISD was deciding whether to renovate Courville stadium. If the district decided to renovate Courville stadium, it would have had to purchase 75 structures, including a church, to build enough parking spaces. Galveston law requires one parking space per 200-square-foot (19 m²) of building space, and Courville, which had 140 parking spaces, did not have the sufficient number specified by law; if GISD renovated it, it would have been required to create the legally specified number of parking spaces. When people attend events at Courville, many park on streets around the stadium and in a grassy lot north of the stadium.