Katy Independent School District Elementary School (ca 1920)

The Katy Independent School District (KISD) is a public

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, w ...

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 The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

. The district serves in parts of Harris County,

Fort Bend County Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded in 1837 and organized the next year. It is named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around the fort in early days. Th ...

and Waller County. Most of the district lies within the boundaries of the City of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

, the City of Katy or their municipalities' extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).

Unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

s in Katy ISD include Barker, Cinco Ranch, and Cimarron. 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. 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. In 2019, Katy ISD celebrated 100 years since being founded. 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 Spring Branch Independent School District is a school district headquartered in Hedwig Village, Texas, United States in Greater Houston. The district serves portions of western Houston,Morales, Katherine.Residents working to retain superintendent ...

, but both KISD and SBISD's boards denied the proposal.

Controversy

Lance Hindt

Lance Hindt, who served as the district's superintendent from 2016 to 2018, was an alumnus of Katy Taylor High School, and in 2012 wrote a PhD thesis for the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

(UH). 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. Hindt denied Gay's allegations, claiming he will only be judged by God. Following the incident, Alabama judge David Carpenter also accused Hindt of bullying during their secondary school years. While Carpenter said that 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". Prior to the incidents' surfacing, Hindt was noted to have taken very public stance against bullying. 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. The University of Houston administration stated that it would investigate the matter. 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". 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. To pursue any defamation claims on behalf of Hindt, the district hired the law firm Feldman and Feldman. Hindt would later campaign for the KISD board members who had defended him and arranged his huge severance bonus. 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. 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, or even an attempt by a taxpayer-funded entity to silence those who were thinking about criticizing a public official.

Intellectual censorship

In October 2021, author

Jerry Craft Jerry Craft (born January 22, 1963)
''Lambiek's Comiclopedia''. Accessed Jan. 22, 2014. is an New Kid ''New Kid ''is a 2019 graphic novel by Jerry Craft. The novel tells the story of a 12-year-old African American boy named Jordan Banks who experiences culture shock when he enrolls at a private school. Taking place over Jordan's freshman year ...

and

Class Act ''Class Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Randall Miller and starring hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play. An urban retelling of Mark Twain's ''The Prince and the Pauper'', the film was written by Cynthia Friedlob and John Semper from a stor ...

. Parents in the district claimed the books taught

Critical race theory Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Goa ...

and started an online petition, prompting the district to cancel the author visit and remove the book from school libraries. Craft was later invited again for a visit to the district, and the books were reinstated in libraries with a restricted audience. During a school board meeting in November 2021, Seven Lakes High School senior and student activist Cameron Samuels spoke during a public forum segment of the meeting to claim the district was blocking student internet access to the

Trevor Project The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998. Focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, they offer a toll-free telephone number where ...

and other websites supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Students, including Samuels, started a petition soon after that garnered almost two thousand signatures within a few months and drew national attention to the district. The district defended blocking access to the Trevor Project by claiming it violated the Children's Internet Protection Act with its chat features. In December 2021 and January 2022, following formal complaints by Samuels, the district unblocked the websites of four organizations supporting the LGBTQ+ community: the Montrose Center, the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for ...

, PFLAG, and GLSEN. The filter was eventually brought down after a complaint and letter delivered by the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...

of Texas on behalf of Samuels. In February 2022, NBC senior investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh and NBC correspondent

Antonia Hylton Antonia Hylton (born September 26, 1993) is an American journalist. She received an Emmy for her work on '' Vice News Tonight'' and is currently a correspondent for NBC News. Hylton is the co-reporter for the podcast ''Southlake'', which received ...

published a report on books disappearing in record numbers from Texas schools, especially those in Katy ISD. The district's superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Gregorski, sent a parent communication to clarify the district's policy regarding removing books from schools, which includes various methods for parent input. The

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

reported in February 2022 that Samuels and other students planned to distribute challenged books to students during a "FReadom Week" initiative, including

Maus ''Maus'' is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jew and The Holocaust, Holocaust su ...

by Art Spiegelman and

Beloved Beloved may refer to: Books * ''Beloved'' (novel), a 1987 novel by Toni Morrison * ''The Beloved'' (Faulkner novel), a 2012 novel by Australian author Annah Faulkner *''Beloved'', a 1993 historical romance about Zenobia, by Bertrice Small Film ...

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...

. In response to the distribution of hundreds of books, the district initiated an internal review of Maus. Students and parents spoke against banning Maus during the public forum segment of the March 2022 board meeting, and the district announced its decision later that week to keep the book in middle school libraries. The ACLU of Texa
delivered a letter
to school board members and the superintendent in April 2022 claiming that the district's book removals violated the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

, the Texas Constitution, and the district's own policies. After a district parent filed a criminal complaint against Mike Curato's Flamer in the Jordan High School library, district police temporarily removed the book for an investigation. The book had already been deemed appropriate for high schools by a book review committee in March, and the police concurred. At the August 2022 board meeting, the board discussed the first read of a propose
EF local policy
update. Ten students from the Cinco Ranch High School Gay-Straight Alliance, led by student Logan McLean, spoke in support of adding students to the reconsideration committees for instructional materials. The policy was passed at the next meeting without the inclusion of students or explicit inclusion of librarians in the committees. McLean had planned to hold a book distribution at the start of the 2022-2023 school year with the GSA club, but school administrators claimed that prior review was necessary and confiscated the books.

