The committee initially discussed the findings of its elementary, middle and high school facility subcommittees during its April 9 meeting before voting on the recommendations May 5.
The action taken
The committee members—with the exception of Sumaya Saati, who abstained—voted to recommend the following projects to the board of trustees:
- A full reconstruction of Cedar Creek Elementary, Forest Trail Elementary and Hill Country Middle School
- Modernize and make additions to Bridge Point Elementary, Barton Creek Elementary and West Ridge Middle School
- A reconstruction and renovation of Westlake High School
- Repurposing classrooms at Eanes Elementary to become a central hub for the Eanes Child Development Center and early childhood programs; adding a new play field and repurpose outlying buildings, both for community use
- Valley View Elementary be used as a staging site to accommodate CCE and FTE students during its campus rebuilds
- Eanes Elementary be used as a staging site to accommodate BCE students during its campus rebuild
- WHS' ninth grade center be used as a staging site to accommodate HCMS students during its campus rebuild
- A new classroom building be completed at WHS to accommodate students currently using the ninth grade center
The LRFPC split into three subcommittees to each look at potential improvements at the elementary, middle and high school campuses.
Members of the elementary subcommittee identified that moving to a four-elementary-school model would give EISD more flexibility for unexpected changes in demographic trends—such as declining enrollment—and maintain a balanced feeder pattern.
The middle school and high school subcommittees also identified current campuses as being "deficient for long-term district educational success."
Along with repurposing Eanes Elementary, some of the other major projects initially discussed at the April 9 meeting included:
- Rebuilding CCE
- Adding a three-story classroom building to BCE, CCE, FTE and HCMS
- Building a new bus drop-off area and library at BCE
- Bringing WRMS' fine arts and athletics areas "up to standard"
- Major improvements to WHS, including adding two parking garages; creating a robotics, engineering, and career and technical education facility; and making improvements to fine arts and athletic areas
What's changed
The committee's final recommendation includes a potential timeline for the projects, which co-Chair Holly Noel said represents the order of priorities based on logistics and facility conditions.
However, the committee voted to remove the years from the timeline—early drafts showed projects between the 2026-27 and 2031-32 school years—and only leave the months.
"The months make sense for just context around how it affects each school," committee member Courtney Powers said. "Putting it here and starting a year from now, that's going to cause issues. ... That's up to the board. Now they have a sense of how long this is going to take, .... and then they can think about when the right time is to do it."
The committee also removed any references to how many bond packages could be needed to complete the projects.
"That is not in the scope of this committee to determine whether this is a one bond, two bond, three bond, five-year, 10-year, 20-year plan," Noel said.
The final recommendation also includes language saying the LRFPC did not take the cost of construction into consideration and recommends the district repurpose committee members to work with the bond advisory committee.
Offering input
During the public forum portion of the meeting, some community members expressed concern over the size of the recommendations and potential project costs amid a projected district budget shortfall and declining enrollment.
"I do think we need to be a little bit more realistic," parent and community member Swasti Apte said. "And, to some other people's point, let's prioritize. Let's not just say we're going to do it all. Let's prioritize what makes the most sense for our students and our teachers."
Saati, who abstained from the vote, also expressed concern about the potential "leapfrogging" of students during campus construction.
"I think the elementary schools have been through a lot," Saati said. "Ricocheting the Valley View students into Barton Creek and then again, going to Eanes, ... that is carrying a lot of concern."
Next steps
The committee will present its recommendations to the board of trustees at the May 20 board meeting.
Superintendent Jeff Arnett said the item will just be a discussion item for the board, which will likely discuss again in August before sending the recommendations to the BAC.
The BAC could then formulate a potential bond package, or packages, and project timeline.
