HOUSTON – Aug. 14, 2019 – Excitement could be seen on the faces of students and staff as thousands of Spring ISD students came to school on Wednesday — a day of new classes, new teachers, new friends – and for some middle school students, shiny, new schools. 

“We’ve been working hard all summer to prepare for this day,” said Superintendent Dr. Rodney E. Watson while on a tour of schools across the district. “Construction crews were busy all summer at the new school sites finalizing the district’s first campus builds since 2011, while teachers and other staff trained at our new TeachUp Spring Learning Center. We are excited about welcoming our new and returning students to a new school year that offers many opportunities for them to learn and grow.”

First New Schools Since 2011

Watson began his tour at Spring Early College Academy, recently relocated onto the Lone Star College-North Harris campus, where more than 400 Spring ISD high school students will get to experience college life for the first time. 

“The first day at Lone Star opens huge doors and opportunities for our students,” said Spring Early College Academy Principal Diana Kimberly. “I’m very excited for all of them, and I felt that everything went well this morning. Once the kids get acclimated and learn their way around, there will be so many opportunities and resources for them.”

At the northern edge of the district, at 1120 Crossgate Blvd., teachers and staff welcomed middle school students to their brand-new campus – Springwoods Village – designed to support an International Baccalaureate program with its emphasis on preparing global learners. It was the first time students and parents had been inside the new school, and their reaction was one of excitement and anticipation. 

Springwoods Village Middle School parent Ryan Herring says it was exciting to see the brand-new campus be constructed from the ground up. His son Ryan Herring Jr. is a new student at Spring ISD entering the seventh grade.

“We watched it get built when we moved to Spring over a year ago, and then we found out he would attend here,” said Herring. “I actually like the fact that he has to wear a uniform, and [Ryan Jr.] was telling me how excited he is to see his friends here.”

Meanwhile, across the district on Veterans Memorial Blvd., the new Roberson Middle School also opened its doors to students, though not for the first time. Some families had visited the school on Saturday to take part in the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Moving into the new campus from the old facility, located behind Westfield High School, has been a dream come true for the math, science and fine arts academy that opened more than a decade ago as the district’s first middle school of choice.

Brand-new Roberson Middle School sixth-grader Destiny Forbes said she enjoys both math and dance, and was looking forward to the start of the new school year when she arrived bright and early Wednesday morning.

“I’m looking forward to learning new things,” she said, “and getting to know all the teachers and students and faculty.”

Although she will normally ride the bus, her mother, Desreen Brown, wanted to drop her daughter off in person for her first day as a new Roberson student. Having had a chance to tour the school, Brown was excited to be sending her daughter to the innovative new campus, one that will support continuous growth and learning through features like a centrally located makerspace for hands-on projects and book nooks tucked around the building.

“It’s beautiful,” Brown said. “What I was impressed by was all the books. It was like a college setting. And I said to her, ‘You have no reason to be bored here, because even if you’re waiting on your class to start, you know there are books to read.’ I love it.”

With the opening of Spring Leadership Academy, Roberson is no longer the district’s only middle school of choice. Located in the former Spring Early College Academy building on T.C. Jester, the new academy will serve about 400 students who are interested in becoming future leaders.

And, like many great leaders before them, the students of Spring Leadership Academy will get an early start on seizing the day, with classes beginning more than an hour-and-a-half earlier than other district middle schools. Valerie Doud, the school’s librarian, was out with other faculty and staff in the early morning darkness to welcome students as they arrived for their very first day at the new specialty school.

“We’re all super excited,” Doud said, standing beside the car drop-off lane to greet the line of students and parents. “The students are just so excited to come to this new school – that they were chosen to come to – and we know it’s going to be a great year here.”

Roberson parent Sabrina Irvin got up extra early Wednesday to drop off her daughter and her daughter’s best friend at the campus. She said her daughter had been looking forward eagerly to the start of the new school year.

“You know, the kids, they’re excited about going back. It’s the first day of school, so they’re excited,” Irvin said. “For my daughter and her best friend, it’s their first day at a new school, so it’s an adventure.”

For Principal Dr. Kevin Banks, he and his staff are happy to see the new Spring Leadership Academy finally open after all their planning and preparation.

“We’re just looking to make sure we get our scholars in, make sure that we get them acclimated to the school, and just really kick the school year off and have a great start,” Banks said.