TOP STORY
Keller ISD bond adds athletic facilities, replaces aging schools
COSTS OF FACILITIES
Keller ISD identi ed four aging elementary schools and the needs for expansion of athletic and agriscience facilities in the 2019 bond package.
Cost of new facilities:
BY CODY THORN
and the 100-yard football eld is also regulation width. There are curtains that can be dropped down, so any combination of sports can practice. “We are excited to be able to get full, defensive practices and hitting drills with the drop-down cages, even when weather kicks us o our eld,” Keller Central Softball Coach Brittany Scara otti said. Elementary buildings The bond is also paying for four replacement schools for existing ele- mentary schools: Heritage, Parkview, Whitley Road and Florence. Each of those were built between 1975-1986 and are being replaced for at least $29 million each. There is also a new industrial trades and agriscience school that cost $21 million that was built as part of the bond. Two of the buildings in the bond— Florence and Heritage elementary schools—opened in August for the 2022-23 school year. Parkview and Whitley Road ele- mentary schools are still under con- struction but are open. Parkview moved into the new building Jan. 3, while Whitley Road began the 2022-23 school year at the new building. “It’s amazing the amount of space we have, the opportunities for our kids to go into a di erent learning environment,” Florence Elementary Principal Jacque Hughes said. “If you compare our old campus to our new campus you can certainly see 21st-century learning comes out to play.”
*Florence Elementary School: $29.9M *Heritage Elementary School: $31.1M Parkview Elementary School: $33.5M Whitley Road Elementary School: $32.3M *Industrial Trades and Agriscience Center: $21.5M Indoor facilities at four high schools: $48.6M
Logan Cundi has put in a lot of o - season work during his two years as the quarterback for Fossil Ridge High School, a Keller ISD school in Fort Worth. The junior said he went to nearby high schools that had indoor practice facilities due to weather issues. Soon, he will not need to do that as Fossil Ridge, Timber Creek, Keller and Keller Central high schools will all debut new indoor facilities as soon as this spring. Funding for those facil- ities come from a $315 bond issue passed in November 2019. “I’m extremely excited about it,” Cundi said of the indoor facility. “I’m excited to have it at my own school. We can have a full, live prac- tice to make sure we try to get the win on Friday. It will be a game changer.” The price tag for the four indoor facilities, which is a little more than $48 million when grouped together, is the most expensive of the 11 projects in the district’s 2019 bond. Indoor facilities All of the indoor facilities had timelines that originally ranged from August 2022 to January 2023, but supply chain delays and other con- struction issues have pushed back the opening of each. Central and Fossil Ridge both have an estimated com- pletion date of January 2023, accord- ing to school o cials. The indoor facilities have markings for baseball and softball bases and home plate, soccer markings lines,
$315 million 2019 bond total
New facilities: $196.9M
Renovations: $43M
Security/technology upgrades: $73M
SOURCE: KELLER ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT *NOTE: CONSTRUCTION ALREADY COMPLETED
FORT WORTH AREA FOCUS Six of the nine new facilities will be in Fort Worth. The others will be in Keller, Watuaga and Southlake.
TIMBERLAND BLVD.
Indoor facilities Schools
35W
A Fossil Ridge High School B Timber Creek High School C Keller Central High School D Keller High school
E Florence Elementary School F Heritage Elementary School G Parkview Elementary School H Whitley Road Elementary School I Agriscience Learning Center
B
E
D
HERITAGE TRACE PKWY.
I
KELLER PKWY.
C
N. TARRANT PKWY.
A
287
F
H
STARNES RD.
G
BASSWOOD BLVD.
377
N
A
G
PHOTOS BY CODY THORN COMMUNITY IMPACT
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