The facility opened at the start of the school the 2022-23 school year and was built on the former football field, allowing students to attend school while construction was underway, according to a district release. C.D. Fulkes is at 300 W. Anderson Ave., Round Rock.
The middle school is named after C.D. Fulkes, who served as principal for 19 years at Round Rock High School, according to RRISD.
Funding for the new school came from the 2018 bond. The board approved $49.5 million for the project in January 2021 to rebuild Round Rock ISD’s oldest campus. The former campus had "patchwork of additions over the decades," according to the district.
The state-of-the-art facility features a modern design with two gymnasiums, a 400-meter track surrounding a new artificial turf field, a new bus lane, and parent parking and car line improvements.
"The highlight of the new middle school here at C.D. Fulkes will be the three stories and a beautiful upper level, third-story story library that overlooks Brushy Creek, giving students a beautiful view of the nature down below and along the creek itself," RRISD Chief Operating Officer Terry Worcester said in a 2021 update on the project.
Over the summer, the district razed the former campus to make room for the next construction phase at C.D. Fulkes. Worcester said the construction will be completed in phases. Next steps include finishing the parking lot, the track and field, and the concession building and stand, and those projects will be finished by the spring, according to the district. The historic auditorium from the former campus will be preserved as part of plans for futures renovations and improvements.
"The work of this project is focused on saving historic features of the old C.D. Fulkes Middle School and the old Round Rock High School," Worcester said in the update. "With that preservation and subsequent renovations, there will be improvements to the auditoriums and use of existing materials in the new building."
