HOUSTON – Oct. 6, 2017 – The two middle school projects promised under the district’s bond program are moving well into the design phase on a time schedule that could have construction starting on both campuses by summer.
“We are working closely with our architects and leadership team to develop plans that will meet the needs of our middle school students,” said Spring ISD Chief Operations Officer Mark Miranda. “Our goal is to get these projects into construction as quickly as possible so we’ll be ready to open in 2019.”
To date, the design by Huckabee Architects for the Roberson Middle School replacement facility is through the programming phase and well on the way to having Schematic Design finalized. The overall site includes nearly 78 acres – plenty of room for a two-story, 144,000-square-foot building oriented toward Veterans Memorial Parkway. The school will accommodate up to 800 students.
“We’re still early in the process, but conceptually we’re developing a facility that would include four academies,” Miranda said. Those academies would house Roberson’s distinct programs, including engineering.
The goal is to present some additional designs to Superintendent Dr. Rodney Watson later this month, before taking a design to the board in November or December for review, Miranda said. Early site work for the school could take place in spring, with building construction beginning over the summer.
On Middle School No. 8, slated to be located across from Northgate Crossing Elementary in the north part of the district, preliminary design work is also underway by the firm of Stantec Architecture.
District officials are planning a trip to Victoria later this month to tour another middle school designed by Stantec that could provide some inspiration for the school here. That new middle school would be located on about 32 acres and would serve 500 to 700 students.
“There’s a lot of design progress being made so we can stay on schedule,” Miranda said. “Our architects are asking a lot of questions and getting good feedback from our team so that the end result will be schools that work for our students.”