By KIM ESTES
Four Points News
Vandegrift High School will exceed capacity by about 10 percent this school year to house an expected student population of 2,630 in a facility designed for 2,400, said Cory Ryan, LISD communications director.
However, a recently proposed bond would expand the seven-year-old campus to accommodate 2,900 students. Prognosticators anticipate that VHS enrollment will reach 2,845 students in 2026 in the 2016 annual Demographic Update. But, the school is well beyond their 2010 forecast that said there would 2,175 Vipers by 2020.
Trustees are scheduled to discuss the bond proposition this week at their meeting on Aug. 3. They will vote whether or not to call for an election on the matter on Aug.17.
Meanwhile, as in the recent past and for the foreseeable future, VHS students will continue to walk one-tenth of a mile to Four Points Middle School where this coming year they will utilize 10 classrooms: six for Austin Community College dual credit courses, three for science labs and one for office space.
“This is a self-contained wing that will operate and keep VHS students separate from FPMS students,” noted Ryan.
If the election is called and voters approve the bond as it is now recommended, VHS will add 14 classrooms at the cost of $29.5 million.
Another $1.1 million will provide for expanding Monroe Stadium grandstands.
“The Monroe Stadium project adds bleachers to increase capacity from about 5,000 to 7,000 spectators. The district will conclude the original master plan for the stadium with this expansion,” said Ryan.
Preliminary plans are that both VHS expansion projects would be in the first bond sale in May 2018. There are no projected completion dates yet, Ryan said.
If trustees do not pursue a bond election or if voters do not approve the proposition, the board will work with the administration to assess the needs of the entire district and make the best decisions for LISD students, said Ryan.
Options would include repurposing existing facilities, adding portable buildings or redrawing attendance areas, he said.
VHS is not the only LISD school that would benefit from passage of the proposed referendum. The package, which totals $454 million, is designed to accommodate growth, improve safety and provide major maintenance district wide. A bond advisory committee, which recommended the proposal, was formed earlier this year to develop a three to five-year facilities plan for LISD.
Other provisions include major maintenance to the 20-year-old Steiner Ranch Elementary campus and design and mitigation funds for a secondary access road to FPMS and VHS.
Elsewhere in the district, bond approval would permit the design, construction and furnishing of three new elementary schools and a middle school as well as land purchases for a future high school, middle school and seven elementary schools. Also, it would provide for the construction of secure vestibules at all LISD high schools and middle schools.
There are also “optional” items that would increase the proposed recommendation by $9.86 million. The list includes agriculture barns for VHS and Glenn High School, additions and renovations to the Leander High School barn, additions to the Vista Ridge High School JROTC building, career and technical education Incubator program classrooms at VHS and VRHS and replacement of grounds equipment that is more than 15 years old.
Finally, the board may ask for an additional $16 million for turf projects. “We have talked about adding a few turf fields around the district for selected middle schools that receive year-round use including community youth sports. Maybe three fields total,” said Pam Waggoner, LISD board president.
To view the BAC recommendation or for information on LISD board meetings, including agendas, go the leanderisd.org.