Brittany Kelley
WIMBERLEY — Dr. Greg Bonewald, superintendent of Wimberley ISD, was all praises when discussing ongoing happenings in the district at his annual address Wednesday, Oct. 14.
The Wimberley ISD State of the District was held in the Wimberley Community Center and hosted by the Wimberley Valley Chamber of Commerce. City and community leadership were in attendance to learn about construction updates and student success during the event.
Bonewald began by sharing that the district has approximately 2,700 students across four campuses, beginning with a prekindergarten program at age 3 through 12th grade.
Throughout the years, the district’s enrollment has stayed steady, continued the superintendent, despite the fact that there are fewer children being born, due to economic stressors and lifestyle changes. This means that the beginning grades at the elementary level have the lowest enrollment, but that the district is actually seeing an increase in enrollment at the third to fifth grade level; ultimately, balancing the number of students.
Next, chief financial officer Michael Doyle took to the podium to discuss the status of the 2025 bond projects, including: Prop A at $109.9 million for growth, safety and rehabilitation; Prop B at $6.05 million for technology; Prop C at $5.73 million for Texan Stadium improvements; and Prop D at $13.23 million for a shaded multipurpose activity center
The follow projects are happening at each school:
Blue Hole Elementary School: A new parking lot has been constructed for safety and a new roof has replaced the previous hail damaged one.
Jacob's Well Elementary School: New HVAC system and a new roof from hail damage.
Danforth Middle School: Concrete slabbing has been placed for the new Performing Arts Center and the cooling tower has been updated.
Wimberley High School: The new band hall addition and the weight room is currently being slabbed, while construction has been completed on the new underground detention pond and new marching band pad.
Bonewald added that, unfortunately, some of the students may feel a bit of discomfort toward the end of the year, as demolition is slated to start earlier than initially anticipated, in order to comply with timelines, such as the girls locker rooms at Danforth.
Other projects ongoing, said Doyle, are the multipurpose activity center, which will allow outside organizations to safely practice during the extreme Texas heat, new HVAC and restrooms at the middle and high school level, new lighting for the practice fields that are Dark Sky compliant and more.
Moving inside the classroom, Bonewald shared that the district has also started implementing an audio enhancement device. This is both for instructional and safety purposes. First, the audio enhancement will allow students at the back of the classroom to have a better chance of understanding what the teacher is saying and prevent the instructors from straining their voices for speaking loudly eight hours a day.
It will also serve as an alert device, said Bonewald.
“It has a certain sequence,” he explained. “It will either alert the front office if there’s some sort of emergency — it might be a medical emergency; it might be a safety situation. Another sequence will go directly to first responders at 911.”
Additionally, translation earbuds are in the beginning stages for students that have English as a second language, as this is a growing need in the district, he shared.
Over the past year, success was aplenty in the district, said Bonewald.
He noted that out of eight schools, WISD earned 801 University Interscholastic League points among several areas — including theatre, art, athletics, debate and more — scoring more than the other seven schools combined.
Students also surpassed the national average for advanced placement testing, with a 93.4% passing rate. These tests can then qualify for college credit, said Bonewald, though that is not the only option.
“Some kids are going directly to college; some kids are going to get certificates that allow them to go straight into the workforce; [and] some are going to get certifications and still go to college because that’s the right path for them. Two years ago, Wimberley High School earned a total of 173 certifications … This past year was 358,” shared the superintendent.
These students are taking the skills learned and implementing them into their own businesses. He even shared that at the 2026 graduation, a student was passing out his business cards as he walked the stage.
“We’ve talked about facilities. We’ve talked about academics and extracurricular success. One of the things that really came clearly to me when we went through that strategic planning process with a large group of our community several years ago is that our community also values that we are teaching character traits in our schools,” he recalled.
In an effort to do this, programs, such as T.E.X.A.N. Roots and the Fig Tree Outreach Program have begun. The first started in 2021 with the intent to create thoughtful decision making, interpersonal skills, personal skills, goal setting and problem solving, while the second provides food for children facing food insecurity.
Bonewald also shared that the district has had to be strategic with its finances, due to limited funding from the state legislature: “If you increase funding, but you tell local school boards exactly how that funding can be used and can only be used that way, it does nothing to address inflationary costs in operating the entire system, paying custodians, buying food — all of these things that the districts have to do.”
Finally, he concluded the presentation by praising the organizations that come together to support Wimberley ISD and its students, as well as noting that community members can help sponsor a practicum student, donate materials and resources, support teacher and staff recognition and support the Wimberley Education Foundation to continue to help the district.
