Opening of new high school less than a year away

The pieces of the puzzle have begun to fall into place so the Brownsville Independent School District can open its sixth high school.

Veterans Memorial High School will open in fall 2010 with an estimated 918 students — a freshman and sophomore class — joining BISD’s five other main high schools and affecting attendance zones at Hanna, Pace and Porter.

For 2010-2011, estimated enrollment at Pace will drop from 2,572 students to between 1,537 and 1,625, Hanna’s from 3,052 to between 2,624 and 2,988 and Porter’s from 2,442 to between 2,054 and 2,232, according to preliminary zoning maps reviewed in late October by the BISD Board of Trustees.

The unknown variable is how many students will attend magnet schools at each campus or transfer to another school, said Ben Estrada, of BISD’s Assessment, Research and Evaluation Department. Current enrollment estimates are for mid-October. Pace, and to a lesser extent Hanna, will lose students to Veterans, while Porter will lose students to Pace and gain some from Hanna. Lopez and Rivera will not be affected immediately, he said.

Estrada has worked on rezoning matters ever since Brownsville voters approved a $135 million bond issue in 2006 and BISD began planning for a new high school, middle school and three elementary schools. Of the three elementaries, Mittie Pullam Elementary, 3200 Madrid Ave., and Raquel Peña Elementary, 4975 Salida de Luna Road, have opened. Thomas W. Keller Elementary, 2540 Alton Gloor Blvd., is to open in January. District funds, rather than bond proceeds, paid for Peña Elementary.

Keller Elementary sits next to the future Manzano Middle School and adjacent to Ortiz Elementary where Alton Gloor meets Military Highway. Manzanno, also scheduled to open in August 2010, will alleviate overcrowding at Stillman Middle School and pick up some students from Stell. Stillman currently has about 1,300 students, Estrada said.

Meanwhile, Veterans Memorial Principal Acacia Ameel has been busy hiring teachers and staff, meeting the school’s prospective students and doing everything she can to make the transition to a new high school as seamless as possible. Ameel is the former principal of Stell Middle School, so she already has a good idea of what the first students at her new school want.

"These days you want to get them interested from as many angles as possible," Ameel said. "We’ll be building small communities within the high school based on the middle school knowledge base — on the team teaching that we do in the middle schools. I think it can be accomplished in the high school. I think the kids will do well. They want to do well."

The school, at 4550 U.S. Military Hwy. 281 on Brownsville’s western edge, will accommodate 2,200 students. After next year, a new freshman class will be added each year.

Veterans Memorial should have no problem attracting students. It will be the district’s magnet school for architecture and construction — career pathways that offer employment opportunities after high school, with or without additional training — as well as for government and public administration.

In addition, Veterans Memorial will offer the magnet programs offered at BISD’s five other high schools — medical and health professions at Hanna, law at Pace, the teacher academy at Lopez, engineering professions at Porter and international business at Rivera.

And that’s in addition to regular coursework and all the things a traditional high school offers — from an enhanced fine arts component to a full complement of competitive sports and numerous career and technology offerings. BISD also has applied to offer U.S. Navy JROTC at Veterans Memorial.

"We’re excited for the academic stuff and the sports," said Jennifer Hernandez, an eighth-grader at Stillman who will be part of the new high school’s first freshman class. "We’re just really excited that we’re going to be the first ones there."

Classmate Kristen Ramirez said she and other kids going to Memorial also are excited about the "really big, really nice coffee shop" that they’ve heard is part of the library.

Adrian Garcia, who plays football and basketball and runs track, said he’s hoping for good sports teams and good coaches. "I’m already ready to go," he said.

Stillman Principal Marisela Zarate said Ameel was at Stillman the first week of August telling students what to look forward to and "doing all the right things to set the pace."

Veterans Memorial sits on an 80-acre site and has 360,000 square feet of space in all. It has two 124-seat lecture halls, a 528-seat fine arts auditorium, 50 regular classrooms, six computer labs, six physics labs, eight biology and eight chemistry labs, two life skills rooms, a 16,229-square-foot cafeteria, a 7,433-square-foot ROTC building and a 27,064-square-foot career and technology building.

The athletic complex includes a competitive basketball/volleyball arena and two side basketball/volleyball practice courts, athletic and PE locker areas, weight and training room, coaches offices and laundry facilities.

In addition, there are eight tennis courts and boys and girls baseball and softball fields with lights and bleachers, and football and soccer fields and an all-weather track.

Interim superintendent Brett Springston said Veterans Memorial and its feeder schools eventually will form their own cluster, just like Hanna, Pace, Porter, Lopez and Rivera have theirs now.

The cluster concept has helped put BISD on the map academically, he said.

"This school is built to be global," Springston said. "We’re building a positive environment so that our kids are attracted to the things we’re offering them. The whole thing is about graduation. The more active kids are in programs, the more we keep the kids in school. It causes a higher graduation rate. It causes a higher completion rate. It really is a big puzzle to put together."

The school site is 80.29 acres. Address is 4550 U. S. Military Highway 281.

The entire school is approximately 360,000 square feet in all.

It cost $62 million. Built with funds from the 2006 school bond. It will open in August of 2010.

Features include two 124-seat lecture halls.

A 528-seat fine arts auditorium.

50 regular classrooms.

6 computer labs.

6 physics labs.

8 biology labs.

8 chemistry labs.

2 life skills rooms.

16,229-square-foot cafeteria.

7,433-square-foot ROTC building.

27,064-square-foot Career and Technology Building.

Veterans Memorial will have BISD’s Architecture and Construction Magnet School and Government and Public Administration Magnet School.

Patios in the rear with pergolas and benches. Covered walkways.

The school is built to serve 2,200 students.

Centralized indoor and outdoor security camera system.

Chilled water system for AC.

Automatic lighting controls.