The details
During the board’s July 15 meeting, trustees approved a maximum price of roughly $2.17 million to construct underground detention at the Foster Elementary School rebuild. The roughly $44 million, 122,000-square-foot campus—which will be located in close proximity to the old campus—is part of a $775 million bond package approved by voters in May 2022.
Position 2 Trustee Robert Scarfo said the updated design was made after taking into consideration community feedback.
“We looked at the survey results ... and pushed our Construction and Facilities Planning Department to come up with a workable solution,” Scarfo said.
Some context
In May, district officials held a public input meeting on the project in response to concerns raised by area residents that the new campus will not include as much green space as the previous campus.
Under the previous design, the rebuild would have included several large detention ponds, which HISD officials said were necessary to comply with building regulations implemented after the original campus was built in 1971.
Jason Seybert, HISD associate superintendent of Support Services, said the new design will include underground detention space, which freed up room for two large, open green spaces and 124 total parking spots at the campus.
What’s next
Seybert said the district is currently waiting on city of Houston officials to approve a permit to begin construction on the underground detention space.
Once the permit is approved, he said the contractor can order the materials for the project, which he noted will take around 35 days to arrive. Construction on the detention space will take between eight-12 weeks, he said.
“I can’t promise it will still open in the fall of 2026, but that’s what we’re shooting for depending on how long it takes to get the permit,” Seybert said.
