KYLE — At its Dec. 16 meeting, the Hays CISD Board of Trustees voted to approve further consideration for the 2023 bond bid package 12 design development for the three high schools not to exceed $163,803,849.
“Tonight, we’re doing these [design development] approvals to build a bond budget. So, we’re not actually going to build the school yet, we’re just trying to build a budget,” said chief operations officer Max Cleaver. “We’re not approving the project tonight; we’re just trying to get to the budget.”
Chief communication officer Tim Savoy stated that these designs were partially funded by the 2023 bond, so this was the presentation of those designs, along with projections of future prices to be potentially included in the 2025 bond.
Hays High School
According to Jason Andrews of Huckabee Architects, the potential 2025 bond plans for HHS include several renovations to the kitchen, academic and fine arts spaces.
Beginning with the kitchen, it is set to more than double the size of its current space, while the original kitchen area will be demolished to accommodate more dining space for its growing student population, explained Andrews. Staff also hopes to add more windows and raise the ceiling on the area to create a more open space. Regarding the outdoor dining space, the district simply wants to renovate it with turf and sun shields.
An addition of 13 classrooms — six downstairs and seven upstairs — is also being considered, which would be connected through a corridor to the large Career and Technical Education (CTE) building, allowing both to be connected to the main building of the school.
“[For] the fine arts edition, we have the multipurpose indoor space, which is pretty much a copy of the one that’s currently under construction at Johnson [High School]. So, it has all the same amenities. In addition to that, we have a cheer locker room, color guard locker room [and] — we're calling it — a boys locker room. That’s going to serve the boys in cheer, color guard and eventually dance, as well. Then, we have storage for both cheer and color guard,” said Andrews, who stated that public restrooms and a concessions stand have also been added to make it more like a gym.
There will also be a “crows nest” for teachers to get a higher viewpoint of students on the court.
All of these projects and additions to the school building would be built using materials to blend the styles of the new music building and the weight room.
Finally, the MPAC — multipurpose activity center — is a soccer and football field cover, which will be similar to the one that is currently under construction at JHS.
“That bathroom over in that cafeteria has not been renovated in quite some time. I am sure of it … It’s so bizarre that we wouldn’t [look at it]. I’m just so worried that we’re going to do all this work and then, someone’s going to go, ‘Oops. Perhaps we should have cared about this decrepit bathroom where the doors don’t shut or lock,’” said trustee Vanessa Petrea.
Andrews noted that they spoke with the school staff, who explained that the restroom is never used, as it is in the way of the cafeteria lines. So, instead of trying to build it back, they opted to remove it from the future plans.
Lehman High School
“Again, still up for debate [but] starting at the top of the page, we’ve got parking expansions. We’ve got one off of the front entry lot that’s relatively significant and then, we’ve got one that’s in the upper right-hand corner, directly off of Bunton Creek [Road],” said Andrews.
LHS also has a planned two-story academic expansion, kitchen and dining expansion, fine arts addition, a multipurpose indoor space with classrooms and a dressing room for the color guard.
Andrews noted that the dining room expansion is only a couple of thousand feet to accommodate 2,800 students, which is what the campus is designed for.
Other upgrades include the band suite that will receive new floorings and paint, along with an expanded storage room — which Andrews stated that staff was willing to have by sacrificing some of the practice rooms — and an almost identical copy to the weight room being built at HHS.
“I just want to thank you for getting so much stakeholder feedback. That was clear in your presentation that you’ve talked to the band directors, that you’ve talked to [the principal] and I appreciate that,” said Petrea.
Trustee Byron Severance noted that the current large stairway in LHS, across from the library, is “the way to move kids through a high school,” so he requested to use that formatting, if possible, moving forward with staircases. Though, Andrews stated that that staircase is 15-feet wide, which would be extremely costly to include everywhere, so they are attempting to meet in the middle.
Johnson High School
“We’ll call it the easiest one, I guess, for last, with the smallest amount of scope, but equally as important as all the rest,” said Andrews.
“Probably one of the things most people are excited about is the parking lot that’s going on the west side of campus. So, that’s actually doing to help a lot for events that are happening at the gyms and allow the band practice area to be dedicated to band practice only,” he continued, stating that there will be approximately 200 parking spaces added.
The weight room and the MPAC are, again, similar to HHS.
In the weight room, there will be restrooms, which are intended to serve those students, the MPAC and the tennis students, as typically they have to go all the way to the baseball and softball restrooms.
“I’m an athletic mom. I get it. I very much appreciate these [MPACs]. I do want these if the voters approve this, but I just don’t understand why these are so much money. There’s no walls to these. These are $15 million. I wish somebody could explain to me why this is so much money for not even a building,” stressed trustee Courtney Runkle. “It’s insane to me.”
Andrews explained that the sheer size is a big factor. According to the representative, it is an 80,000-square-foot building, with a 30-foot high ceiling and a span of 400-feet.
“We’re actually talking to these metal building companies about — if you were to come back and add the walls and everything — what do we have to do with that structure to make sure that it’s going to be able to handle that extra weight that you add to it,” said Andrews.
Previously, at its Nov. 18 meeting, the board was presented with an $885 million bond for the May 2025 election, which would require trustees to call the bond prior to mid-February.
During this presentation, Jessica Bedwell, Facilities and Bond Oversight Committee chair, gave approximates of what the FBOC is recommending, including:
• High school #4 design balance and construction with a maximum budget of $430,000,000
• Hays High School academic expansion, with dining, all purpose indoor space: $36,907,120
• Johnson High School parking, connector road and weight room: $14,436,487
Staff did not recommend any improvements to Lehman High School, according to Bedwell, who stated “The big question, obviously, for everybody is probably going to be, ‘Why is Lehman getting pushed a little bit? Here’s the logic on that … You’ve got Johnson, which we’ve already done academic addition. I think it makes sense to just finish acting out and they’re done for a little while. Then, you got Hays and Lehman that both need academic expansions. When you look at enrollment numbers, Hays is growing faster than Lehman and without moving around some other things, that means Lehman would get pushed to 2027 [for improvements].”
So, according to the presentation and trustee Byron Severance, the bond is going to go up about $14 million, due to the fact that the FBOC didn’t recommend LHS or the MPACs. Bedwell said this is correct, but that the projects that got more expensive are not projects that the FBOC wants to remove.
“By voting on this tonight, we’re just saying that the bond that was presented for $885 million is now going to go up $12 million if it stands as it sits,” said Andrews.
“That’s right. You’re voting for further consideration. So, between now and the time you call the bond, things can change,” concluded Cleaver.
The item passed unanimously. The board of trustees will hold its next meeting on Jan. 23, 2025, following a bond development meeting on Jan. 15.
