Klein Independent School District (Klein ISD) is a

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

that covers in Harris County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States. It became an

independent school district An independent school district (ISD) is a type of school district in some US states for primary and secondary education that operates as an entity independent and separate from any municipality or county, and only under the oversight of the resp ...

in 1938. Almost all of the territory is

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

; a small portion of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

is within the district. In the 2020–2021 school year, Klein ISD had 52,824 students. Klein ISD is part of the taxation base for the

Lone Star College System Lone Star College (LSC) is a public community college system serving the northern portions of the Greater Houston, Texas, area. In 2017 it enrolled about 95,000 students. The headquarters of the Lone Star College System are located in The Wood ...

. , Jenny McGown is Superintendent of Schools. The district has 33 elementary schools (including a Pre-K designated school), ten intermediate schools, and five high schools. For the 2018–2019 school year, the district received a score of 89 out of 100 from the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

History

Rural High School District No. 1 was formed in July 1928 as a result of the consolidation of five common school districts, including French School, the schools of Hildebrandt, Oak Grove, Willow Creek, Kothman, Harrel, Fuchs, and the Kohrville School for black children. The district became Klein Independent School District in 1938, named after Adam Klein, who led many German immigrants into the area in 1854. It is board policy that all high schools include the name 'Klein' in honor of the district's namesake. After Klein High School's current building was constructed in 1963, the original Klein High was used as the administration building. The current Klein ISD Central Office building opened in 1981. In 1971, Donald Collins became the district's superintendent and served until his retirement in 2000. Under his tenure, the number of schools in the district rose from 6 to 28. In 2001,

Klein Collins High School Klein Collins High School is a public high school located at 20811 Ella Boulevard in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States. The school, with a Spring, Texas postal address but outside of the Spring census-designated place, serves stu ...

was named in his honor. Jim Cain served as superintendent from 2004 to 2016. Formerly a director of school administration in Klein ISD before moving to Fort Bend ISD, Dr. Cain returned to Klein and worked as the assistant/associate superintendent for administration. In 2017, Klein Cain High School was named after him.

Communities

Klein ISD serves unincorporated portions of northern Harris County, Texas, and includes the communities and neighborhoods of Klein, Kohrville, Louetta, and parts of North Houston. Some areas within the

Spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

and Tomball postal designations, and a portion of "

Acres Homes Acres Homes is a neighborhood located in northwest Houston, Texas. The mile area is loosely bounded by the city limits and West Gulf Bank Road to the north; Pinemont Drive to the south; North Shepherd Drive to the east; and Alabonson Drive to th ...

" within the city limits of Houston are also served by Klein ISD. The Klein ISD Board of Trustees passed a resolution at their January 2016 meeting regarding renaming the 88 square miles encompassing Klein ISD as Klein, Tx. The resolution includes the following: # Recommends that residents living within the district boundaries refer to their community as Klein, Texas; # Recommends that citizens within zip codes 77379, 77389 and 77391 use Klein, Texas as their address; and # Directs that all Klein ISD buildings and facilities be identified as being in Klein, Texas. By Texas legislative action in 1977, the area inside the boundaries of the Klein ISD was designated as Klein, Texas.

Students

Academics

For each school year, the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

rates school district performance based on statistical data. Beginning in 2017–2018, the agency calculates a score for each district from 0 to 100 which is used to assign a grade from A to F. School districts did not receive a score or rating for 2019–2020 or for 2020–2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. For the 2018–2019 school year, Klein ISD received an overall score of 89, resulting in a B grade. The district received a score of 85 and a B grade in 2017–2018. From 2013 to 2017, the agency rated school districts as either Met Standard, Met Alternative Standard, or Improvement Required. Klein ISD received a Met Standard rating for each year under this system. School districts did not receive a rating for the 2011–2012 school year as the agency transitioned from using the

Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) was the fourth Texas state standardized test previously used in grade 3-8 and grade 9-11 to assess students' attainment of reading, writing, math, science, and social studies skills required ...

