Bushland ISD constructing 2 new campuses due to population growth

BUSHLAND, Texas (KFDA) - New schools are coming to the community of Bushland and construction is well underway.

With the community growing and classrooms becoming full, the community voted for new schools.

“So we did a demographic study that showed where our population was going to be in the next few years. So we took it to the voters and told them where our population was going to be in that we were already we’ve already outgrown our elementary school here. So our elementary is where we’re growing the most. So we decided to go ahead and plan for the future,” says Wigington.

A new elementary and high school are now in construction.

“The new campuses will allow us growth. We’re growing right now pretty fast. A lot of families are moving into the area,” says Doctor Tom Giles, Assistant Superintendent of Bushland Independent School District.

With space in the classroom decreasing and the population of Bushland on the rise, more space is becoming crucial.

“We got lots of houses being built out here and we want to get ahead of it. We know that the kids are going to be coming,” says Chris Wigington, Superintendent of Bushland Independent School District.

“The district I think saw the need just to accommodate the kids that are coming in. I mean we’re growing, we’re a sought-after school district, it’s a great school district to come to so everybody’s coming. So we need to build to accommodate the kids,” says John Merrell, Project manager and maintenance director of Bushland Independent School District.=

Bushland ISD is working on having the new elementary ready for this fall.

“Our current elementary and our current middle school are packed. In fact, we have some portables on our middle school that we have to use,” continues Giles.

The current elementary school is pre-k through 4th grade and the middle school holds 5th grade through 8th grade.

Once the new buildings are ready, there will be a pre-K through 2nd grade campus, a 3rd grade through 5th grade campus. The middle school will become 6th grade through 8th grade and high school students will move to the new building.

“So by building these two new campuses, we will go from a three-campus district to a four-campus district, and we’re able to spread their our kids out just a little bit more, where they’re not so crowded in the, in the campuses,” explains Giles.

The new elementary school is estimated to open in August of 2023 and the high school is expected to open in August of 2023.

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