Richardson ISD staff presented plans for portable classrooms at Apollo Junior High and Richardson North Junior High during the district’s two-year middle school transformation project at the April 23 school board meeting.
Richardson ISD’s middle school transformation will turn its six remaining junior highs into middle schools, transitioning sixth graders from elementary to junior high campuses.
Apollo and North are the most complex middle school construction projects and involve the most portable classrooms, said Le Estes, executive director of facilities planning, design and construction.
The overview
While some of the middle school transformations involve constructing brand new campuses, allowing junior high buildings to remain fully operational throughout construction, Apollo and North will receive significant additions and renovations to their existing buildings. Construction on all six middle schools is expected to last from May 2026-August 2028.
“There’s not a big window of time, except for summer, where students are not there,” Estes said. “You need to make sure that their learning environment is sacred and it’s not disrupted during construction.”
Estes said the construction projects are planned in phases in order to accommodate portable classrooms and to ensure the campus remains operational throughout construction.
Breaking it down
Apollo Middle School will be completed in two primary phases, Estes said, with portable classrooms introduced for students at the beginning of the fall 2026 semester.
The portable classrooms will be located inside a larger portable building with a hallway, which will be accessible by covered walkways from the main campus. Restrooms will also be provided in the portable building.
Estes said more students will use the portable classrooms for the 2026-27 school year to allow for quicker construction on the main building, with reduced portable use in fall 2027 and only one remaining portable needed for athletics in spring 2028.
In addition to classrooms, Apollo will also have a temporary administration suite constructed on-site.
North Middle School will be completed in smaller phases with staff and students rotating out of the portable classrooms as construction progresses, Estes said. The portables are planned to be in use from fall 2026 through fall 2027 and will also be accessible by covered walkways from the main campus.
The portable classroom area will be secured by fencing and gates at both campuses, and all classroom and exterior doors will be lockable. Estes said all portable classrooms will also have controllable air conditioning and heating, emergency phones and fire alarms, as well as security cameras in the interior corridors and exterior walkways.
What’s next
Exterior construction is beginning at the junior highs in April and May, with full completion of all middle school projects expected by August 2028.
“We recognize that there’s disruption, even though [district staff] put all of these measures in place to make sure that students can stay focused on learning [and] teachers can stay focused on teaching,” Superintendent Tabitha Branum said. “But we do believe in the end the outcome will be worth it.”
