About the project
Construction of the $67.73 million middle school took just about two years and relieves capacity concerns at the district's other middle schools, Hutto and Farley. The 160,000-square-foot campus includes facilities for expanded science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM; and fine arts programs as well as a new entrepreneurship course. As of Aug. 12, 978 students were enrolled to attend the new school, according to district staff, but the total operational capacity sits around 1,200 students.
How we got here
In 2023, voters passed a $522 million bond comprised of three propositions focused on the following areas:
- Proposition A, $471.5 million: Fund several major campus projects, including construction of two new elementary schools and expansion of the Ninth Grade Center into a full high school.
- Proposition B, $10.5 million: Provide funding for new instructional technology devices, such as classroom computers and audio-video equipment.
- Proposition C, $40 million: Provide for the renovation of the administrative building at 200 College St. into a districtwide academic center with space for several alternative education programs.
Leading the campus as its first principal, Ryan Burns said he plans to foster community and campus culture, and that district staff have been working hard to prepare the campus for students to occupy it.
"What we're going to have is opportunities for every kid to find like-minded students who they can get connected with on campus so school's not a place where they have to go just because they have to—it's a place that they want to be," he said. "We're going to have a really cool feature here with esports this year. The kids are really excited about that; I've heard about that like crazy. Our orchestra program's huge; our band program is huge. We're going to have gardening clubs, robotics clubs. There's going to be so many things these kids can get connected with."
