The Conroe ISD bond proposition A passed, changes are coming over the next few years. Perhaps the most radical change for Caney Creek High School is gaining a freshman campus, separating sophomores, juniors and seniors, a structure already adopted Conroe and The Woodlands to control ever growing populations.
“The district has done a great job providing, and helping us provide what we need to be a top-rated school,” Associate Principal of Operations Brad Milam said.
According to district bond documents, the ninth-grade campus will have a capacity of 1,600 students and is slated to open August 2027. Proposition A also included infrastructure improvements to the HVAC system. With the freshman campus having approval to be built, an expansion of the current campus is off the table.
“We wouldn’t want to come in and spend a ton of money expanding the current campus knowing in four years we’re going to have a freshman campus,” Milam said.
Conroe ISD previously bought land for the campus, which will be located on FM 1485 near Vick Cemetery Road.
The school has even been preparing for the day when freshmen move to their new campus, separating them from their peers class wise via a wing of the school dedicated for them.
“That’s why we created the freshman area,” Milam said. “Because we saw this coming years ago.”
There will still be complications, though. Principal Dr. Terri Benson was an associate principal at Conroe High School, as well as headmaster of Conroe’s Academy of Health Science. Her time at Conroe’s campus gave her insight into the day-to-day, operational issues with having a separate grade level.
“I was a part of the transition at Conroe High when we opened up the ninth grade campus there,” Benson said. “It does feel different at the main campus without the freshmen, but there’s pros and cons to every decision that’s ever been made.”
Freshmen will have a maturity issue when they hit sophomore year because there’s no peer regulation, according to Benson.
“In Conroe, we called the sophomores who moved to the main campus ‘fresh-mores,’” she said. “Because, by the time that upperclassmen force them to act a certain way ,it’s their sophomore year.”
Freshmen students will also manage various extracurricular activities on the ninth-grade campus. But once built, the ninth-grade campus will restrict freshman from moving campus to campus because of transportation cost. Though freshmen could feel alienated from their upperclassmen peers, they’ll have one another as a “collective unit,” Benson said.
“I witnessed that at Conroe High, freshmen became their own entity,” Benson said.
This transition affects students, but also staff.
“A year before we open the ninth-grade campus, I’m going to be meeting with all staff individually to determine if they teach freshmen next year,” Benson said. “Then, the following year, they’re going to separate. … That’s honestly the most difficult part.”
Another section of the bond, proposition D, failed. It would have granted the district an expansion of the natatorium to include outdoor lanes. All six high schools currently split time in the natatorium, often causing a lack of time for everyone across the board.
Benson said the reason was lack of voter turnout.
“It was a super example of voter apathy,” Benson said. “There were several people who chose not to vote in the election. “On top of that, only 20% of Caney Creek’s eligible voters actually voted. I voted early, my husband voted early, and so did my 21 year old daughter and 18 year old son. So the question becomes: Why would someone choose not to exercise their right?”
