Prosper Independent School District

Prosper Independent School District (PISD or Prosper ISD) is a public school district based in Prosper, Texas, United States. Located in Collin County, a portion of the district extends into Denton County.

Prosper Independent School District
Location
Prosper, Texas
2[1]
United States
District information
TypePublic
MottoChildren First
GradesPK-12
SuperintendentDr. Holly Ferguson[2]
Deputy superintendent(s)
  • Dr. Greg Bradley
  • Dr. Kyle Penn
  • Mr. Jeff Crownover
Chair of the boardBill Beavers
SchoolsEarly Childhood Center: 1
Elementary: 17
Middle: 4
High: 3
Budget134.24 million USD (2015-2016)[3]
NCES District ID4836000[3]
Students and staff
Students19,140 (2020-2021)[3]
Teachers1,273.37 (2020-2021)[3]
Staff2,019 (2020-21)[3]
Student–teacher ratio16:1
Other information
Websitewww.prosper-isd.net

The district enrollment was 14,287 as of the 2018-2019 school year.[4] The student body of Prosper High School (as of the 2019-2020 school year) consists of 1,229 freshmen, 1,078 sophomores, 983 juniors, and 804 seniors. The high school enrollment is approximately 4,094 as of the 2019-2020 school year.

The town of Prosper continues to experience large population growth, and PISD expects to add new schools as the need arises. The land for Rock Hill High School (opened in 2020) is signed off of the west side of Coit Road in north Frisco, south of U.S. 380. There are also signs for future high schools on the south side of Parvin Road (between Dallas Parkway and County Road 1381), the south side of East First Street (between Coit Road and Custer Road), and the north side of County Road 123 (between Custer Road and Lake Forest Drive in northwest McKinney). PISD has planned to have 6-8 comprehensive 5A high schools at build-out.

The district continues to add extra schools as population growth increases the demands. For the 2022-23 school year, Prosper ISD opened a new school, Joyce Hall Elementary.

In 2011, the school district was rated "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.

Prosper ISD has its own police department separate from the Town of Prosper Police. This is because PISD covers areas and has schools in six municipalities (Prosper, Texas; Celina, Texas; Frisco, Texas; McKinney, Texas; Collin County; and Denton County). A Prosper police officer would only have jurisdiction in the town of Prosper, while a PISD officer can cover any school in any area of Prosper ISD.[5]

Demographics
Prosper ISD Ethnicity Data 2018–2019[6]
Ethnicity Percent
White 61.1%
Asian 10.4%
Hispanic 12.7%
African American 8.4%
American Indian 0.3%
Pacific Islander 0.1%
Two or More Races 7.1%

Schools

High Schools (Grades 9-12)

Middle Schools (Grades 6-8)

  • Lorene Rogers Middle School (Opened Fall 2008) (Prosper)
  • Reynolds Middle School (Opened Fall 2010) (Prosper)
  • Bill Hays Middle School (Opened Fall 2019) (Frisco)
  • William Rushing Middle School (Opened Fall 2020) (Prosper)
  • Daniel L. Jones Middle School (Opening Fall 2024) (Frisco)

Elementary Schools (PK-5)

  • John Baker Elementary School (McKinney)
  • Ralph & Mary Lynn Boyer Elementary School (Celina)
  • Mrs. Jerry Bryant Elementary School (Prosper)
  • Dan Christie Elementary School (Celina)
  • Judy Cockrell Elementary School (Prosper)
  • R. Steve Folsom Elementary School (Prosper)
  • Furr Elementary School (McKinney)
  • Joyce Hall Elementary (Prosper)
  • Jim & Betty Hughes Elementary School (McKinney)
  • Sam Johnson Elementary School (Celina)
  • Light Farms Elementary School (Celina)
  • Lilyana Elementary School (Celina)
  • Reeves Elementary School (McKinney)
  • Judy Rucker Elementary School (Prosper)
  • John Spradley Elementary School (Frisco)
  • Chuck and Cindy Stuber Elementary School (Prosper)
  • Windsong Ranch Elementary School (Prosper)

Other Campuses

  • DAEP
  • Brenda Calhoun Early Childhood School

Former Schools

  • Prosper Elementary School (Now Rucker)
  • Prosper Middle School (Closed Summer 2008)

History

In the 1990s, PISD had 2 campus: Prosper Elementary (grades PK-5) and another campus housing Prosper Middle and High Schools (grades 6-12)

In the early 2000s, a new Prosper High School was built, followed by 2 new elementary schools. Along the way, Prosper Elementary was renamed Rucker Elementary.

In 2007, Prosper Middle School hosted 7th and 8th graders in its final year.

In 2008, Rogers Middle School opened, replacing Prosper Middle School. The PMS campus was renovated into PISD's Administration Building.

In 2009, Prosper High School moved into its new $120 million dollar campus, which was the most expensive high school ever built in Texas.

In 2010, the former PHS building opened after a year of renovations as Reynolds Middle school, housing 7th and 8th graders. With this change, Rogers Middle School housed only 5th and 6th graders.

In 2012, Cockrell Elementary was opened.

In 2015, Light Farms Elementary was opened.

