Plano Independent School District


Plano Independent School District is an independent school district in southwestern Collin County, Texas, based in Plano. Plano ISD serves about of land, with of it within the City of Plano. The district also takes students from northern portions of Dallas and Richardson, and portions of Allen, Carrollton, Garland, Lucas, Murphy, Parker, and Wylie.
PISD serves over 55,000 students and employs approximately 6,400 faculty members spread across 65 schools and 2 special and 4 early education centers. PISD had a 2012–13 operating budget of 434.5 million U.S. dollars. The district named Sara Bonser as Interim Superintendent in November 2017. On March 6, 2018 Sara Bonser became Superintendent of Plano ISD, becoming the first female to hold the Superintendent title for the District.
In 2010, the school district was rated "recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.
There are two areas in North Dallas that are in Plano ISD, both in Collin County: one that is east of Midway Road, south of the George Bush Turnpike, and west of Waterview Parkway; and a group of apartments around Horizon North Parkway. These areas, annexed into the City of Dallas after 1960, are generally high income.

Educational Structure

Plano ISD has an educational structure that differs from the typical U.S. educational pattern. Primary education in PISD, following the typical U.S. structure, consists of 44 elementary schools that serve the kindergarten through fifth grades. However, PISD's system of secondary education consists of 13 middle schools that serve the sixth through eighth grades, 6 'high schools' that serve the ninth and tenth grades, and 3 'senior high schools' that serve the eleventh and twelfth grades. The 'high school' and 'senior high school' system is a departure from the standard U.S. high school that serves the ninth through twelfth grades.
PISD students attend schools based primarily on the geographic location of their homes. Schools of a lower level feed into specific schools at the next highest level. The three exceptions to the feeder system is for students wishing to participate in the International Baccalaureate program, the Health Sciences Academy, or the STEAM Academy. Parents of students may also request transfers out of their students' assigned schools for various reasons.
This system leads to very large graduating classes and overall student populations. At Plano Senior High School, Plano East Senior High School, and Plano West Senior High School, the current student populations are listed as 2,567, 2,795, and 2,160 students, respectively. Each year's graduating class is approximately half of each number. Previous years' Graduation Commencement Ceremonies have taken place at Ford Center and the Dallas Convention Center.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees includes seven at-large elected members that oversee the district. Elections are held in May in odd-numbered years for either three or four candidates. The next election is May, 2019 for seats 4, 5, 7 and the remaining 2 years for seat 6. The Board elects a President, Vice President and Secretary.

Academics and Honors

All three of PISD's senior high schools were recently listed in the top 250 of Newsweeks list of 1000 top high schools in America. In the 2012 list, Plano West Senior High School was ranked as 63rd in the country, Plano Senior High School was ranked 108th, and Plano East Senior High School was ranked 243rd. In 2011, Plano West Senior High had been ranked 98 on Newsweek's "America's Best High Schools," and Plano East Senior High had been ranked 461. Plano ISD schools reportedly administer more Advanced Placement tests than any other school district west of the Mississippi River.
Plano ISD opened three academies in the 2013–2014 school year. The first "Academy High School", a STEAM, project based, high school that serves grades 9–12.
The second magnet focuses on Health science, and is housed at Williams High School for grades 9–10, and will continue at Plano East Senior High School for grades 11–12.
Additionally, the district has modified its existing International Baccalaureate program so that all four grades will be housed at Plano East Senior High as a "school within a school".
The mean SAT score for the district is 1152 out of 1600, and the mean ACT composite score is 25.7, with 83.5% of district students taking the SAT or ACT. 43.4% of district students take AP or IB courses, and 84.3% of those students pass their AP or IB exam. Plano ISD offers all AP courses except AP Italian Language and Culture and AP Japanese Language and Culture to students.
In the 2012–2013 school year, Plano ISD had 128 students named National Merit Semifinalists, more than any other Texas school district. Also in the 2012–2013 school year, ten PISD students were named semifinalists in the Siemens Competition, and two were named as finalists. In the state of Texas, a total of thirty eight and eleven students, respectively, captured those honors in the Siemens competition. In the 2011–2012 school year, 76 students were selected as All-state musicians.

Demographics

EthnicityPercent
White33.6%
Asian24.1%
Hispanic25.3%
African American12.6%
American Indian0.3%
Pacific Islander0.1%
Two or More Races4.0%

In the 1990s Plano ISD received many non-Hispanic white families leaving urban areas. However this changed in the period from 1997 to 2015 as the number of non-Hispanic white children in Plano ISD declined by 10,000.

Bilingual programs

In 1991 Plano ISD began a Chinese bilingual program for preschool and kindergarten students developed by Donna Lam. It is one of two Chinese bilingual programs in the State of Texas, along with the one established by the Austin Independent School District. It was established after Chinese professionals began to settle Plano.