(TAKS) to the

State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, commonly referred to as its acronym STAAR ( ), is a series of standardized tests used in Texas public primary and secondary schools to assess a student's achievements and knowledge learned ...

(STAAR) as the basis for their accountability ratings. From 1996 to 2011, the agency rated school districts as either Exemplary, Recognized, Academically Acceptable, or Academically Unacceptable. From 2004 to 2008, the district was rated Academically Acceptable, and from 2009 to 2011, the district received a Recognized rating. School districts did not receive a rating for the 2002–2003 school year as the agency transitioned from using the

Texas Assessment of Academic Skills The TAAS, or Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, was the third standardized test used in Texas between 1991 and 2002, when it was replaced by the TAKS test from 2003 to 2013. It was used from grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. Passing the Grade 11 level ...

(TAAS) to the TAKS standardized test. The district was rated Academically Acceptable from 1996 to 2001 and Recognized in 2002. On January 18, 2019, Klein ISD was a finalist for the H-E-B Excellence in Education Award.

Demographics

In the 2020–2021 school year, the district had a total of 52,824 students, starting from early childhood/pre-kindergarten education through grade 12. The district had 3,617.09 teachers and 3,274.48 additional staff for a total of 6,891.57 employees on a

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employee, employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to me ...

basis. The district's student to teacher ratio was 14.60. The ethnic distribution of students was: * 15.6%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

* 8.2%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

* 43.3%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

* 0.4% American Indian * 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

* 3.7%

Two or More Races 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

* 28.7%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

49.5% of students were listed as economically disadvantaged, 17.6% were

English-language learner English-Language Learner (often abbreviated as ELL) is a term used in some English-speaking countries such as the US and Canada to describe a person who is learning the English language and has a native language that is not English. Some educatio ...

s, and 11.1% received

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

services. Klein ISD's student enrollment has increased significantly across multiple decades. In the 2017–2018 school year, there were 52,896 students enrolled. There were 44,695 students in 2009–2010, and 35,474 students in 2003–2004.

Bonds

Klein ISD, with voter approval, has sold bonds in 2004, 2008, and 2015 to provide funding for large infrastructure projects. The 2004 bond referendum approved the sale of $224 million and included renovations of existing buildings and the construction of Vistas High School and Benignus Elementary School. All projects associated with the 2004 bond started in 2005 and have been completed. On May 10, 2008, a bond referendum for $646.9 million was passed with approximately 52% (4,732 of 9,152) of the ballots for it. The bond was to create new schools, including Blackshear Elementary, Bernshausen Elementary, and Klein Cain High School. In May 2015, Klein ISD held another bond referendum for $498.1 million, which passed with around 77% (4,571 of 6,033) of the ballots for it. The bond apportioned $283.6 million for construction projects, including $121.9 million to supplement 2008 bond funding for Klein Cain High School, $47.1 million for Hofius Intermediate, and $26.2 million for Fox Elementary. Other bond projects were classroom additions, security upgrades, technology infrastructure, and facility renovations. Bonds from the 2015 referendum were sold in bundles from 2015 to 2020. The district completed construction of Klein Cain High School in 2017 and Hofius Intermediate in 2018. Some classroom additions and renovations were removed from the 2015 bond project and the funds were used to repair facilities damaged by flooding. In May 2022 for the 2022 bond, "Klein ISD voters made district history as they approved $895,350,000 million in bond funding."

Curriculum

Klein ISD generally offers uniform

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

across all its elementary schools, intermediate schools, and high schools.

College classes

The Klein district offers

Dual Credit In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university cours ...

