To even out the distribution of students across district high schools, MISD altered school zones for the 2025-26 school year, transferring many students to Mansfield.

“Our classes are obviously more full,” Academic Associate Principal Christy Miller said. “We’re running out of classroom space, which is a good thing.”

 The reaction to the policy was mostly negative, as many were unaware the change was happening until the 2024-2025 school year was coming to a close.

“[The rezoning] is really unfair because some of us are juniors and seniors ready to graduate and now we’re getting sent to a school we barely know,” junior Jahir Mungia said, who transferred from Lake Ridge this year.

As the school year goes on, however, students have begun to adapt to the new environment and school life, including extracurriculars, navigation of buses and the unique layout of the hallways.

“The people here are nice, and classes and hallways make sense,” Mungia said. “You’re not struggling to find room 321, instead things are just organized alphabetically.”

Not all have gotten completely used to the changes, and some said they would still like to return to their home campus for its familiarity and comfort. Most students said they preferred to continue acting how they were accustomed to, so such a major change may be challenging.

“I think change is difficult anytime for adults or students; it’s always difficult because there’s an adjustment period,” Miller said. “I think initially there may have been some shell shock for students coming from other campuses based on expectations not only from our administrators, but our student body as to what Mansfield should be.”