Hays CISD is deciding where to put its third high school, and the school district aims to receive public input at an upcoming meeting.

The district will host a public forum Jan. 21 at Lehman High School to allow citizens to voice their thoughts on where to locate the high school. A second public forum is slated for Feb. 2 at the HCISD Performing Arts Center.

To fund the high school, HCISD Spokesperson Tim Savoy said the district could float a bond to voters as early as May 2017. That would allow the district to build the new high school in 2019 if the bond is approved, Savoy said.

A citizen committee selected by members of the HCISD board of trustees convened Jan. 7 to discuss criteria for selecting the site of the new high school. The district owns four properties on which it could build the high school.

To view the potential locations visit the Hays CISD website.

The selection criteria include the following:

• 80-acre property or larger
• Two or more exterior roads
• Water, gas, sewer, Internet and phone infrastructure available
• Distance of other schools should minimize costs of student transportation
• Transportation infrastructure
• Access to emergency services
• Proximity to current, near-term and long-term future growth and development
• Site elevation does not present problems for construction