The Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees approved the naming and attendance zones for Joe Lee Johnson Elementary School, the district’s 34th elementary school, slated to open August 2016.
The board unanimously approved the naming and attendance zones at its regular meeting Dec. 17. The naming was first proposed to the board at its Nov. 19 meeting.
“I am proud that the Round Rock ISD community and our Board of Trustees chose to honor Joe Lee Johnson with the naming of our latest school,” Johnson Elementary School Principal Gabi Niño said. “I look forward to the incredible opportunity to teach our students about the legacy of Joe Lee Johnson.”
Johnson served as a principal, coach, teacher and bus driver for Round Rock ISD from 1950 to 1986. He also attended and graduated from Hopewell School, then served as its principal during the desegregation period in 1966.
Johnson was the epitome of education, Round Rock Opportunity Center teacher and Johnson mentee Tina Steiner-Johnson said.
“He pushed his students to be all that they could be and then pushed them some more; anything less than their best was unacceptable,” Steiner-Johnson said. “His passion for teaching was so intense that it made students want to learn.”
The attendance zones were first proposed to the board at its Oct. 15 meeting, then again following public hearings on its Nov. 19 meeting.
Under the recently passed attendance zones, Wells Branch Elementary School will drop to a 65 percent utilization rate, down from 130 percent and Johnson Elementary School will open at 57 percent with approximately 522 students.
Bluebonnet is slated to stay at 105 percent utilization, down from 111 percent. Senior Chief of Schools and Innovation Dr. Daniel Presley reported that the district plans to relieve Bluebonnet by reducing the amount of its students from other attendance zones who attend the school for special programs. Bluebonnet currently serves more than 100 students in various programs that could be expanded to other schools next year, Dr. Presley said.
Johnson Elementary School was approved in the 2014 bond with a bond sale of $36.7 million for the construction project. The school will be located at 2800 Sauls Dr., Austin.
