The newest school coming to the district is Jackie Doucet Caffey Junior High School located at 9727 Pursley Blvd., Manvel. According to AISD, the new school's construction, which began in 2018, cost just over $37.4 million. The funding for the construction comes from the 2018 bond.
“We’ve had tons of support,” Caffey Junior High Principal Tina McCorkle said. “The community is so excited.”
In addition to providing athletics, fine arts and career and technical education seen in other junior high schools across the district, Caffey Junior High will also serve as a English Second Language, or ESL, Hub for AISD, McCorkle said.
An ESL Hub is used to help students who are new to the country in the district, McCorkle said. Instead of those students going to the junior high they are zoned to, they will go to Caffey Junior High, which has an ESL specialized teacher.
“We add some English classes to that student’s schedule so we can provide some support and really help them get immersed into the United States culture and our language while also valuing and protecting the language that they come to us with,” McCorkle said.
Under AISD’s feeder pattern, students from Meridiana Elementary and Bel Nafegar Sanchez Elementary schools are going to Caffey Junior High School, McCorkle said, and they will then feed into Iowa Colony High School, which will open in fall 2022.
“I just can’t wait to see kids and staff in this building,” McCorkle said. “All the hard work that staff has been doing all summer long to get ready. I just can’t wait to actually see it in action.”
