Plano Independent School District

Plano ISD's educational structure differs from the typical U.S. educational pattern. Primary education in PISD, following the typical U.S. structure, consists of 44 elementary schools that serve the kindergarten through fifth grades. However, PISD's system of secondary education consists of 13 middle schools that serve the sixth through eighth grades, 6 'high schools' that serve the ninth and tenth grades, and 3 'senior high schools' that serve the eleventh and twelfth grades. The 'high school' and 'senior high school' system is a departure from the standard U.S. high school that serves the ninth through twelfth grades. PISD students attend schools based primarily on the geographic location of their homes. Schools of a lower level feed into specific schools at the next highest level. The three exceptions to the feeder system is for students wishing to participate in the International Baccalaureate program, the Health Sciences Academy, or the STEAM Academy. Parents of students may also request transfers out of their students' assigned schools for various reasons (such as to take classes unique to a particular school). This system leads to very large graduating classes and overall student populations. At Plano Senior High School, Plano East Senior High School, and Plano West Senior High School, the current student populations are listed as 2,567, 2,795, and 2,160 students, respectively. Each year's graduating class is approximately half of each number. Previous years' Graduation Commencement Ceremonies have taken place at Ford Center and the Dallas Convention Center. Board of trustees The Board of Trustees includes seven at-large elected members that oversee the district. Elections are held in May in odd-numbered years for either three or four candidates. An election was held in May 2019, for seats 4, 5, 7 and the remaining two years for seat 6. The board elects a president, vice president and secretary. ==Academics and Honors==

All three of PISD's senior high schools were recently listed in the top 250 of Newsweeks list of 1000 top high schools in America. Plano ISD opened three academies (4-year high schools) in the 2013–2014 school year. The first "Academy High School", a STEAM, project based, high school that serves grades 9–12. The second magnet focuses on Health science, and is housed at Williams High School for grades 9–10, and will continue at Plano East Senior High School for grades 11–12. 43.4% of district students take AP or IB courses, and 84.3% of those students pass their AP or IB exam(s). In the 2012–2013 school year, Plano ISD had 128 students named National Merit Semifinalists, more than any other Texas school district. Also in the 2012–2013 school year, ten PISD students were named semifinalists in the Siemens Competition, and two were named as finalists. In the state of Texas, a total of thirty eight and eleven students, respectively, captured those honors in the Siemens competition. ==Demographics==

In the 1990s, Plano ISD received many non-Hispanic white families leaving urban areas. However, this changed in the period from 1997 to 2015, as the number of non-Hispanic white children in Plano ISD declined by 10,000. ==Bilingual programs==

In 1991 Plano ISD began a Chinese bilingual program for preschool and kindergarten students developed by Donna Lam. It is one of two Chinese bilingual programs in the State of Texas, along with the one established by the Austin Independent School District. It was established after Chinese professionals began to settle Plano. ==Controversies==

On the , edition of ''The O'Reilly Factor'', as part of his "War on Christmas" segment, news commentator, Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that the district had banned students from wearing red and green clothing "because they were Christmas colors." An attorney from the school district requested a retraction. O'Reilly later retracted his allegation on 20 December. He had mistakenly included clothing among the items banned by PISD, while the ongoing lawsuit against the district only alleges the banning of the distribution of written religious materials. That lawsuit was originally filed against PISD on (Jonathan Morgan, et al., v. the Plano Independent School District, et al.). On , prior to the school "winter parties, Judge Paul Brown of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a temporary restraining order, requiring PISD to lift these restrictions. The Morgan, et al., v. Plano Independent School District (PISD) case began in 2003, with school officials even banning students from using red and green napkins and paper plates to a school-sponsored "holiday" party. In another more serious legal dispute, Plano ISD was found to have violated First Amendment rights of parents during public meetings about the implementation of a controversial new math curriculum, "Connected Math". During several years of appeals by PISD, the ruling was consistently upheld at all levels, including the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (in July 2003). The district briefly considered an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, but instead reached a settlement of . This was a settlement of the judgment, not the ruling of a First Amendment rights violation by the district. granting a preliminary injunction against Plano ISD, the judge said, "The issue in this case is not one of sponsorship or the lack thereof, but of the flagrant denial for equal access guaranteed to S.W.A.T. ... The harm at issue is irreparable because it inhibits the exercise of Plaintiff's First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion." On , Plano ISD offered, and SWAT accepted, an Offer of Settlement, which included the district's promise to change its discriminatory policy. In , following a complaint by the parents of a student, the Plano ISD textbook board decided to remove the textbook Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities: Alternative Volume, On , PISD became the subject of criticism due to its response to the racially motivated assault of an eighth-grade student of Haggard Middle School No incidents were reported during the demonstration, and PISD officials have not yet acknowledged the incident. ==List of schools==

