By HELEN ERIKSEN
Chronicle Correspondent
A rezoning process fraught with controversy at almost every step of the way concluded Monday when Katy school trustees voted to approve recommendations to draw lines for four new schools opening next year.
The votes came amid public protests against a plan to shift students from Cinco Ranch and Beckendorff junior highs to Junior High 12 in WoodCreek at 1801 WoodCreek Bend Lane.
After hearing more than a half dozen speakers criticize or praise one redistricting proposal, dubbed Option B, trustees approved it in a 5-1 vote with trustee Tom Law dissenting.
The other three rezoning proposals sailed by in 6-0 votes without comment.
Trustee Rebecca Fox said after the meeting that it's always difficult to ask parents to take their children out of one school to put them in another one.
She said, among other things, choosing a plan that would ensure that students from junior high would move forward with a significant number of fellow students weighed in high for her.
"Option B does accomplish that," she said.
Some parents speaking in support of Option B said they were affected by the rezoning, while other supporters said they were not directly affected.
Much of the attention has been focused on 68 B, but several residents in 74 C spoke up on Monday.
They told trustees that they were severely disadvantaged by the plan because they would have to travel the farthest to get to WoodCreek.
Scott Eaton, who lives in 74 C, reiterated earlier complaints that a rural road system was inadequate for transporting students safely.
Students in several land use zones including 74 C would have to travel about six miles to get to WoodCreek under Option B.
"I don't care about what football jersey my child wears,and I'm not asking for a certain cheerleader squad," Eaton said. "I just want a safe place for my child to go to school; that's it."
Rezoning committee member Bruce Pettengill said he was "appalled at the behavior of those outside the committee as well as very few inside the committee."
Pettengill's comments follow recent threats against fellow committee member Andi Anderson, an Option B backer who represented 68 B.
Anderson said she was frightened when she discovered a poster at the entry of her subdivision with warnings such as "Option E or get out of our neighborhood" and "time to move out."
"Some of us were told we would have blood on our hands if we allowed this certain option to go through," Pettengill said.
Wendle Van Smith introduced himself to the board as an attorney representing 68 B.
He said a group of parents had retained him to fight the proposal of Option B.
"I am not here to convince by arguments but to persuade by presence," Smith said, whose comments did little to sway the board.
After the pubic comment section of the meeting concluded, Law proposed a compromise to send residents in 68 B to Cinco Ranch and to leave the outermost areas affected by the rezoning at Beckendorff. His movement died for lack of a second.
After the vote, several Option B critics gathered outside the board room to discuss what steps to take next.
They said when they moved to Cinco Ranch, they never dreamed that one day their children would be rezoned out of Cinco Ranch schools.
The district has left them no choice but to fight to get them back in, they said.
"There are plenty of people upset by this," said 68 B parent Lauren Yi. "It's not just this rezoning, it's the whole process."
Additional concerns critics raised ranged from property values changes to picking the most economical plan.
Other school rezoning plans approved by trustees were for northside Elementary 30 at 2502 Mason Road; southside Elementary 31 at 23720 Seven Meadows Parkway; and northside Junior High 11 at 3900 Dayflower Drive.