Schools

High schools

* Katy High School (Katy) (Est. 1947) **1997-1998

National Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures ...

Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF)
* James E. Taylor High School (''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 1979) **1994-1996 National Blue Ribbon School * Mayde Creek High School (''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 1984) **1994-1996 National Blue Ribbon School * Cinco Ranch High School (''Unincorporated Fort Bend County'') (Est. 1999) **2008 National Blue Ribbon School * Morton Ranch High School (''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 2004) * Seven Lakes High School (''Unincorporated Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2005) * Obra D. Tompkins High School (''Unincorporated Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2013) * Patricia E. Paetow High School (''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 2017) * Jordan High School (Fulshear) (Est. 2020) Note: In addition, Katy IS

lists under high schools: *Miller Career & Technology Center - 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

Joe M. Adams Junior High School
(Fulshear) (Est. 2019)
Rodger and Ellen Beck Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Fort Bend County'') (Est. 1996) **2001-02 National Blue Ribbon School
Beckendorff Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2004)
Cardiff Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 2008)
" ''

''. April 5, 2008.
Cinco Ranch Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2001)
Bill & Cindy Haskett Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 2021)
Katy Junior High School
(Katy) (Est. 1965 next to Katy High School, present location 1995)
Mayde Creek Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 1980) **1999-2000 National Blue Ribbon School
T. H. McDonald Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 1991)
Garland McMeans Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 2000)
Memorial Parkway Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 1982) **1999-2000 National Blue Ribbon School
Morton Ranch Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 2003)
Seven Lakes Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2012)
Stockdick Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 2017)
James and Sharon Tays Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2016)
West Memorial Junior High School
(''Unincorporated Harris County'') (Est. 1976)
Woodcreek Junior High School
(Katy) (Est. 2008)

Elementary schools

Roosevelt Alexander Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 1998)
Bear Creek Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1978) **1987-88 National Blue Ribbon School
Catherine Bethke Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2016)
Robert and Felice Bryant Elementary School
(''Uninc. Waller County'') (Est. 2017)
Amy Campbell Elementary School
(Fulshear) (Est. 2018)
Cimarron Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1980)
Betty Sue Creech Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2000) **Creech, flooded during

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest ...

in 2017, and was temporarily closed. The houses of about 75-80% of the students were also damaged in the storm. It reopened in August 2018 after $7 million in renovations.
Keiko Davidson Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2014)
Jo Ella Exley Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2004)
Edna Mae Fielder Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 1993) **1998-99 National Blue Ribbon School
Franz Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2004)
Loraine T. Golbow Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1989)
Michael Griffin Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2006)
Jeanette Hayes Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1995)
Bonnie Holland Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2008)
Zelma Hutsell Elementary School
(Katy) (Est. 1978) **2000-01 National Blue Ribbon School
MayDell Jenks Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2016)
Katy Elementary School
(Katy) (Est. 1951, present location 1965) **2006 National Blue Ribbon School
Kilpatrick Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2003)
Robert E. King Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2001)
Mayde Creek Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1983) **National Blue Ribbon School in 1989-90 and 2000-01
Peter McElwain Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2020)
Polly Ann McRoberts Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1997)
Memorial Parkway Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1978) **1998-99 National Blue Ribbon School
Morton Ranch Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2008)
Nottingham Country Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1981)
Hazel S. Pattison Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1989) **1993-94 National Blue Ribbon School
James E. Randolph Elementary School
(Fulshear) (Est. 2014)
Rhoads Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2004)
Rylander Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2004)
Betty and Jean Schmalz Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2001)
Fred and Patti Shafer Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2012)
Stan Stanley Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2009)
Stephens Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 2007)
Sundown Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1982)
West Memorial Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1974)
James E. Williams Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2000)
Tom Wilson Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County'') (Est. 2012)
Diane Winborn Elementary School
(''Uninc. Harris County'') (Est. 1981)
Maurice L. Wolfe Elementary School
(Houston) (Est. 2012) **1998-99 National Blue Ribbon School
Ray and Jamie Wolman Elementary School
(''Uninc. Fort Bend County) (Est. 2012)
WoodCreek Elementary School
(Katy) (Est. 2007)

Support Facilities

* Leonard E. Merrell Center
Rhodes StadiumTransportation Center (East)
(adjacent to Mayde Creek High School)
Transportation Center (West)
(adjacent to Katy Junior High School)
Transportation Center (South)
(adjacent to Rylander Elementary School)
Gerald Young Agricultural Science Center
*L. D. Robinson Pavilion & Rodeo Arena
Katy ISD Law Enforcement Center
(adjacent to Morton Ranch High School) *Katy ISD Storage Annex (Danover Street, former Kilpatrick Elementary) *Legacy Stadium

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 Stud

Departments

The Katy ISD Police Department was created in 1989 because the district had jurisdictional issues and low response times from other police agencies.Gordon, Cathy. "Katy ISD solves jurisdiction problem with creation of its own police force." ''

''. February 26, 1989. Section C p. 1W. Available at

NewsBank NewsBank is a news database resource that provides archives of media publications as reference materials to libraries. History John Naisbitt, the author of the book ''Megatrends'', founded NewsBank.Andrews 1998, p. 17. The company was launched ...

, Record: 02*26*606156, accessible from the website of the

Houston Public Library Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in ...

with a library card.

References

External links

* ** {{Coord missing, Texas School districts in Houston School districts in Fort Bend County, Texas School districts in Harris County, Texas School districts in Waller County, Texas