Each household in Plano ISD is zoned to an elementary school, a middle school, a high school, and a senior high school. High schools serve grades 9–10 while senior high schools serve grades 11–12; however, any 9th or 10th grader may participate in extracurricular sports at the senior high level. There are 67 schools: 42 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, six high schools, three senior high schools, and one alternative STEM-based high school, Plano ISD Academy High School. Out of the 67 schools, 55 are located within the city of Plano. There are four schools in both Murphy and Richardson, three in North Dallas, and one in Allen. Middle schools (grades 6-8) • Bowman Middle School • Frankford Middle School (within Dallas city limits) • Haggard Middle School • 1999–2000 National Blue Ribbon School • Hendrick Middle School • Murphy Middle School (within Murphy city limits) • Otto Middle School (within Plano city limits) • Renner Middle School • 1994–96 National Blue Ribbon School • Bethany Elementary School • Beverly Elementary School (within Allen city limits) • 2006 National Blue Ribbon School • Boggess Elementary School (within Murphy city limits) • Brinker Elementary School • 1996–97 National Blue Ribbon School • Wyatt Elementary School Early childhood schools (PreK) • Beaty Early Childhood School • Head Start • Isaacs Early Childhood School • Carpenter Middle School (closed in 2025) • 1992–93 National Blue Ribbon School Elementary schools (grades K-5) • Davis Elementary School (closed in 2025) • 1993–94 National Blue Ribbon School • Forman Elementary School (closed in 2025) • 1993–94 National Blue Ribbon School Early childhood schools (PreK) • Jupiter Center (closed in 2017) ==Feeder schools chart==

• 3-5 elementary schools feed into a middle school • Note that Bowman Middle School takes students from 6 elementary schools. • 2 middle schools feed into a high school • Note that Bowman Middle School solely feeds into Williams High School. • 2 high schools feed into a senior high school The district has had its feeder-school boundary lines redrawn at times in the recent past, In 2009, the development of more schools in Plano's eastern region, as well as more students attending them, reignited a boundary-line debate. Certain issues, such as socio-economic integration and ethnic balance in the schools, became points of intense discussion that became very publicized and heated. Distance from McMillen and Williams also caused debate against the socioeconomic balance. Eventually, it was settled with mixed socioeconomic and ethnic balance between the two high schools. However, this prompted some parents to be concerned about possible future overcrowding at Plano West. In 2011, the School Board agreed to tweak their plan to ease worries about Plano West overcrowding: Schimelpfenig Middle School students would not be allowed to choose tracks, but instead would all go to Clark High and then Plano Senior High, with the option to transfer. In 2016, the enrollment boundaries for Mendenhall, Aldridge, and Brinker Elementary Schools were redrawn so as to allow smoother transitions into their appropriate feeder schools. In the summer 2025, Davis and Forman Elementary Schools and Armstrong and Carpenter Middle Schools closed prompting new boundaries. The students of Plano Regional Day School Program for the Deaf at Davis Elementary had to shift to Harrington Elementary School. ==See also==