Legacy Ranch High School will welcome around 340 ninth grade students and 60 staff members Aug. 14 for the 2024-25 school year, LRHS Principal Mark Koller said. The new high school will operate at the site of the district’s third middle school—Legacy Ranch Middle School—until its official campus opens in 2026.
What happened
Community members, incoming students, parents, district officials and staff gathered to celebrate the district’s newly founded navy and Columbia blue Legacy Ranch Wranglers, and hear remarks from district and student leaders.
“For me and my classmates, we want to leave a good impression on the school,” Freshman Class President Mason Hernandez said. “We want to leave a footprint at the school to where kids 10-20 years down the road will look up and remember. ... We want to reach for greater things in life.”
Koller, who was formerly a principal in Leander ISD, expressed his gratitude for the district staff who contributed to the school’s opening. Legacy Ranch will be a place where students work hard, show respect, empower others by leading with integrity and collaborate with each other, he said.
“It feels surreal and amazing at the same time,” Koller told Community Impact about the school’s opening. “These students are pouring their heart and souls into this place. The teachers are doing the same. ... I can’t wait to get kids in the building on the first day of school.”
School board president Megan Parsons and Superintendent Steven Snell discussed the district’s journey over the last few years in forming a second high school in a one-high-school town, an idea Parsons said some community members were initially hesitant about.
“When you're a one-high-school town, big Panther Nation, lots of pride, ... but it's just like a family,” Snell said. “When you have one child, you love that child. When you have a second child, you love that child just as much, and you don't stop loving the first child.”
The event concluded with a performance by the LRHS band as well as cheer and dance teams who led community members in singing LRHS’s new school song. The school’s football team was also in attendance.
For the upcoming school year, LRHS will have the same offerings for ninth grade students as Liberty Hill High School, Koller said. The school will have sub-varsity team sports while some individual sports may play at the varsity level, Snell said.
The new high school will add one grade each year, opening with grades 9-11 at its larger campus in the fall of 2026. Students will begin using the tennis courts, and baseball and softball fields at the future LRHS campus as they have already been built.
Seniors at LHHS will support LRHS students this year through a mentorship program, Snell said.
“I want them to feel the power in being the first class, the only class [and] the leadership opportunities they have,” Snell told Community Impact.
Looking ahead
LHISD’s enrollment has grown to over 9,000 students and is projected to double over the next decade.
The district will have 800 more students in the upcoming school year than the 2023-24 school year, Snell said.
By the 2033-34 school year, LHISD may have three high schools, four middle schools and 11 elementary schools, according to a district presentation from December.
