Northside Independent School District

Northside Independent School District is a school district headquartered in Leon Valley, Texas.[1][2] It is the largest school district in the San Antonio area and the fourth largest[3] in the State of Texas. Northside serves 355 square miles (920 km2) of urban landscape, suburban growth and rural territory in the San Antonio suburbs and the Hill Country. Northside is roughly 50 percent built out with the center of the district's boundaries near Helotes, just north of the Bandera Road and Loop 1604 intersection. Because of fast-paced growth, the district envisions possibly another four high schools over the next few decades, including far west areas off Potranco Road and Hwy 211 (near the Medina County line), Culebra Road (FM 471) past Talley Road, I-10 near Boerne Stage Road (north of the Dominion) and far north Bandera Road (Hwy 16) near the Pipe Creek/Bandera County/Medina County areas.

This article is about the district which serves the San Antonio area. For the Northside ISD near Vernon, see Northside Independent School District (Wilbarger County, Texas).

Northside Independent School District
Location
San Antonio, TX
United States
District information
TypePublic
GradesK-12
Established1949
SuperintendentDr. John Craft
Deputy superintendent(s)Ray Galindo, David Rastellini, Dr. Janis Jordan
NCES District ID4833120
Students and staff
Students106,000+
Teachers6240
Staff12847
Student–teacher ratio15.6:1
Other information
Websitenisd.net

Northside ISD serves a portion of the city of San Antonio as well as the cities of Grey Forest, Leon Valley, Shavano Park, Helotes, and the unincorporated communities of Cross Mountain, Leon Springs, and Scenic Oaks. The district also serves some unincorporated portions of Bexar, Bandera and Medina counties.

In 2011, the school district was rated "recognized" by the Texas Education Agency for the fourth consecutive year.[4]

Administration

Superintendent

The current superintendent of Northside Independent School District is Dr. Brian Woods. Prior to his appointment in 2012, he was a social studies teacher, administrator, the assistant superintendent for secondary administration, and the named deputy superintendent for administration for the school district.[5] In June of 2023, Dr. Woods retired after 11 years of being superintendent. As. of August 2023, Dr. John Craft is the superintendent of the district.

Campuses

Northside ISD has over 110 campus locations:

High schools

Northside has chosen a unique method of naming its traditional high schools; each school is named for a former or current United States Supreme Court justice. Under current district policy,[6] eighth graders who will be part of a new high school's first graduating class are encouraged to research prior justices and submit nominations.

The justices so honored are Louis D. Brandeis, William J. Brennan, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Jay, John Marshall (the oldest high school; originally named Northside Rural High School but later renamed to conform to the naming convention), Sandra Day O'Connor (attended the school's dedication), John Paul Stevens (also attended the school's dedication), William Howard Taft, and Earl Warren. The 12th and newest high school in the district, Sonia M. Sotomayor High School, opened on August 22, 2022. The school is named after the Supreme Court justice Sonia M. Sotomayor, who is the first woman of color, first Hispanic and first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court.

