Designs for the new Cline Elementary School and additions to Friendswood High School are nearing completion and were approved by Friendswood ISD at its Oct. 25 school board workshop.

These projects are funded by the district’s $127 million bond passed in November 2020, as previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper.

The new Cline Elementary will be constructed in the West Ranch master-planned community; the project has been budgeted $44.6 million and will replace the current Cline Elementary on Briarmeadow Avenue. Meanwhile, the renovations and additions to Friendswood High School have been budgeted for $53.4 million, according to board documents.

Houston-based PBK Architects presented the updated design plans to the board at the Oct. 25 workshop. The board was able to ask questions about the school layouts as well as suggest changes.

“I love the look of it, I just don’t know how usable it’s going to be,” trustee Robert McCabe said about the outdoor amphitheater that will be constructed at Cline Elementary.

The construction bid for the Friendswood High School performing arts center, competition gym additions, career and technical education and fine arts renovations, and renovations to the gym are expected to be presented to the FISD board for approval at the district’s Nov. 8 meeting, per previous board documents. The performing arts center will be a brand new, larger performance space for Friendswood High School, with an attached black box theatre, according to design floor plans.

If the bid is unanimously approved, construction will start Nov. 9 and be completed in the winter of 2023. Once the performing arts center is completed, renovations to the high school will begin.

For the new Cline Elementary, construction bids are expected to be sent out in January and the contract awarded in February, according to PBK Architects. Cline Elementary’s construction is set to be completed in August 2023.

“This has been a dream," Superintendent Thad Roher said. "We’ve been working on this for a long time. It’s been a really big team effort."