The NFISD territory covered of land in northeast Harris County, including small parts of northeast Houston (including the neighborhoods of East Houston, Northwood Manor, Dorchester Place, Royal Glen, Fontaine, Scenic Woods, Melbourne Place, Kentshire, Henry Place, Baker Place, Glenwood Forest, Royal Oak Terrace, Houston Suburban Heights, Warwick Place, Chatwood Place, Townly Place, Wayside Village, and Settegast) and parts of unincorporated Harris County, including Dyersdale. The area is about from Downtown Houston, and south of George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Jan Jarboe wrote in 1986 in "Texas Monthly" that the district "clings to isolation" despite its proximity to Downtown. Helen Wheatley, who served as the Houston Federation for Teachers staff representative for NFISD, said then that while the community was an "urban area", the NFISD zone " a country feeling to it".