Controversies

On the 9 December 2005, edition of The O'Reilly Factor, as part of his "War on Christmas" segment, news commentator, Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that the district had banned students from wearing red and green clothing "because they were Christmas colors." An attorney from the school district requested a retraction. O'Reilly later retracted his allegation on 20 December. O'Reilly had mistakenly included clothing among the items banned by PISD, while the ongoing lawsuit against the district only alleges the banning of the distribution of written religious materials.
That lawsuit was originally filed against PISD on Dec 15, 2004. On Dec 16, 2004, prior to the school "winter parties, Judge Paul Brown of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a , requiring PISD to lift these restrictions. The Morgan, et al., v. Plano Independent School District case began in 2003, with school officials even banning students from using red and green napkins and paper plates to a school-sponsored "holiday" party.
In another more serious legal dispute, Plano ISD was found to have violated First Amendment rights of parents during public meetings about the implementation of a controversial new math curriculum, "Connected Math". During several years of appeals by PISD, the ruling was consistently upheld at all levels, including the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals The district briefly considered an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, but instead reached a settlement of $400,000. It is important to note that this was a settlement of the judgment, not the ruling of a First Amendment rights violation by the district.
The most recent Federal lawsuit against PISD was filed in March, 2006 by a religious group, Students Witnessing Absolute Truth, alleging religious discrimination. In a granting a preliminary injunction against Plano ISD, the judge said, part, "The issue in this case is not one of sponsorship or the lack thereof, but of the flagrant denial for equal access guaranteed to S.W.A.T.... The harm at issue is irreparable because it inhibits the exercise of Plaintiff's First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion." On April 26, 2006, Plano ISD offered, and SWAT accepted, an Offer of Settlement, which included the district's promise to change its discriminatory policy.
In the November 2010, following a complaint by the parents of a student, the Plano ISD textbook board decided to remove the textbook, Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities: Alternative Volume by Lawrence S. Cunningham, from its Humanities curriculum because the illustrations of works of art included nudity and various sex acts. After a public outcry, the decision was reversed within days.

List of schools

Each household in Plano ISD is zoned to an elementary school, a middle school, a high school, and a senior high school. High schools serve grades 9–10 while senior high schools serve grades 11–12; however, any 9th or 10th grader is eligible to participate in extracurricular sports at the senior high level. There are 67 schools: 44 elementary schools, 13 middles schools, 6 high schools, 3 senior high schools, and 1 alternative STEM-based high school, Plano ISD Academy High School. Out of the 67 schools, 56 are located within the city of Plano. There are 4 schools in both Murphy and Richardson, 2 schools are in North Dallas, and 1 school in Allen.

Secondary schools

Senior high schools (grades 11-12)

ElementaryMiddleHighSenior High
ChristieCarpenterClarkPlano
HarringtonCarpenterClarkPlano
ThomasCarpenterClarkPlano
BeverlyHendrickClarkPlano
HedgcoxeHendrickClarkPlano
RasorHendrickClarkPlano
BethanySchimelpfenigClarkPlano
CarlisleSchimelpfenigClarkPlano
MathewsSchimelpfenigClarkPlano
DavisHaggardVinesPlano
HughstonHaggardVinesPlano
SaiglingHaggardVinesPlano
WellsHaggardVinesPlano
AldridgeWilsonVinesPlano
Jackson WilsonVinesPlano
ShepardWilsonVinesPlano
SiglerWilsonVinesPlano
WeatherfordWilsonVinesPlano
DooleyArmstrongMcMillenPlano East
FormanArmstrongMcMillenPlano East
MeadowsArmstrongMcMillenPlano East
BoggessMurphyMcMillenPlano East
HuntMurphyMcMillenPlano East
MillerMurphyMcMillenPlano East
BarronBowmanWilliamsPlano East
HickeyBowmanWilliamsPlano East
McCallBowmanWilliamsPlano East
MemorialBowmanWilliamsPlano East
MendenhallOttoWilliamsPlano East
SchellOttoWilliamsPlano East
StinsonOttoWilliamsPlano East
AndrewsRiceJasperPlano West
SkaggsRiceJasperPlano West
WyattRiceJasperPlano West
DaffronRobinsonJasperPlano West
GulledgeRobinsonJasperPlano West
HaunRobinsonJasperPlano West
BarksdaleRennerSheptonPlano West
BrinkerRennerSheptonPlano West
CentennialRennerSheptonPlano West
HuffmanRennerSheptonPlano West
HaggarFrankfordSheptonPlano West
HightowerFrankfordSheptonPlano West
Jackson FrankfordSheptonPlano West
MitchellFrankfordSheptonPlano West