Prosper Independent School District

Prosper Independent School District (PISD or Prosper ISD) is a public school district based in Prosper, Texas, United States. Located in Collin County, a portion of the district extends into Denton County.

The district enrollment was 28,118 as of the 2023-24 school year.^[5]

The town of Prosper continues to experience large population growth. In the 2018-19 school year, the district enrollment was 14,287 with 1 High School and 2 Middle Schools.^[6] In the 2020-21 school year, the enrollment was 19,140 students.^[7] In the 2023-24 school year, the enrollment was 28,118 students, with 3 high schools and 4 middle schools in the district.^[5]

In the 2018-19 school year, Prosper High School became a 6A school, the largest size of school under UiL classification. Rock Hill High School opened in Fall 2020, becoming the second high school in the district. In the 2022-23 school year, Rock Hill also became a 6A school, meaning both schools were not only in the highest classification, but would also play in the same district for athletics, guaranteeing games between the two schools.

The district continues to open new schools as population growth increases the demands. For the 2022-23 school year, Prosper ISD opened a new school, Joyce Hall Elementary. In Fall 2023, Walnut Grove High School opened off the south side of East First Street, between Coit Road and Custer Road as a 5A school. Additionally, two elementary schools and the Early Childhood School opened that year.

Richland High School is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025, located at the southeast corner of Teel Road and Fishtrap Road on the west side of Prosper. There are also signs for future high schools on the south side of Parvin Road (between Dallas Parkway and County Road 1381), and the north side of County Road 123 (between Custer Road and Lake Forest Drive in northwest McKinney), which would bring the total to 6 high schools. PISD has planned to have 6-8 comprehensive 5A high schools at build-out.

In 2011, the school district was rated "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.

Prosper ISD has its own police department separate from the Town of Prosper Police. This is because PISD covers areas and has schools in six municipalities (Prosper, Texas; Celina, Texas; Frisco, Texas; McKinney, Texas; Collin County; and Denton County). A Prosper police officer would only have jurisdiction in the town of Prosper, while a PISD officer can cover any school in any area of Prosper ISD.^[8]

Prosper School was established in 1902. It had 4 classrooms, 3 teachers, and 100 students. It was sold and moved off in 1910, with a new school opening on the same site in 1911. The new campus had 9 classrooms, 5 teachers, and housed grades 1-10. This school caught fire and was replaced in 1923. The 3rd campus built on this site also had 9 classrooms and 5 teachers, but housed grades 1-11.

Around 1935, Prosper ISD consolidated with many local school districts. These included Richland, Rockhill, Franklin, Hutcherson (White Elephant), Walnut Grove, Pleasant Ridge (Possum Trot), Rheas Mill, and Bloomdale. Some of the buildings from the other schools were moved to the site of Prosper School.

In 1942, the mascot of Prosper School changed from the Deer to the Eagle.

In 1963, Prosper School moved to a new location. It had 6 elementary classrooms, 9 secondary classrooms, 14 teachers, and 237 students in grades 1-12.

In 1995, Prosper Elementary opened with grades PK-4.

In 2000, a new Prosper High School was built for grades 9-12. Prosper Middle School was established at the 1963 campus with grades 5-8.

In 2005, Folsom Elementary opened with grades PK-3. Prosper Elementary was renamed Rucker Elementary and hosted grades 4-5, with Prosper Middle School hosting grades 6-8.

In 2006, Pre-K and 6th grade moved to Rucker, freeing up space at Folsom (K-3) and PMS (7-8).

In 2007, Baker Elementary opened, with all 3 elementary schools now hosting grades PK-6.

In 2008, Rogers Middle School opened with grades 6-8, replacing Prosper Middle School. The 3 elementary schools now housed grades PK-5, with Rucker still hosting Head Start. The PMS campus was renovated into PISD's Administration Building.

In 2009, Prosper High School moved into its new $120 million dollar campus, which was the most expensive high school ever built in Texas at the time.

In 2010, the former PHS building opened after a year of renovations as Reynolds Middle school, housing grades 7-8. With this change, Rogers Middle School housed all PISD 5th and 6th graders.

In 2012, Cockrell Elementary was opened.

In 2015, Light Farms Elementary was opened.

In 2016, Hughes and Windsong Elementary schools opened, which allowed the district to move from PK-4 elementary campuses to grades PK-5. With this transition, both middle schools hosted grades 6-8.

In 2018, the University Interscholastic League classified PISD's first high school as 6A.^[9]

In 2019, Children's Health Stadium opened as a 12,000 seat stadium for Prosper ISD football games. With this addition, Prosper High School played home games at Children's Health Stadium, moving away from the relatively tiny Eagle Stadium near Reynolds Middle School. Children's Health Hospital paid $2.5 million dollars for the naming rights to the stadium.^[10]

The same year, Hays Middle School opened, becoming the first school in Prosper ISD with an animal other than an Eagle as their mascot or with school colors other than green and white. Hays uses the Hawk as their mascot and uses the primary school color blue. Rock Hill High School, into which Hays feeds, used the Blue Hawks as the school's mascot and blue as the primary school color when it opened in 2020.

In 2020, Rock Hill High School opened, meaning PISD had more than one high school for the first time in district history. Rock Hill High School was built for roughly $200 million dollars,^[11] making it, at the time, the most expensive high school ever built in Texas. That fall, Prosper also opened Johnson Elementary School, named after Representative Sam Johnson, and Rushing Middle School, named after former superintendent William Rushing.

In September 2015, Greg Wright created controversy for the school and the Prosper School District as reported in the Dallas Morning News when he was caught criticizing a teacher that reported another teacher from PHS to the police for inappropriately touching a student.^[12]

In 2018, two editorials were removed from Prosper High School's student newspaper. John Burdett, the principal of the school, claimed that it put the school in an incorrectly assessed negative position.^[13] The students claimed that they would be censored if they tried to criticize the school.^[14]

In 2022, a bus driver from Prosper ISD was accused of sexually abusing two girls "more than 100 times."^[15][16] The bus driver mainly drove buses for an elementary school that fed into Rock Hill, but had also previously served Rock Hill High School students. The victims’ parents eventually found out about the abuse and filed a lawsuit. Prosper ISD fired the bus driver. Neither the district nor the school publicly announced the incident until over three months after the incident.^[17] According to the parent lawsuit, the parents of the victims received a phone call from the school's superintendent requesting that the accusations not be made public "so as to not attract media attention to her family or to Prosper ISD staff."^[18][19][20] This perceived lack of transparency incensed many members of the school's PTA, who called for further investigation in meetings. For further investigation, Prosper ISD hired a firm with ties to the school, although parents and the PTA demanded the school hire an independent third party firm.^[21][22] Several parents have called for the resignation of the superintendent and other high-ranking officials at the high school, with some PTA meetings ending with chants to fire the superintendent.^[23] No school administrators have resigned since then, however.^[24]

• Official website