New schools on the horizon for DSISD

Thanks to the Hill Country’s swift growth, the Dripping Springs Independent School District may be adding more facilities in the near future, including a second high school and sixth elementary school.

The Long-Range Facility Planning Committee — a fiftyperson advisory committee to the DSISD Board of Trustees — was reconvened in November 2019 to develop long-range facility recommendations for the district. The committee’s work was facilitated in part by outside consultant, Cooperative Strategies. After a more than two-year period of committee meetings and discussions, the LRFPC presented a list of recommendations at the board meeting on Monday, February 28.

The committee’s recommendations included:

• building a second comprehensive high school at 2,500 student capacity

• building future middle schools at 1,200 student capacity

• expanding Sycamore Springs Middle School to support a 1,200 student capacity

• modifying Tiger Stadium to support a second high school

• build a sixth elementary school

• purchase land (for future developments)

The next step in the district’s long-range facility planning process is to gather community feedback to ensure the recommendations align with district stakeholders’ and taxpayers’ perspectives.

“With 10% year-overyear growth, and all projections indicating that the growth will continue, Dripping Springs ISD must strategically plan and prepare to serve the students and families who are moving into our district everyday,” commented DSISD Superintendent Dr. Holly Morris-Kuentz. “I appreciate the careful and thorough consideration by our LRFPC in order to prepare these recommendations. I genuinely hope our community will review the recommendations and share their feedback on additional viewpoints we need to consider in the process.”

“Effective long-range planning is one of the most important initiatives for the district so that we can be well positioned to respond to the continuing growth that we will see over the next 20 years while also providing exceptional educational experiences for years to come,” she continued.

Community members can review the recommendations and share their feedback with the district at dsisdtx.us/longrangeplanning. The district will also hold four in-person community meetings for stakeholders to attend to learn more and share their feedback directly with the district.

The dates and times of the community feedback meetings will be:

Community Feedback Meeting #1 — Thursday, April 7, at 6 p.m.

Community Feedback Meeting #2 — Monday, April 11, at 6 p.m.

Community Feedback Meeting #3 — Tuesday, April 12, at 10 a.m.

Community Feedback Meeting #4 — Wednesday, April 13, at 6 p.m.

All Community Feedback Meetings will be held in the DSISD Board Room at 510 W. Mercer Street in Dripping Springs. The district will also collect feedback through an online survey. The feedback collected will be shared with the Board of Trustees later this spring.