Magnet high schools

Middle schools

Elementary schools
Ed Cody Elementary School, which opened in 1982 and is located at 10403 Dugas Drive adjacent to Fillmore Street, is named for Edmund D. Cody, the NISD superintendent from 1965 to 1982.
Thomas L. Hatchett Sr. Elementary School at 10700 Ingram Road in San Antonio was named in 2005 for an African-American educator (1932-2003) and native of Navasota, Texas, who began his teaching career after retiring in 1971 from the United States Air Force.[8]
  • Adams Hill (1972)
  • Allen (1960)
  • Aue (2007)
  • Beard (2003)
  • Behlau (2010)
  • Blattman (2003)
  • Boldt (2015)
  • Boone (1974)
  • Brauchle (1990)
  • Braun Station (1982)
  • Burke (2000)
  • Cable (1958)
  • Carlos Coon (1978)
  • Carnahan (2008)
  • Carson (1998)
  • Cole (2016)
  • Ed Cody (1982)
  • Ellison (2014)
  • Colonies North (1966)
  • Driggers (2007)
  • Elrod (1988)
  • Esparza (1972)
  • Evers (1992)
  • Fernandez (1990)
  • Fields (2016)
  • Fisher (2006)
  • Forester (2008)
  • Franklin (2013)
  • Galm (1987)
  • Glass (1956)
  • Glenn (1962)
  • Glenoaks (1961)
  • Hatchett (2004)
  • Helotes (1950)
  • Henderson (2010)
  • Hoffmann (2009)
  • Howsman (1969)
  • Kallison (2017)
  • Knowlton (1985)
  • Krueger (2005)
  • Kuentz (2009)
  • Langley (2009)
  • Leon Springs (1991)
  • Leon Valley (1980)
  • Lewis (2001)
  • Lieck (2011)
  • Linton (1980)
  • Locke Hill (1975)
  • Los Reyes (2012)
  • Martin (2010)
  • Mary Hull (1963)
  • May (1997)
  • McAndrew (2013)
  • McDermott (1992)
  • Mead (2006)
  • Meadow Village (1968)
  • Michael (1999)
  • Mireles (2011)
  • Mora (2018)
  • Murnin (2006)
  • Myers (1997)
  • Nichols (2002)
  • Northwest Crossing (1982)
  • Oak Hills Terrace (1968)
  • Ott (2004)
  • Passmore (1970)
  • Powell (1962)
  • Raba (2000)
  • Reed (2023)
  • Rhodes (2002)
  • Scarborough (2008)
  • Scobee (1987)
  • Steubing (1997)
  • Thornton (1989)
  • Timberwilde (1980)
  • Tomlinson (2021)
  • Valley Hi (1963)
  • Villarreal (1968)
  • Wanke (2006)
  • Ward (2003)
  • Wernli (2020)
  • Westwood Terrace (1961)

Special schools
  • Irene L. Chavez Excel Academy
  • John C. Holmgreen Center
  • Nellie M. Reddix Center
  • Northside Alternative High School
  • Northside Alternative Middle School
  • Northside Learning Center (Adult Education)
  • Northside Learning Center (Community Education)

Student locator project

The school district spent over $500,000 on a system whereby students wear an RFID chip and barcode around their necks, allowing the school to track their location during the school day. The students needed the tag "to use the library or cafeteria, vote in school elections, and in some cases for toilet breaks".[9] One student was expelled in 2012 after refusing to either wear the tag or to wear a version of it that included the barcode but not the RFID tag. Her objections were for reasons of religion, privacy, and freedom of expression; the school had also forbidden her from handing out leaflets criticizing the program. She later returned to the school following a federal judge's injunction.[9] The school district's website was brought down in retaliation for the program. An individual claiming responsibility for the website disruption described the school district as "pervs" for their policy of RFID tracking children.[10]

The RFID tracking program was discontinued for the 2013-2014 school year. Even during the controversy, the program was very limited in scope. The schools chosen have the fewest percentage of white students (Jones M.S.: 4% and John Jay H.S.: 13%).

Police department

The Northside Independent School District Police Department is the district's full-service police department. The department has jurisdiction in the district's boundaries, and has primary jurisdiction over all district property regardless of county.[11]

Incidents
  • On September 11, 2007, NISD police officer Patrick Ritchey reported that he was shot twice through his bulletproof vest with his own pistol after confronting two men after seeing graffiti at Lackland City Elementary School (now Allen Elementary). Following an overnight search by the San Antonio Police Department for the suspects, Ritchey admitted that he shot himself.[12][13]
  • On May 16, 2012, NISD police officer Doug Schramm negligently discharged his pistol in his office at Jordan Middle School. Schramm immediately informed the NISD police chief and campus principal, and it was found that the bullet did not leave the office.[14] He was put on administrative leave and later fired on May 29 for unholstering a gun inside the school.[15]
  • In August 2016, Texas Commission on Law Enforcement investigators recommended criminal charges against NISD police chief Charles Carnes and suspension of his peace officer license for falsely stating that NISD officers do not make routine traffic stops and failing to submit the required racial profiling reports for years.[16][17]

