Due to the 2024 MISD Bond proposal to equip and renovate school facilities, the campus will be closed this summer to undergo major construction.
“The school is being renovated in phases, however, most of the building will not be available this summer due to safety concerns,” Associate Principal Wendell Joubert said. “The district did an excellent job of laying out the phases of the project for us. I love the fact that we get a chance to purge our campus to give it a renewed and refreshed atmosphere.”
Activities like Art Camp and Band Camp will take place at other campuses, to be determined. Summer employees will work according to the phases of the building that are being renovated.
“We will adjust to other parts of the building that are not being renovated or work from another campus in the district,” Joubert said. “If we are out of the building we will communicate with the community and staff.”
The school will receive major updates across the entire building, including flooring and ceiling Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning replacement, among many other improvements. Construction begins May 23.
“The newer HVAC units will efficiently heat and cool the building,” Joubert said.”The older HVAC units struggled to cool and heat our building due to the extra moisture that we had to deal with at certain times of the school year.”
Each teacher will receive two bins for items that deem necessary for their classrooms.
“The Fine Arts department has some extra storage spaces to keep items; however, some of their items will be stored at another campus,” Joubert said. “The technology department will also help Fine Arts and other teachers with their technology materials storage.”
Teachers are required to clean out and organize assigned classrooms, closets, lockers and any additional workspaces.
Joubert said, “It is a great time to purge items that are no longer needed while also taking accurate inventory of the items in their department.”
Art teacher Dallas Williams has taught at the campus for 20 years.
“My first thought was maybe I should retire now,” Williams said. “I’m really worried about what is going to get broken or go missing over the summer by construction people who don’t care as much as I do.”
The painted ceiling tiles around the school will be replaced with a new ceiling.
“I have 20 years of student work and memories that I use to teach every single day,” Williams said. “Figuring out where we are going to store things, moving our summer programs to other campuses and having to pack those materials up has been stressful.”
The building has been standing for two decades. “The benefits of new construction will not only make the school look better, but we will have up-to-date materials that all of the schools in the district will have,” Joubert said. “I have been at other schools that have had renovations and once everything is complete the campus atmosphere is refreshed.”
