News delivered to neighbors and preschool families at Northway Christian prompted a wave of anxiety that rippled through the neighborhood.
While there is much to learn, it is clear that Northway’s leadership is navigating real institutional challenges, and they are making decisions — as they have every right to do — about the future of their property. Families and community partners — including the Northway preschool community that called that campus home for years — have found themselves on the outside of conversations that affected them deeply. I hope Northway considers the well-being of the neighborhood, but Northway’s decisions belong to Northway. What belongs to the rest of us is how we respond.
The question worth asking isn’t whether change is coming to that site. The question is: what kind of change would be good for our neighborhood?
If the answer turns out to be Compass School, I think we should welcome it.
The Compass School of Texas is an exceptional school led by thoughtful people who are devoted to serving Dallas. Families who know Compass know that its culture is built on care — for students, for neighbors, for the fabric of the places where it plants itself. That is exactly the kind of neighbor we should want. It deserves the chance to earn our trust.
As with any school, traffic patterns at carpool create a level of chaos that is both joyful and stressful. Boone Elementary would benefit from revisions, notably including reformatting Wentwood Drive to be one way during carpool hours like many school streets. Adding a second school population to the same city block requires careful examination.
The traffic concern is real, and it deserves a real answer. But here’s what I’d ask: let’s not treat that concern as a reason to say no. Let’s treat it as a reason to do the work.
I would like to see the City of Dallas partner with HPISD to take a fresh look at traffic flow in this corridor. A new, collaborative traffic study — led by both schools together — would go a long way toward building trust and finding solutions that protect every student who walks or rides through this neighborhood each morning.
The HPISD community is a wonderful place to raise children. Part of what makes it wonderful is that we have always, at our best, been willing to do the work, to invest in getting things right and level up.
Northway’s leadership has a decision to make. I hope they consider our concerns and then I hope our community will meet whatever they decide with generosity — and if Compass comes, with open arms and a readiness to build something good together.
Katy Jane Halpin
Author