(DC) courses in which high school teachers who teach these courses are also college professors. These students earn both high school credit and college credit, while staying at their high school. Klein ISD also has a partnership with

Lone Star College Lone Star College (LSC) is a public community college system serving the northern portions of the Greater Houston, Texas, area. In 2017 it enrolled about 95,000 students. The headquarters of the Lone Star College System are located in The Wood ...

in which students can also take classes at Lone Star College–University Park, earning from three to 57 college credit hours. Dual credit courses offered in the district include English 3, English 4, U.S. History, U.S. Government, Art History, Independent Study/Math, Pre-Calculus, Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, Correctional Services, and Court Systems & Practices. Klein ISD also offers many

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

(AP) classes at all five of their high schools in math, science, English, social studies, fine arts, and foreign language courses. Students who enroll in the course (approved by

College Board The College Board is an American nonprofit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a ...

) may receive college credit by receiving a passing score on an exam taken at the end of the year. At the middle school and high school level, Pre-AP classes are offered in all schools to prepare students for future AP courses. The district offers the

International Baccalaureate Diploma Program The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...

(IB) for 11th and 12th grade students at Klein Oak High School. The program accepts applications from any student in Klein ISD. Students must complete courses within each of the six IB subjects, write an essay based on independent research, complete the Theory of Knowledge course, and complete either a service, activity, or creative project.

Fine arts

Klein ISD offers fine arts courses in band, choir, dance, elementary music, orchestra, theatre art, and visual art. The district was listed as one of the 2020 Best Communities for Music Education awarded by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation. The district was designated a 2019 District of Distinction by the Texas Art Education Association.

STEAM education

Klein ISD operates the STEAM (the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts with Math) Express, a bus that travels around the district with a drop down stage, teaching students about STEAM careers through a variety of activities. In 2019–2020, the bus visited 8094 students, 560 educators, and 270 members of the community.

Schools

Current campuses

In Klein ISD, grades

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

through grade 5 are considered a part of elementary school, grades 6 through 8 are in intermediate school, and grades 9 through 12 a part of high school. The district also offers a Pre-Kindergarten campus for certain areas of the district for students who have not yet entered elementary school. Additionally, Klein ISD offers the

Vistas High School Program Vistas High School Program is an alternative public high school program based in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States, and part of the Klein Independent School District. Vistas serves grades 9 through 12. The program has a Houston, ...

for high school students who are at risk for not graduating. The program is offered to all Klein ISD high school students who are admitted based on an application and interview process. For the 2020–2021 school year, Klein ISD operated 33 elementary schools, ten intermediate schools, and five high schools. Klein ISD creates attendance zones for neighborhoods within the boundaries of the district. All neighborhoods are zoned to a specific elementary school, intermediate school, and high school. When a new school opens, or a school becomes overcrowded, the district begins realigning and rezoning certain neighborhoods to ensure that there is balance among all schools. Students must attend the assigned schools for their neighborhood, with the exception of students who attend the International Baccalaureate program at Klein Oak High School.

High schools

Klein High School Klein High School is a public high school located in Klein, Texas, United States, located approximately from Downtown Houston. It serves grades 9– 12 in the Klein Independent School District. The current principal of Klein High School is Bran ...

was the first high school constructed in the Klein district, built in its current location in 1963 with renovations completed in 2014. For the 2018–2019 school year, there were 3,433 students enrolled. The school received a B grade from the Texas Education Agency. The principal is Brandon Baker, and the mascot is the Bearkat. *

Klein Forest High School Klein Forest High School is a public senior high school in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, near Houston. It is a part of the Klein Independent School District. It was the second high school built in Klein ISD. Opening in the Fall of 1979, ...

was the second high school built in Klein ISD in 1979 and enrolled 3,566 students in 2018–2019. The school received a C grade from the Texas Education Agency. The current principal is Lance Alexander and the mascot is the Golden Eagle. *

Klein Oak High School Klein Oak High School is a public high school serving students grades 9– 12 in unincorporated Harris County, Texas. The school's principal is Thomas Hensley. It was established August 1982. Klein Oak was the third high school established in ...

