Plano Independent School District
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Plano Independent School District (PISD or Plano ISD) is a public school district in Plano, Texas (USA). Plano ISD also takes students from some areas of Dallas, Richardson, Allen, Murphy, and Parker.
Led by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Douglas Otto, PISD serves 53,000 students and employs 6,500 faculty members spread across 65 schools and 3 special and early education centers. The district is renowned for its high academic standards. PISD has an operating budget of 479 million U.S. dollars. Accolades are listed on the website.
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[edit] Educational Structure
Plano ISD has an educational structure that slightly departs from the typical U.S. educational pattern. Primary education in PISD, following the typical U.S. structure, consists of 42 elementary schools that serve the first through fifth grades. However, PISD's system of secondary education consists of 12 middle schools that serve the sixth through eighth grades, 5 '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' a certain school of the next highest level, meaning that students leaving the lower level schools attend the higher level school. The one exception to the feeder system is for students wishing to participate in the International Baccalaureate program, which is only offered at Clark High School, Williams High School, and Plano East Senior High School. Parents of students may also request transfers out of their students' assigned schools for various reasons (such as to take classes unique to a particular school).
This system leads to incredibly huge 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 2,344, 2,526, and 1,879 students, respectively. Each year's graduating class is approximately half of each number. Graduation typically takes place at Reunion Arena in Dallas.[citation needed]
All three of PISD's senior high schools were recently listed in the top 500 of Newsweek's list of 1000 top high schools in America which ranked schools using the ratio of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students in 2004 to the number of graduating seniors. Plano ISD schools reportedly administer more Advanced Placement tests than any other school district west of the Mississippi River.[citation needed]
[edit] In the news
On 20 January, 2006, a Hurricane Katrina evacuee enrolled at Plano West Senior High School and his biology teacher discovered what the students have affectionately named "X-fish" - a prehistoric fish - on the school grounds. [6]
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 lawsuitagainst the district only alleges the banning of red and green plates, napkins and other items brought to the school "winter parties."
That lawsuit was originally filed against PISD on Dec 15, 2004 (Jonathan Morgan, et al., v. the Plano Independent School District, et al.). 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 Temporary Restraining Order, requiring PISD to lift these restrictions.
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 (in July of 2003.) 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 (SWAT,) alleging religious discrimination. In a Decision of the US District Court 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Secondary schools
[edit] Senior high schools
[edit] High schools
[edit] Middle schools
- Armstrong Middle School
- Bowman Middle School
- Carpenter Middle School
- Frankford Middle School
- Haggard Middle School
- Hendrick Middle School
- Murphy Middle School
- Otto Middle School (planned for Fall 2009 or Fall 2010)
- Renner Middle School
- Rice Middle School
- Robinson Middle School
- Schimelpfenig Middle School
- Wilson Middle School
[edit] K-8 schools
- Special Programs Center
[edit] Primary schools
- Aldridge Elementary School (within Richardson city limits)
- Andrews Elementary School
- Barksdale Elementary School
- Bethany Elementary School
- Beverly Elementary School
- Boggess Elementary School
- Brinker Elementary School
- Carlisle Elementary School
- Centennial Elementary School
- Christie Elementary School
- Daffron Elementary School
- Davis Elementary School
- Dooley Elementary School
- Forman Elementary School
- Gulledge Elementary School
- Haggar Elementary School
- Harrington Elementary School
- Haun Elementary School
- Hedgcoxe Elementary School
- Hickey Elementary School
- Hightower Elementary School
- Huffman Elementary School
- Hughston Elementary School
- Hunt Elementary School
- Jackson Elementary School
- Mathews Elementary School
- McCall Elementary School
- Meadows Elementary School
- Memorial Elementary School
- Mendenhall Elementary School
- Miller Elementary School
- Mitchell Elementary School
- Rasor Elementary School
- Saigling Elementary School
- Schell Elementary School (under construction for Fall 2007 in Richardson city limits)
- Shepard Elementary School
- Sigler Elementary School
- Skaggs Elementary School
- Stinson Elementary School (also within Richardson city limits)
- Thomas Elementary School
- Weatherford Elementary School
- Wells Elementary School
- Wyatt Elementary School
[edit] Early childhood schools
- Barron Early Childhood School
- Beaty Early Childhood School
- Pearson Early Childhood School
[edit] Notes
- ↑ Kantrowitz, Barbara. "The 1000 Best High Schools in America." Newsweek. 16 May 2005. Accessed 10 December 2005.
- ↑ "'Red & Green Clothing Ban' False Rumor". PISD.edu. 12 December 2005. Accessed 25 December 2005.
- ↑ Breen, Kim. "O'Reilly: I made mistake". The Dallas Morning News. 21 December 2005. Accessed 25 December 2005.
- ↑ Celia J. Chiu, et al. v. Plano Independent School District, et al. Accessed 10 December 2005.
- ↑ Know Your School District: Plano ISD. Plano Independent School District. Retrieved on 2006-07-10.
- ↑ Intra-District Transfers: Plano ISD. Plano Independent School District. Retrieved on 2006-07-10.
- ↑ International Baccalaureate: Plano ISD. Plano Independent School District. Retrieved on 2006-07-10.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| 2006 Texas Education Agency Accountability Rating |
| Exemplary | Recognized | Academically Acceptable | Academically Unacceptable | Not Rated: Other |
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Senior High Schools | Plano Senior | Plano East | Plano West |
| High Schools | Clark | Jasper | Shepton | Vines | Williams |
| Middle Schools | Armstrong | Bowman | Carpenter | Frankford | Haggard | Hendrick | Murphy | Renner | Rice | Robinson | Schimelpfenig | Wilson |
| K-8 Schools | Special Programs Center |
| Elementary Schools | Aldridge | Andrews | Barksdale | Bethany | Beverly | Boggess | Brinker | Carlisle | Centennial | Christie | Daffron | Davis | Dooley | Forman | Gulledge | Haggar | Harrington | Haun | Hedgcoxe | Hickey | Hightower | Huffman | Hughston | Hunt | Jackson | Mathews | McCall | Meadows | Memorial | Mendenhall | Miller | Mitchell | Rasor | Saigling | Shepard | Sigler | Skaggs | Stinson | Thomas | Weatherford | Wells | Wyatt |
| Early Childhood Schools | Barron | Beaty | Pearson |