Shooting of Derek Lopez

On November 12, 2010, Northside ISD police officer Daniel Alvarado shot and killed 14 year old student Derek Lopez. Alvarado witnessed Lopez punch another student at a bus stop and pursued him, then radioed his supervisor who instructed him to stay with the victim. Alvarado returned to his car and ordered the victim into his car and pursued Lopez. Lopez jumped over fences then closed himself in a backyard shed. Alvarado approached the shed with his pistol drawn, and when Lopez opened the door he fired one round. Alvarado claimed he feared for his life and that Lopez was charging for his weapon or had taken a weapon from the shed.[18]

Alvarado had been reprimanded at 12 times and suspended 4 times prior to the incident and on May 29, 2008 the NISD Police Department considered his termination.[19] He resigned in January 2013, and later that year Northside ISD settled the federal lawsuit brought against it by Lopez's mother for $925,000.[20]

History

The district was formed in 1949 via consolidation of several rural school districts, having a mere 823 students:

  • Clifton
  • Culebra
  • Helotes (including the former Los Reyes district which Helotes absorbed in 1939)
  • Hoffman
  • Leon Springs
  • Leon Valley (including the former Evers district which Leon Valley absorbed in 1924)
  • Locke Hill
  • Lockhart
  • Mackey
  • San Antonio Heights

See also

References
  1. "Contact Northside ISD." Northside Independent School District. March 12, 2011. "5900 Evers Rd. • San Antonio, TX 78238-1606"
  2. "Leon Valley city, Texas." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on March 12, 2011.
  3. "Facts and Figures : Northside Independent School District - San Antonio, TX 78238". Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved December 20, 2007.
  4. "2009 Accountability Rating System". Texas Education Agency. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015.
  5. "UTSA alumnus Brian Woods named Northside ISD superintendent". www.utsa.edu. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  6. http://www.tasb.org/policy/pol/private/015915/pol.cfm?DisplayPage=CW(LOCAL).html Archived 2006-08-30 at the Wayback Machine Local District Policy for naming schools
  7. "Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982–1983 Through 1999–2002" (PDF). United States Department of Education. n.d. pp. 77–82. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  8. "Namesake: Thomas L. Hatchett, Sr". nisd.net. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  9. Thomson, Iain (November 21, 2012), Texan schoolgirl expelled for refusing to wear RFID tag, The Register, retrieved December 11, 2012
  10. Sharwood, Simon (November 27, 2012), ‘Anonymous’ takes down Texan RFID-tracking school, The Register, retrieved December 11, 2012
  11. "Northside ISD Police Department". USACOPS. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  12. "Officer shot in chest later admits shooting himself". MyPlainview. September 11, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  13. "NISD Officer Wounds Self". KSAT 12. September 12, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  14. Konnath, Hailey (May 16, 2012). "NISD police officer's gun goes off on campus". mySanAntonio. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  15. Casady, Michelle (June 6, 2012). "Investigation leads to NISD officer's firing". mySanAntonio. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  16. Collier, Dillon (August 26, 2016). "State agency recommends felony charge, suspension for NISD police chief". KENS 5. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  17. Malik, Alia (August 29, 2016). "State investigation says Northside ISD police chief should be suspended". Associated Press. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  18. "Officer who shot student had history of not following orders". mySanAntonio. May 20, 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  19. "Documents: Officer who shot teen had history of problems". KENS 5. May 23, 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  20. Vara-Qrta, Francisco (October 1, 2013). "Northside ISD to pay mother of boy its officer killed". mySanAntonio. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
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