On Monday, the Allen ISD School Board named the new principal for Elementary School #18, reviewed policies for changing school zones and viewed the proposed changes for the school zones.

Robin Bullock, assistant superintendent of school leadership and support services, revisited the schedule for rezoning and revealed the proposed changes for the new school zones.

“[Elementary school 18] provides us the opportunity to relieve some crowding at some of our bigger campuses,” Bullock said. “And it’s also to plan for future student enrollment growth that we will be experiencing.”

Bullock said that the board worked with a primary goal of reuniting neighborhoods such as Star Creek and keeping elementary students together.

“Our goal was to group major subdivisions into schools while taking future developments into account,” Bullock said.

The zoning will affect the school district’s northwest sector — the district’s biggest sector — and around 600 elementary school students.

“We’ve tried very hard to move the least number of kids,” school board president Louise Master said.

Some of the proposed changes, such as a neighborhood’s switch from Boon to Cheatham Elementary, could result in changes at the secondary level. To accommodate this, the district has grandfathering rules to prevent major changes.

“Current fifth graders can request to remain at their campus for their sixth grade year,” Bullock said. “Sixth graders living in areas affected by the zoning will have the choice to remain in their old middle school feeder pattern or attend the new middle school from rezoning, and current seventh graders may choose to stay at their current middle school for eighth grade.”

Two public meetings focused on community input on the rezoning proposals will be held at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 and Nov. 10 at the Allen ISD Service Center. Residents can also email their input on the plan to publicinfo@allenisd.org.

During the meeting, the school board named Johnna Walker as the new principal for elementary school 18. Walker is currently the principal at Marion Elementary.

“I’ve been at Marion since 2003 when it opened,” Walker said. “But I’ve left my legacy there, and I’m excited for a new challenge of Elementary 18.”