Message from the School Board President:
After another round of spring showers, the sun was shining on the Big Red Community last Thursday. We had such an amazing turn out of folks who came to Lake Belton High School (LBHS) and signed one of the final steel beams before its hoisting into place. My fellow board members and I enjoyed seeing so many elementary and middle schoolers, who are the future classes of Broncos, and their parents adding their signatures and posing for pictures with hard hats and shovels.
It was very special knowing that the signatures and special messages left by so many would become a permanent part of the new campus’ main entrance the next day during our Topping Out celebration. Before the beam was hoisted into place Friday, I was honored to stand under the gym roof and celebrate our plans and dreams becoming a reality thanks to the countless number of workers and manhours on this project, which is simply astonishing.
For the more than 900 construction workers, that means as much as a year’s worth of work. For Bartlett Cocke, our general contractors, that was more than two years of work. And for O’Connell Robertson architects getting to this point meant approximately three years of work that began with a group of parents, teachers, students and other community members working alongside our Board and administration to develop the Roadmap to 2025 plan.
As a destination district for many families, Belton ISD has been designated a fast-growth district. With the help of Templeton Demographics, we carefully studied our growth. A build-out analysis identified the potential to have over 8,000 high school students in Belton ISD in the future. After months of discussion by the Long Range Planning citizens committee, it became clear that a new high school would be recommended to address our growing high school population, and this could not be properly tackled without tremendous community support. In May 2017, our community demonstrated their commitment to our kids by voting to approve the district’s bond program and the following year the board approved a Guaranteed Maximum Price of $106.4 million for the construction of LBHS, a budget that will provide a quality facility to meet the needs of our growing student population for years to come.
I am proud of the way the Board and the Belton ISD Administrative team continue to plan for growth. And I am grateful to our community for their continued support. Whether serving on citizen committees like the 2015 Long Range Planning Committee or last fall’s Attendance Boundaries Committee, joining a PTA or booster club, or volunteering at a campus, one of Belton ISD’s biggest strengths is the continuous engagement of community members in our schools. Thank you for your support of the May 2017 Bond Program and thank you for continuing to support our kids and our schools.
Go Broncos!
Sincerely,
Sue M. Jordan
President, Board of Trustees