In 2016, Hughes and Windsong Elementary schools opened, which allowed the district to move from PK-4 elementary campuses to grades PK-5. With this transition, both middle schools now host grades 6-8.

In 2018, the University Interscholastic League classified PISD's first high school as 6A.[7]

In 2019, Children's Health Stadium opened as a 12,000 seat stadium for Prosper ISD football games. With this addition, Prosper High School played home games at Children's Health Stadium, moving away from the relatively tiny Eagle Stadium near Reynolds Middle School. Children's Health Hospital paid $2.5 million dollars for the naming rights to the stadium.[8]

The same year, Hays Middle School opened, becoming the first school in Prosper ISD with an animal other than an Eagle as their mascot or with school colors other than green and white. Hays uses the Hawk as their mascot and uses the primary school color blue. Rock Hill High School, into which Hays feeds, used the Blue Hawks as the school's mascot and blue as the primary school color when it opened in 2020.

In 2020, Rock Hill High School opened, meaning PISD had more than one high school for the first time in district history. Rock Hill High School was built for roughly $200 million dollars,[9] making it the most expensive high school ever built in Texas. That fall, Prosper also opened Johnson Elementary School, named after Representative Sam Johnson, and Rushing Middle School, named after former superintendent William Rushing.

Criticism

In September 2015, Greg Wright created controversy for the school and the Prosper School District as reported in the Dallas Morning News when he was caught criticizing a teacher that reported another teacher from PHS to the Police for inappropriately touching a student.[10]

In 2018, two editorials were removed from Prosper High School's student newspaper. John Burdett, the principal of the school, claimed that it put the school in an incorrectly assessed negative position.[11] The students claimed that they would be censored if they tried to criticize the school.[12]

In 2022, a bus driver from Prosper ISD was accused of sexually abusing two girls "more than 100 times."[13][14] The bus driver mainly drove buses for an elementary school that fed into Rock Hill, but had also previously served Rock Hill High School students. The victims’ parents eventually found out about the abuse and filed a lawsuit. Prosper ISD fired the bus driver. Both the district and the school did not publicly announce the incident until over 3 months after the incident.[15] According to the parent lawsuit, the parents of the victims received a phone call from the school's superintendent requesting that the accusations not be made public "so as to not attract media attention to her family or to Prosper ISD staff."[16][17][18] This perceived lack of transparency incensed many members of the school's PTA, who called for further investigation in meetings. For further investigation, Prosper ISD hired a firm with ties to the school, although parents and the PTA demanded the school hire an independent third party firm.[19][20] Several parents have called for the resignation of the superintendent and other high-ranking officials at the high school, with some PTA meetings ending with chants to fire the superintendent.[21] No school administrators have resigned since.[22]

References
  1. 2012-14 Official Football and 2012-13 Official Basketball District Alignment, Conference 4A
  2. "Administrative Staff / District Leadership". Prosper ISD. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  3. "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Prosper Isd". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  4. "Prosper ISD". Texas Public Schools. 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  5. "WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR PISD HAVING ITS OWN POLICE DEPARTMENT?". 2020-09-23.
  6. "PROSPER ISD | Profile | Explore Texas Schools".
  7. Alex Lessard, Hailey Sutton and Sara Carpenter (2018-02-05). "Prosper athletics ready to make the jump to 6A". Prosper Press. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  8. "Naming the football stadium isn't enough. Children's Health will pay Prosper ISD nearly $3 million more in programs and cash". Dallas News. 2019-10-20. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  9. "Rock Hill High School". Pogue Construction. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  10. Miller, Steve (2018-08-24). "Administrator who helped cover up sexual misconduct is still working for Prosper ISD". The Texas Monitor. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  11. Student Press Law Center
  12. Student Journalists Allege Censorship
  13. "More families coming forward with abuse allegations against Prosper ISD bus driver, attorneys say". wfaa.com. August 30, 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  14. Button, Russell. "Prosper Parents Outraged After Discovering Sexual Abuse of Young Girls by Bus Driver". Button Law Firm.
  15. "Parents angry Prosper ISD waited months to address child sex assault allegations against bus driver". wfaa.com. August 30, 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  16. "Family sues Prosper ISD, says daughters were abused by bus driver more than 100 times". Dallas News. 2022-08-25. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  17. Quillen • •, Alanna. "Parents Furious Over Prosper ISD's Handling of Sexual Assault Allegations". NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  18. Texas Eastern District Court. Doe v. Prosper Independent School District. 6 Dec. 2022, https://texasscorecard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/prosper-isd-second-amended-complaint-12-6-22.pdf . Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.
  19. Yager, Peyton (2022-09-13). "Prosper ISD to hire firm to investigate after lawsuit alleges bus driver sexually abused students". FOX 4. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  20. "Prosper school trustees hire new firm to investigate response to sexual abuse allegations". Dallas News. 2022-09-13. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  21. Anderson, Erin (2022-12-21). "Prosper ISD Parents Await Report on Sex Abuse Scandal and Cover-up While Superintendent Job Hunts". Texas Scorecard. Retrieved 2023-04-08.
  22. Anderson, Erin (2022-09-14). "Prosper ISD Parents Again Demand Accountability for Sex Abuse Cover-up". Texas Scorecard. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
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