Frisco Could Do Away With Its Small-School Model

Students in the Frisco Independent School District head back to school on Monday.

The district is the fastest-growing district in the state, and this year parents will face a decision whether to get rid of the district's small-school model.

The model caps enrollment at its nine 5-A high schools at about 2,100 students each, while 6A schools have double, even triple that amount.

Jaime Heit has three children, Lilly, Naomi and Brandon. She and her family moved to Frisco two years ago because of the district's small schools.

"It was our number one priority," Heit said.

Frisco ISD adopted the small-school model 25 years ago.

"Really, none of the people who live in FISD now, or who have students in FISD, were here at that time," said Deputy Superintendent Todd Fouche.

The district's growth is whey Fouche says the district must return to the drawing board to figure out if the template from years past will be its future.

The district decided this week to form a committee of parents to choose whether bigger is better.

"What we're trying to do is either confirm that the people who live here now still want that or to determine if that's not the direction they want to go anymore," Fouche said.

Maintaining a small-school model is too expensive, critics say, in a city with nothing but growth on the horizon.

Heit feels the benefits are worth the cost.

"All these things that kind of give them the opportunity to be leaders and feel comfortable among their peers that I feel like in larger school environments you kind of lose that," she said.

The committee will consist of up to 50 parents, and the district is now accepting applications.

They hope to reach a decision by spring.

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