During a joint Denton ISD and Denton City Council meeting April 7, updates were given on the status of school construction projects and upgrades across the district, specifically Borman Elementary School.
What’s happening?
Brandon Boyter, DISD’s executive director of construction planning and growth, said the construction is progressing for the new Borman Elementary School, which is scheduled to open for the 2026-27 school year.
Tasks completed in the previous 90 days on the elementary school include:
- Finished roof deck
- Waterproofing and masonry of exterior walls
- Build-out of inside rooms and basic utility installation
- Started on tiling, erecting ceilings and flooring
- Began interior framing, drywalling and early painting
Boyter said upcoming tasks include:
- Paving, building retaining wall and site work
- Construction work on the courtyard, which is expected to go on through the end of May
- Finishing the storm shelter, which is now mandated on new school structures by the International Building Code
- Finishing work throughout the building
The rebuild of Borman Elementary was included in the district’s 2023 bond program. The district is building a replacement school on the same property where the campus is located. Students will continue attending the current school until the new campus is complete, according to district documents.
Boyter said the new school isn’t necessarily that much bigger, but the schematics of the new building uses its space more efficiently. There will also be space for pre-K classrooms, which the older school didn’t have.
“We like to say that our current [elementary schools’] capacity is somewhere in the 750 range,” Boyter said. “Obviously, that is massaged a little bit with collaboration spaces and all the special programs. This building will be able to hold about [900.]”
Once construction is completed on the new school, the old school will be torn down and that space will be used for a city soccer field, Boyter said. He added that the timeline for the demolition currently is for 2028, though he expects to start seeing the walls coming down in the first quarter of 2027.
What else?
Aside from Borman Elementary, Boyter said the other school projects are either under construction or in the permitting process, with bids being sent out to conduct the updates on 15 DISD schools and facilities.
Six of the projects are underway, while nine are in the permitting phase, according to a district presentation.
