Lake Travis ISD celebrated the start of construction for its sixth elementary school, set within the West Cypress Hills subdivision in the far end of the district.
The April 30 groundbreaking ceremony highlighted the school's unique design which provides common areas which can incorporate multiple groups of students learning together and foster collaboration, said Becky Burnett, LTISD Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction and Student Support Services.
"It's not just a building—it's a new way to deliver instruction," Burnett said. "It will allow for communities of students to come out and learn together."
The school, designed by Austin's Pfluger Associates Architects, was inspired by Leander ISD's River Ridge Elementary School in Steiner Ranch and is part of a "team teaching concept a lot of schools are going to," said Jim Ratcliff, LTISD's Senior Director of Facilities and Construction.
Ratcliff said that the West Cypress Hills' school will serve as a pilot project whose design will be taken into consideration as part of the build process for future schools.
The school will be able to accommodate 850 students in its 103,000 square foot facility. LTISD employs a demographics firm in College Station, Population and Survey Analysts (PASA), to project its needs based on growth within the district, Ratcliff said.
Currently, a citizen's attendance zone committee is working on reviewing and developing a recommendation for school attendance boundaries which it will present to the district's Board of Trustees by May. However, Ratcliff said that he anticipates another elementary school may be needed in 2018 for the fast-growing Sweetwater and Rough Hollow developments.
"Our demographers indicate that LTISD enrollment is increasing by approx 400 students annually," said Marco Alvarado, Director of Communications for LTISD. "Over the past five year span, enrollment increased by 33 percent."
Bartlett Cocke General Contractors is constructing LTISD Elementary School #6 at a cost of $18,176.153, funded as part of a $158.5 million bond program which voters approved in November, 2011. The school will be located on Cypress Ranch Blvd. off Hwy 71 in Bee Cave.