Middle School Boundary Changes for 2026-27

One of the projects approved in Bond 2023 was a new middle school on Tripp Avenue in west Odessa. That school will open in August 2026 and an attendance zone must be created for it. When those boundaries are created for the new middle school, the ripple effect will touch every other middle school, too, as we try to keep children near a neighborhood school and balance the enrollment numbers between all of the schools.

his is going to impact all ECISD middle schools (except STEM Academy which is a Choice School and has no attendance zone). It will not affect elementary schools nor high schools.

Those demographics are taken into account in creating the new boundaries. We also prioritize the neighborhood school concept of zoning students to a school close to where they live and trying to keep total enrollment of each campus relatively equal.

We believe, in nearly all cases, students will spend less time on buses than they do on current routes. Our District also continues to try to attract new bus drivers which will allow us to operate more buses and open more routes which will decrease time on buses.

Only this year’s 7th graders, who will be 8th graders next year, will be grandfathered and may choose to stay at their current campus. Any younger siblings already enrolled at that same middle school as the rising 8th grader may also stay, out of convenience for parents, although ECISD will not provide transportation for grandfathered students. Siblings not currently enrolled in middle schools will be required to attend their new middle school.

Ector was originally built as a high school and it is much larger than the other middle schools. We want to balance the enrollment at all of the middle school the best we can. We believe the right enrollment for a middle school is between 900-1,100 students which allows teachers to get to know the kids on campus and gives more students chances to be actively involved in various programs and activities.

That could be caused by a number of different factors. Neighborhoods can be aging out of early elementary children, or there may be some smaller classes in the upcoming elementary school grade levels. New charter schools have opened. As long as our community continues to grow, so will our schools.