was the third high school built in 1982 and enrolled 3,698 students in 2018–2019. The school received a B grade from the Texas Education Agency. It is the only school in the Klein district that offers the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

program. The current principal is Thomas Hensley and the mascot is the Panther. *

was the fourth high school built in 2001 and enrolled 3,470 students in 2018–2019. The school received a B grade from the Texas Education Agency. The high school was named after Don Collins, a former superintendent of Klein ISD. The current principal of the high school is Randy Kirk and the mascot is the Tiger. * Klein Cain High School is the fifth and newest high school, built in 2017. The high school was named after Dr. Jim Cain, a former superintendent who retired in 2015. In its first year, Klein Cain enrolled only ninth and tenth grade students. The school added 11th grade students in 2018–19, and will operate as a full 9–12 high school beginning in 2019–2020. The school enrolled 2,323 students in 2018–2019 and received a B grade from the Texas Education Agency. The current principal is Nicole Patin and the mascot is the

Ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

. File:Klein ISD Klein High School.jpg, Klein High School File:Klein ISD Klein Collins High School.jpg, Klein Collins High School File:Klein ISD Klein Forest High School.jpg, Klein Forest High School File:Klein ISD Klein Oak High School.jpg, Klein Oak High School File:Klein ISD Vistas High School Program.jpg, Vistas High School Program

Intermediate schools

*Doerre Intermediate School *Hildebrandt Intermediate School *Hofius Intermediate School *Kleb Intermediate School *Klein Intermediate School *Krimmel Intermediate School *Schindewolf Intermediate School *Strack Intermediate School *Ulrich Intermediate School *Wunderlich Intermediate School

Elementary schools

*Benfer Elementary School *Benignus Elementary School *Bernshausen Elementary School *Blackshear Elementary School *Brill Elementary School *Ehrhardt Elementary School *Eiland Elementary School *Epps Island Elementary School *Grace England Elementary School *Fox Elementary School *Frank Elementary School *French Elementary School *Greenwood Forest Elementary School *Hassler Elementary School *Haude Elementary School *Kaiser Elementary School *Klenk Elementary School *Kohrville Elementary School *Krahn Elementary School *Kreinhop Elementary School *Kuehnle Elementary School *Lemm Elementary School *Mahaffey Elementary School *McDougle Elementary School *Metzler Elementary School *Mittelstädt Elementary School *Mueller Elementary School *Nitsch Elementary School *Northampton Elementary School *Roth Elementary School *Schultz Elementary School *Theiss Elementary School *Zwink Elementary School

Other campuses

*Klein Alternative Education Center *Klein ISD Therapeutic & Readiness Center

Former campuses

*Klein Intermediate School: Situated next to what is currently Klein High School, the original Klein Intermediate, not to be confused with the existing one, opened in 1967. It became the Klein HS ninth grade building in 1975, and later became Kleb Intermediate School, again not to be confused with the existing one, in 1981. Beginning in 1993 it served as the Klein Annex, an alternative education facility for students with persistent and serious behavior issues. It was torn down and its functions moved to a new building on an adjacent site, while the site of the original building became playing fields. *Klein Elementary School: Located next to the original Klein High School on Spring Cypress Road, Klein Elementary School opened in 1940 and was renamed Klein Middle School in 1971. The building was demolished in 2007 due to safety concerns. A new building was constructed on the site which became the Network Operations Center. *Garden City Elementary School: Located on W. Montgomery Road just south of the present day Nitsch Elementary School, this school opened in 1956 and closed in the 1970s. *Recreation Acres Elementary School: This school served southern part of district and opened in 1949. *Kohrville School: Located at the present-day corner of Spring-Cypress and Huffsmith-Kohrville Road, the school opened in 1895 and served as the district's

black school Black schools, also referred to as "colored" schools, were racially segregated schools in the United States that originated after the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. The phenomenon began in the late 1860s during Reconstruction era ...

during the period of ''de jure'' segregation. In 1928, the school was combined with Rural High School #1. The school re-opened in a new facility in 1949 and operated until the district integrated its schools in 1967. The former school served as a community center for several years before being converted into a museum.

References

External links

Official site

Klein ISD Education Foundation
{{Authority control School districts in Harris County, Texas School districts in Houston 1938 establishments in Texas School districts established in 1938