RISD has proposed a new high school on the administration building grounds
The Richardson ISD school board agreed Monday night to “continue the conversation” about adding a new, centrally-located high school to the 2016 bond, with the goal to open its doors in the fall of 2017. The new school, tentatively called “21st Century Learning Center,” would serve two sets of students: those seeking a non-traditional path to graduation and those hoping to end high school with two years of college credit.
Superintendent Dr. Kay Waggoner and her staff presented the board with a plan to build a new school on the grounds of the RISD administration building. (The new school would replace the current, aging transportation building, which will be torn down and moved to the newly approved RISD Operations Facility.) About 360 students will attend the Non-Traditional Educational Program, which assists students who may have gotten off track due to illness, pregnancy, family needs or other reasons. Other students, who just “don’t connect” at their home school and want to “get up, get out and move on” may also enroll.
The Early Credit High School will serve about 125 students per grade (500-ish total), in cooperation with Richland College. Juniors and seniors in the program will spend much time on the nearby Richland campus attending classes.
“We’ve done a lot of work, we’ve done a lot of research, and we’ve engaged a lot of people,” Dr. Waggoner told the board. “We’re in an age of a lot of competition. We want to do things that aren’t just adequate, but that put us in a position to be best in the state.”
The building would also be used (1) for RISD professional development, (2) as a lab school (teachers teaching teachers), and (3) for community engagement opportunities such as lectures, concerts and events.
The cost would be $32-35 million.
Trustees indicated a dedication to the students the facility would serve and a willingness to study the issue further, but asked initial questions about the opportunity cost of those dollars and the effect on students’ home schools when they leave.
The board will next discuss the matter at their regular meeting Monday, October 5 at 6 p.m. A vote regarding adding the school to the 2016 bond will likely follow.
