New Caney ISD trustees at their May 16 meeting approved the process to seek out a construction company to manage Phase 2 of the buildout of West Fork High School.

The roughly $110 million campus—which was included in a $200 million bond election approved by voters in 2018—will open to incoming freshmen in the 2022-23 school year. Officials noted the campus can currently accommodate 1,350 students.

NCISD Superintendent Matt Calvert said the Phase 2 buildout is needed to address growth in the district, which grew from roughly 16,800 students in the 2020-21 school year to about 17,100 students as of April.

“As we saw last month, the kids keep coming, and we need to be ready for them,” Calvert said. "This is part of getting West Fork High School to be a fully functioning 5A high school.”

According to an April 2022 Population and Survey Analysts study, the district’s student population is projected to grow between 5,600-9,600 students by 2031.


Scott Powers, NCISD’s executive director of public relations, said the district will likely select a construction company to manage Phase 2 later this summer.

Powers noted the second phase of construction for West Fork High School—which will expand its capacity to 2,250 students—would be associated with a future bond election, though he said the district has no timeline on when another bond proposition might be presented to the board.

“We got our [Population and Survey Analysts] demographic study done in April,” Powers said. “That’s a piece that we were waiting on, so there are certainly conversations happening about the timing of the next bond issue.”

Powers noted it was still too early to determine what all will be included with Phase 2 of construction as well as the associated costs.


In May 2021, NCISD trustees approved the hiring of Bridgett Heine to serve as the principal of West Fork High School. In January, the district announced the hiring of Dougald McDougald to serve as the school’s head football coach and athletic director.