On Dec. 6, district officials broke ground on the project alongside Cedar Park city leaders, students, community members and construction representatives. The district is now constructing the facilities at a 9.1 acre site off West New Hope Drive next to the district’s central transportation facility.
The overview
LISD’s 18-plus Transition Services program helps special education students ages 18-22 transition into adulthood by learning life skills and participating in vocational training.
The new 33,900-square-foot building will feature a fitness room, apartment living space, classrooms, sensory spaces, a commercial cooking lab, and a storefront open to the community where students can work, said Denise Geiger, senior coordinator for special education transition.
Additionally, students may help pack distribution bags for the district’s food pantry and complete work activities at participating Sonic locations, she said.
“This facility will create that force of the future,” said Justin Pine, coordinator for 18-plus and Transition Services. “The students that graduate from 18-plus will continue to impact our community in so many powerful and positive ways.”
What else?
The new 30,000-square-foot Science Materials Center will allow LISD to produce and distribute more science kits for the district’s 31 elementary campuses and expand support to secondary campuses, district officials said. Students in the 18-plus program will be able to help the district produce these kits, said Alicia Westcot, senior director of math, science and humanities.
The center will also house more of the district’s instructional materials and textbooks, Westcot said.
The cost
Voters approved $22.2 million for the 18-plus Transition Services building and $19.8 million for the new Science Materials Center in the district's 2023 bond election.
The impact
The 18-plus program is currently housed in portables behind Cedar Park High School and at the Twin Lakes YMCA. Since being founded in 2003, the program has grown from three to 145 students in the 2024-25 school year, Geiger said.
The larger center will allow the district to expand its program to serve up to 200 students.
Access to 18-plus programs is important for special education students, as those who receive a modified curriculum in school are likely to experience underemployment or unemployment in adulthood, Geiger said.
“What we’re trying to do is change the narrative and create a way and a space where we teach students to believe in the possibilities of work and how it feels to be a worker,” Geiger said. “You can lead a very vibrant life.”
Did you know
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Chief Operations Officer Jeremy Trimble shared that the former property owners housed peacocks at the site to ward off snakes. Peacock feathers can symbolize rebirth, renewal and new beginnings in some cultures, he said.
“How fitting that this land now serves as a place of transformation and growth for students with special abilities and mobilities preparing to transition to the next chapter of their lives,” Trimble said.
Architects working on the project have incorporated the colors of a peacock feather into the new 18-plus building’s design, Geiger said.
Stay tuned
The 18-plus Transition Services and Science Materials Center is set to open by the 2025-26 school year.
